Vintage switchgear restored and installed to form part of my living room.

[Mark W]

Afternoon All

Some of you may be interested in one of my projects. I have nearly finished a themed room at my home and we have used some vintage switchgear as part of the decoration, I just need to finish off the skirting board. The next stage is to wire up the semaphores so that they operate when the breakers are operated. The black BTH 6.6kv breaker front was constructed in 1948 and was in service until May 2021. The main blue panel is from a 33kv outdoor substation that was decommissioned about 5 years ago and it has taken us this long to install, as proper work seems to get in the way.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy what we have done and that it is now safe from the scrap man!

Mark

 

[pirate]

Totally love that! Restore, reuse, repurpose... re-markable!
Fabulous!
Thank you for sharing this, and brightening up my day!

 

[littlespark]

All very well, but it takes a month of training, wearing PPE and a permit just to turn on the telly…..

 

[telectrix]

All very well, but it takes a month of training, wearing PPE and a permit just to turn on the telly…..

which telly is out of shot and a `1956 Baird 2 channel 405 line , all valve unit, the woodwork polished to a high shine. of course, with today's regulations, TV should be metal enclosure or enclosed in a non-combustible (metal) box .

 

[telectrix]

needs a youtube video making. it will go viral.

 

[Baddegg]

That is exactly how Ive always pictured @Lucien Nunes house
Great work though mate,

 

[Mark W]

Again, thanks for the feedback.

The comment about the washing line, I will do a separate post about that!. When I read it I thought you must live in the village, its not a pylon but 132Kv/27Kv related.

Lucien, good to hear from you. I had a funny feeling these pictures would flush you out!! That Eau de nil panel looks very, very nice................

In answer to your main question, my wife was actually involved with the layout and elements of the design this to include the fact I had to use green glitter grout between the black metro tiles and the flooring had to be reclaimed and look like one of the old attendant operated substations. The coffee table is supported by 25kv railway insulators. The main spark ball light fitting in the centre of the ceiling is my tribute to an off load 33kv isolator that was accidently opened on load, only the engineers involved will ever know the story!! The black and white cushions go with the the black and white indicator circles within the protection relays.

The panel has had no restoration, this is the condition it was removed.

The ironic thing is, there are no plug sockets in this room on purpose, we know it as the "electric room"

For everything else I will post separate subjects and there may be a few to brighten up the odd day, my current project is the restoration of a very rare 1936 6 cylinder National oil engine DC generator and all the switch gear, we have the main DC board plus we have 5 Brookhirst motor starters that were fed from this switchboard. We are giving it, its own room as a tribute to the pumping station it all came out of.

The washing line will get its own post, along with my own personal reasons for saving this lot.

If any of you get really excited by this stuff then the kettle will always be on if you want a visit, if we can find a socket!!

Mark

 

[telectrix]

Whereabout in Staffs. ?
North Staffs is close to me.
I got to see this face to face. what's your fav. beer?

 

[littlespark]

Doesn’t need any sockets….

Just bring the kettle within 5ft of it and it’ll boil through induction!


Crazy.
My wife would start on a “bringing junk home” speech and it wouldn’t get past the front door.

Although plastic construction toys don’t seem to be a problem….

 

[HappyHippyDad]

Struggling for words also..
It's beautiful.

 

[swaRRR]

Doesn’t need any sockets….

Just bring the kettle within 5ft of it and it’ll boil through induction!


Crazy.
My wife would start on a “bringing junk home” speech and it wouldn’t get past the front door.

Although plastic construction toys don’t seem to be a problem….

Sounds about right. I'm not allowed any toys but she can bring all manner of crap in for the kids to throw all about the place.

 

[pirate]

Plastic crap!
If I ever meet Mr Fisher or Mr Price, I'll beat the crap outta them!