barrowroad's Blog

Robin,

 

Sorry I can't answer your question specifically because I don't know much about wheel-drops, but in general, I imagin that most of the mechanism would be below ground level, so maybe there isn't a huge difference in visual appearance between electric and hydraulic power?

A company where I used to work had a large hydraulic press (ex-Swindon Works boiler shop, I believe) which was powered from a weight loaded accumulator cylinder located outside the building. There was an electric (originally steam) driven pump set, which pumped water to a large vertical cylinder, which raised the ram inside. On the top of the ram, and surrounding the cylinder, was a large, cylindrical weight which rose slowly as the pumps worked but enabled a much larger flow of high pressure water to the press when needed. The accumulator recovered during rest periods.

I don't know if something similar, but perhaps on a smaller scale, was used for hydraulic wheel drops.

 

Good luck with your research - and the whole project, of course!!

 

Dave.