Turbine

A Parsons steam turbine sits anchored to the floor of the turbine hall at White Bay Power Station, the casing painted in the pale industrial green of the wider plant. Bolted flanges and inspection covers run along the upper surface of the casing. Copper pipework, valve wheels, and the gauge cluster of the turbine front end cluster on the leading face. The unit is bolted to a concrete plinth that goes deep into the floor. The hall around the turbine runs the length of the building, the steel-truss roof overhead, large windows along both sides. The casing colour has darkened to bare metal in patches where the paint has worn back.

White Bay Power Station was built by the NSW Government Railways and Tramways from 1912 onwards and ran from 1917 until Christmas Eve 1983, supplying traction current to Sydney's tram and rail network. Parsons turbines were the standard generating unit at the plant, with later 50 MW Parsons sets running through the final decades of service. Steam from the boilers in the building next door drove the turbines, which drove the alternators, which fed Sydney's transport network. The turbine in this photograph was one of the units that drove the city for decades. It has not turned since the plant closed.