Turbine Hall Work Bench

A timber workbench in the turbine hall at White Bay Power Station is positioned near the southern wall, the top a thick hardwood plank worn at the front edge and stained with thread-cutting oil, solder, and paint. A cast-iron vice is mounted at the left end, the jaws lined with copper to protect finished surfaces. Above the bench, a timber tool board is fitted with steel hooks holding open-ended spanners, ring spanners, and a set of large adjustable wrenches in graduated sizes. The bench underside has a deep shelf carrying steel trays of bolts and washers sorted by size. A steel lamp bracket is bolted to the bench post, the lamp fitting empty of its globe.

Workbenches in the turbine hall at White Bay Power Station were used for the preparation of components during turbine maintenance. Fitting work on valve stems, flange faces, and bearing components required a stable surface and the appropriate hand tooling. The Parsons turbines at White Bay were major items of plant, rated at 50 MW each in their later form, and their maintenance required access to a range of fitting tools that could not easily be carried to a turbine on the hall floor. The station ran from 1917 to Christmas Eve 1983. The turbine hall workbench supported the maintenance programme that kept the generating plant in service across the expansion phases completed in 1928, 1953 and 1958. Heritage listing followed in April 1999.