A view of the RECLAMATION PLANT positioned in Tees Dock on 13 June 1968.
T.C.C. RECLAMATION PLANT NO. 1
STEEL NON-PROPELLED STATIONARY FLOATING PUMPING PLANT
Port of Registry: Stockton; Registered tonnage 206.02 (gross?); dimensions: 110'0" x 28'1" x 10'1" (that's feet ' and inches " in each case).
Built by Fleming & Ferguson Ltd., Paisley, 1931 for Tees Conservancy Commissioners, Middlesbrough, at a cost of £36,751.
Capable of disposing material by means of centrifugal pumps through a 4,000 foot pipeline and to a static head of 20 feet at the rate of 1,000 tons per hour. Fitted with a clear water diluting pump capable of delivering 17,000 gallons of water per minute.
To allow for rise and fall of tide, a special ball and socket joint pipe with telescopic connection is fitted between the pontoon and the fixed discharge pipeline on the jetty. Power taken from a 11,000 volt main through a 1,500 K.V.A., 11,000/440 volt transformer. Twelve-way link box fitted on pontoon to receive shore cables. Arrangements made for disconnection to enable vessel to be moved.
The main pumps motors are each 750 Brake Horse Power and arranged to work either singly or in series; 293 rpm. The diluting pump motor is 350 Brake Horse Power at 587 rpm. Electrically driven winches are fitted fore and aft, for the purpose of fleeting (sic - but not sure what that means?) the barges.
Fitted with a complete installation of lighting and heating, through a 440/110 volts 3 phase transformer. Alternative supply available from a "Gardner" 2L2, hand-starting compression ignition heavy oil engine stand-by generating set.
The book then goes on to detail who supplied the various motors, with serial numbers!
By 1968 the plant had passed into the hands of the Tees and Hartlepools Port Authority, newly formed on 1 January 1967. Most reclamation work on the river was by then about complete after a 30-40 year programme. I can't recall exactly, but I suspect the plant did not survive many more years after this.
Ron
The following details are taken from an invaluable "little black book" which I salvaged from someone who was going to throw it out!! when he and I left THPA Ltd.