Internal Fire - Museum Of Power

Internal Fire - Museum Of Power

The Mid Wales coast is not an area associated with heavy industry, yet it's in this rural landscape that the impressive collection belonging to the 'Internal Fire - Museum Of Power' can be found. The museum is dedicated to the preservation of large-scale diesel engines and associated machinery, currently holding over 40 engines in their collection. It is hard to imagine these days an era when electricity wasn't generally available, even in the remotest corners of the countryside. The engines on display at the museum date from a period when the need for power away from towns and cities would often be satisfied by the installation of a self contained power plant, usually driven by a diesel engine. Whether the situation was a remote country mansion that needed electricity to light the house, or large scale land drainage schemes that required constant pumping, the diesel engine would quietly pound away unnoticed.
The museum is currently housed in two display halls; the first contains examples of smaller engines that may have satisfied small industrial or rural needs. Each engine has been set in appropriate surroundings, in one case the tile floored engine room represents a typical pump house. An 11HP Crossley VO vertical engine drives a Worthington Simpson water pump in typical estate surroundings. In the next bay along a 16hp McLaren horizontal engine drives a 12kVA alternator alongside battery chargers and racks of batteries. This combination also provides three-phase electricity to the museum workshops and acts as a backup supply for the museum.
The majority of engines housed at Internal Fire are larger machines that need to be started from compressed air, these wouldn't look out of place driving factories or large pumping stations. Opposite the smaller engines in the first exhibition hall is a line of these machines, a typical example being the Bellis & Morcom S5 generator set. This 3 cylinder 100hp engine dates from early 1938 and was probably built for the air ministry. The engine is directly coupled to a 100kVA single phase 250V generator and can be seen running on a daily basis.

Moving across a small courtyard to the second exhibition hall you are met by engines large and small. Not all of the engines on display have spent their life hard at work, the 6 cylinder Ruston RKC Diesel on display was frequently disassembled and rebuilt at the companies training school. Alongside the RKC is the more modern design of a Ruston V8 Turbocharged Diesel, this spent a life of luxury touring exhibitions as a showpiece engine. Also on display at the museum is a research engine and gas turbine generator, alongside impressive open-crank horizontal and vertical engines. The majority of engines currently installed are in running order, with many being started and stopped each day as visitors tour the site. As one of the few centres dedicated to the diesel engine it is well worth a visit.
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