Marconi Wireless Station Clifden

[`FRANK.C]

Prompted by this thread  I decided to take a trip to Clifden to have a look at the Marconi site to see what if anything is left of it.
Before I set off I checked street view on google maps which showed that there was a road right up to where the condenser house used to be.
After the 2 and half hour journey there I discovered the road closed. With a locked gate across it.

I was pleasantly supersized to find that they have built a car park at the main road and turned the area around the Marconi site into a 5 kilometer walk.
The walk is well done. For the most part it is on a bog road. Anywhere that it has to cross the peat they have constructed board walks.
Most of the buildings foundations are still there. There are information panels at each of the buildings explaining what they are.

The walk is called "Derrigimlagh Looped Walk" If anyone is over that direction it is well worth a visit.
The day I went was a warm dry day and it was a very enjoyable.
I wouldn't recommend going a wet or showery day as it is a very bleak and windswept place with no shelter in sight.

Some photos below
The last photo is one of the areal mast foundations one of the concrete guy wire anchors can be see in the distance.

Frank

[peter scott]

I've never been but interesting to get your impressions Frank and see your photos. Would I be right in thinking that photo 4 is the footing
for one of the aerial masts?

Thanks,

Peter

[`FRANK.C]

Hi Peter
Yes that is one of the footings. As far as I under stand the earlier masts were wooden and were replaced with metal ones.
I would think these footings were for the later metal masts.

A few more photos
The power house
               

The managers house
       
One of the local guides.
   
Frank

[peter scott]

Thanks Frank, I'd seen a photo of the power house shafts before but I hadn't realised the size of them until seeing your photo. The sheep doesn't appear to be a very good lawn mower.

Peter

[Kalee20]

Serious amounts of power - two 373kW engines.

But the guide makes mention of two vertical steam engines - which would make sense for 25Hz alternators, direct drive without a gearbox. Yet there's mention of (and existence of!) a turbine too, of significant size - what was this for?

[peter scott]

There seems to have been quite a few evolutions of the power house. Here's a triple expansion (I think) engine driving and alternator (I think).

   

Peter

[Kalee20]

It's certainly a piston engine rather than a turbine. And that does look like an alternator - no high-power brush gear, for instance!

[`FRANK.C]

In 1913 Marconi built a receiving station in nearby Letterfrack so they could send and receive at the same time.
When I see the size of the site, all the buildings, equipment and people that worked there it makes me think what the cost of sending a message was.
It must be out of reach of all but very big business and government.

Frank