Working at GEC in the 1980s

I graduated from Strathclyde University with a BSc in Mechanical Engineering in the mid 1980s.  Steam turbines were my passion and I got a job at GEC Turbine Generators in Rugby.  My wife and I moved down to Rugby and I started the GEC Graduate Trainee program. This involved three months at East Warwickshire college doing my Engineering Practice 1 (where you get practical experience of Lathes, Milling Machines, Grinders, Pillar Drills and a host of other machines), then three months doing Engineering Practice 2 where myself and four others built an Environmental Fretting Test Rig. We had to give a presentation on the project to the Chief Turbine Engineer which was a daunting task.

Then followed a period of placements in various sections of the company including:

• Vibration Laboratory (Blade Vibration Section)
• Turbine Design Section (Foundation Design)
• Power Station Projects Division.
• Manufacturing plant (in the erecting shop)
• On site (at Torness Power Station) where I actually got a tour inside the nuclear reactor core on Unit 1 before it was fuelled.

Flashbacks

At the end of the placements I chose to work in the Vibration Laboratory (Turbine Vibration Section). Where we tested assembled rotors for vibration before they were delivered to site.  I got to do on site vibration balancing at Port Talbot steel works and at the Trafford Park testing facility.  I also went on site at LittleBrook Power Station to assist in an investigation of a turbine problem and Thorpe Marsh to check vibration levels after an annual maintenance.  I also did confirmation calculations on balancing for a colleague who was on site in San Onofre Nuclear Power Station.  I would pass by San Onofre 30 years later on a tour of California when I had a real flashback to my time in GEC.

The training, support and opportunities that were provided to graduate trainees in GEC was exceptional and I would have loved to stay there as I was doing real engineering work which I really enjoyed.  I would still be there today if homesickness and an offer from the South of Scotland Electricity Board had not drawn me back home.

Some fantastic people

I met some fantastic people in my time at GEC, the graduate intake included people from Scotland, Ireland, England and Hong Kong.  My only regret is that I did not keep in touch with my colleagues.

I recently bought my wife a book as part of her Christmas “Embracing my Scars” by Jerry Morrisey and it turns out Jerry was on the same GEC graduate program four years after me (we just missed each other).  Steve Rigg (the physical education teacher at East Warwickshire College who I was friends with) was Jerry’s best man at his wedding and Jerry was also friendly with Bill Armstrong who was in my graduate intake and went on to have a senior position in GEC.  It is a small world.

The photo shows me when I worked in the Vibration Laboratory as a Turbine Balancing Engineer round about 1985-1986. This was one of the test beds we had to test blades, and the balancing engineers used to practice on before going out to a location (anywhere in the world) to balance a turbine or to confirm all was running well after annual maintenance.