a fairground life(with a little help from my friends)

July 2006
It was a very hot July with soaring record temperatures. We were open daily from noon when the sun was at its hottest. A casualty of this extra heat (I believe so any way) was the Miami generator. It was a Gardener 230 (6LXCT) with an old 140Kva alternator attached. Most Gardener engines peak between 1750-1900 rpm. So when this was running at 1550 rpm to drive the alternator it was pretty nearly flat out, so it was LOUD. The other problem with Gardener engines is that they seem to leak oil from every orifice! That said the engine never puffed any black smoke during high load changes.(The miami ride is really hard to drive for a generator ( aka-set) due to the all or nothing demand it makes during operation. The load changes from all to nothing every 3 seconds-150 kva then 0kva then repeat )The alternator was only 140 kva but since it was "old" it was wound heavier with more redundancy. The thing worked well until this very hot July Saturday afternoon when it ran a main bearing. We didn't know what the problem was at first, only that after it run for a couple of minutes it produced clouds of white smoke back pressure.
First things first-How am I going to power the ride until we fix the set? Since no other showman on that fair had a spare set big enough I would have to hire one. It was Saturday though, I phoned around and another showman gave me the number of ML Hire near Shotts. I gave them a call and luckily got an answer. Yes, they had a set big enough-250 kva super silent all singing and all dancing. Yes, I could hire it and Yes, I could pick it up today if I got someone to deliver it. Now here is the problem, The set weighs over 4 tons, its over 4m (12ft) long, 2m (6ft) wide and 2m (6ft) high, so it aint gonna fit in the car boot! Where can I find a lorry and Hiab big enough to lift it on a Saturday at short notice to bring it to me??? On the phone again to a few showmen with lorries with Hiabs attached. Within twenty minutes I had arranged for a lorry and trailer to meet me at ML premises to get the set. Off I go and sure enough FF appears at ML within the hour. He has a step frame flat trailer about 10m (30ft) long and unit with Hiab attached. The ML chap uses their own fork lift to put the set onto the trailer for us, I sign the doc and we set off for the fair. We wait until 6:30 pm for the fair to close so we can bring the vehicle on site. Thinking that I will only need the set for a few days we leave it on the trailer and position it behind the ride. I connect the mains and try out. The 250 kva should eat this I thought. It did , but I found we had to drive the ride easier, especially from start up. This new set was more powerful but it only had a 7.5lt engine compared to the 10lt Gardener. It was a Volvo Penta engine, with an inter-cooler attached to give it the power boost. Problem was that it took 4 secs to charge the intercooler. The miami has a 3 sec cycle, so by the time the set had produced the power the ride didn't want it anymore! This meant puffs of black smoke during peak demands (start or direction change) and at one point we stalled the set completely! So we learned to control the ride softer for the sake of the set. The next day a Gardener mechanic came and looked at the old set. He concluded it was a main bearing as he could feel the crankcase get red-hot at one point and the white smoke was the friction from the bearing.
Now it was decision time- Do I replace the old Gardener engine for another at a cost of a few hundred pounds or Do I replace the whole set for a modern one? Further to this Do I buy a second hand set at a few thousand pounds or a new custom one at a cost of tens of thousands of pounds?? When it comes to decisions I usually make the wrong one that why I hate making them. Any how, after seeing this all singing brand spanking New hire set, super silent, better on fuel and with touch screen control my mind was made up--Brand New Set. The next day I made a few calls and spoke to a number of showmen with 'knowledge' of new sets. JM was very good and explained that I needed an engine that was after-cooled to avoid the time lag problem or an engine that was larger in capacity so had the power without any turbo, both of these would avoid the black smoke issue. He told me the name of a showman to call in England who had not one but two Miami rides and both had New generators on them. I looked in the Showman's Guild book and found the location of the other showman. I gave him a call and introduced myself. This man had never met me, but showman to showman it was of no concern. JW was very helpful, he put my mind at ease and told me the exact generator to buy for the ride and from where. So I called the Generator manufacturer in Pontefract. They could supply a generator for me but it would have to be a special rush job and would still take two weeks.I then arranged finance from a broker. Wasting no time I immediately got in the jeep and drove to the factory with my deposit to start the job. The return trip took around 10 hours but it had to be done. How do I get by in the mean time? Luckily FF was not using his lorry or trailer so we left the hire set on it.The next week he came and moved the hire set to the next fair for me. At the next fair I had my two rides together and decided to try them both on the hire set. Sure enough it powered them both no problem and even run better as it was working harder. FF came back to the fair and lifted off the old set from the lorry and put it on the trailer end to end with the hire set. When the new set was finished I would be ready to go and uplift it. On the thirteenth night from the generator being ordered I left from Bridge of Allan after the fair closed on Thursday night at 11pm to drive down to Pontefract. I was in the Foden, an A reg 6x4 unit with a 400 bhp 14ltr Cummins engine. I was a bit concerned if the lorry would make the long journey ok, but I had no other choice as the new set weighed in a 3 tons, far too heavy for a jeep & trailer. Any way since I was taking the lorry down they would fit the set right on for me. I'm pleased to say it was an un-eventful trip down and at 4:30am I parked outside the factory gates and got my head down for some kip. The next morning I awoke after 8am and went in. There sitting on the factory floor was my new shiny generator-painted to match the lorry as I had supplied the paint RAL number.I was pleased as punch. They lifted the set on and bolted it to the chassis for me. Just on 10 am I set sail back to Bridge of Allan, again another smooth trip home. The set was a Cummins 8.5lct after cooled engine with a 200 kva alternator.It was in a soundproof cabinet with a 1000 ltr fuel tank built in. At just on 5pm I pulled onto the funfair. I positioned the set behind the rides and plugged both in. I started it up and put the rides in motion, there was no smoke,no noise, it did exactly what they said it would. Another disaster overcome! That weekend FF came and removed the hire set for me.
The old Foden had made the trip, but I noticed that one of the drive shaft Hardy Splicers was breaking up. I had a spare and changed it. Just made it home in time I thought. At the end of the fair I left to go to Kirriemuir, the Foden had barely gone two miles when the main air supply pipe from the compressor blew. It took me all-day to make that trip while making running repairs, when I did get to Kirrie the lorry ended up with new re-inforced pipe right through, a blow off valve, wet tank, tanks straps and the compressor head removed and cleaned! I really did get back to Bridge of Allan with no miles to spare!! The new set is running fine, I only had a small hiccup-at Kirrie I noticed a loose bolt. It turned out that since it was a rush job they had put an apprentice on it and he had fitted the wrong length bolts. I changed them and that was that. The new set powers the skydiver,miami and Dropzone all at once and uses less diesel than the two sets I used to use (100 kva perkins and 140 kva Gardener). It seems I finally made a right decision. Thanks to FF,JM and JW for their help and information. I got by with a little help from my friends.