The return to a more harmonious household was greatly assisted by the coincidence of two, seemingly unrelated, incidents. Though unrelated, each played their part in lifting the spirits of both man and wife. Unsurprisingly, it was positive developments in both the Winford investigation and the Turner family history quest that were responsible.
It was with eager anticipation that Dave and Gritty travelled to Winford to start up the test rig. Initially, they partially opened the inlet valves a small amount, so that the flow of steam, from the turbine into the vessel, was low. This allowed all the components to warm up slowly. The pipework sections groaned as they expanded and adjusted to the rise in temperature. Later, they opened the valves fully and the steam flowed unhindered from the LP turbine pipework and through the test vessel. They noted the temperature and pressure. Dave had decided to delay installing samples until the system had been ‘steam cleaned’ for a few days. Leaving Winford, both Gritty and Dave experienced a mixture of pleasure and relief.
Meanwhile, thanks to the combined efforts of the General Registry Office and the postal service, Sue received her eagerly anticipated certificates from Somerset House. She cleared away the remnants from breakfast to make table room for her studies. She checked her certificates:
Harry Boughton b. 27/4/1878 Father Thomas (Maltster), Mother Martha (formerly Eccles). Born Aston.
Caroline Jane Loomes b. 17/4/1872 Father James Henry (Servant), Mother Caroline (formerly Potten). Born Paddington.
Tom Turner b. 18/4/1873 Father George (Tin Plate Worker), Mother Emma (formerly Perkins). Born Birmingham.
“Yes!” she gasped. It all seemed to fit in with what she knew. Thomas’ job tallied with her information and Caroline Jane’s birthplace was confirmed as Paddington. Her mother’s name was Potten. The certificate for her grandfather Turner was also almost certainly the correct one. She had covered many years during her search through the indexes and although there were several Thomas’, this had been the only Tom and his birthplace was as expected. Sue felt that she could now start building up her family tree in earnest. She couldn’t wait to pay another visit to London and do more searching, tiring though it was.
When Dave arrived home he found Sue to be, if not overwhelmed by his return, at least, not overtly hostile. He was able to add to the improvement in relations by announcing that he was due to collect his contract-hire car the following day. Sue was pleased, as it meant that she would now have the use of their Morris, which would give her much greater independence.
The evening could have passed pleasantly between the two, as Dave’s combined satisfaction of having his test rig up and running, plus the new car, should have made him amenable. Initially he showed an interest in Sue’s recent family history ‘finds’, but he could sense that she would go on and on about them unless he cut her short. He attempted to conceal his increasing boredom.
“So what’s your next step?” he enquired, after looking at her grandparents’ documents.
“Well, for the moment I’ll concentrate on the three couples that I’ve found and try to find details of their parents’ marriage in the indexes. Now that I know the maiden names of my great grandmothers, it will be much easier.”
Whilst Sue paused briefly with this thought, Dave took his chance and went into the hall to collect his briefcase.
“Well, must get on myself.”
Sue was disappointed. She was so enthusiastic, but it was clear that her husband’s priorities lay elsewhere. She was not deceived by his apparent interest in her family history, she realised that he was patronising her. As long as he was not diverted from his own interests he was happy. His attitude saddened her, as one of the pleasures of any activity was being able to share the successes and failures with others.
A few days later Sue phoned Pam to see if she could be persuaded to put down her hammer for the day, as she would like to take her out, it being such lovely weather.
“It’s my treat. I’ve got the car from now on and it’s to say thanks for the lifts that you’ve given me over the past months.”
“You should know by now that it doesn’t take much for me to down tools. The old man will probably have a tantrum and have me thrashed by his manservant when I get back, but I’ll just have to put up with that. Actually, I’m beginning to enjoy this rough treatment, but then Cummings does have something of the Mellors about him, so that’s OK. What time?”
It was an hour later when Sue drove through the ornate gateway and along the tree-lined drive, to the eighteenth century house. The sun slanted through the beeches and, as she neared the building, an abundance of snowdrops lit up the imposing frontage. There were masses of them, including numerous large islands on the lawn in front of the main doorway. Crocuses were also making a determined effort to compete. She gave the archaic bell-pull a good tug and was disappointed when the door was opened by a frail lady and not the Mellors look-alike. Perhaps another time. Pam almost knocked the old dear off her feet as she brushed past her.
Sue’s suggestion of Salisbury was fine with Pam, who relaxed, as best as anyone with her background could, in a Morris 1100. Strangely, Pam found that it was a pleasant change to be a passenger. Sue would have thought that someone in her friend’s exalted position, would be used to being chauffeured everywhere, even to the local shops. Not so apparently.
They took the journey sedately. Wiltshire was a lovely county and Sue was, from now on, going to make every effort to enjoy it. Through Devizes and onwards to the open plain – wonderful. The rolling hills either side, the odd stand of beech and the sunshine. Later, having turned right just before Stonehenge, they passed a cluster of burial mounds and gradually descended towards Salisbury, instantly recognisable even though still some way off, by occasional glimpses of the cathedral spire.
Sue and Pam’s day followed their well-established format of a pinch of culture (easily satisfied by Salisbury’s treasures), a purposeful assault on the retail outlets and, favourite by quite a long way, the pub lunch. This long savoured finale was this day enacted at The County Hotel, adjacent to the River Avon, which Sue liked as much for its ambiance, as the food it served. It had, she thought, something of Trollope’s Barchester about it and she could imagine the likes of Mr Harding, Mr Slope and Mrs Proudie sitting in this dining room, though obviously not all at the same table. This thought epitomised her feelings of the differences between her new home and Birmingham. She preferred the old fashioned, genteel air; the slower pace of life that pervaded Bath and the small market towns locally. She still felt herself a Brummie and was at home amongst her humorous, good natured, fellow citizens, but the life in the city was so hectic by comparison.
The meal was enjoyable. They drove home slowly, succumbing to that companionable mood that characterised their relationship.
“Keep your fingers crossed for me. I may escape Cummings’ beating,” said Pam as they drew up at the huge doorway, “but on the other hand, I may be lucky,” she added with a twinkle in her eye. Sue drove the short trip home smiling. Dear Pam, she was priceless.
*
This was the third meeting of the sub-committee and Dave felt a keen anticipation now that he had a meaningful contribution to make. In addition to being able to report upon the on-site test rig, he had information from the Non Destructive Testing Group’s site investigations.
After Henry and Pauline had combined to bring everyone up to date, Henry asked Dorinda McCann to report upon their work and, in particular, to introduce the memo that she and James Collingwood had prepared. Dorinda did this with, Dave thought, an unnecessary amount of formality. In essence though, it was really the tidying up of the information that they had presented at the last meeting, with a few more test details.
It was evident that they were firmly decided that the disc failure was the result of stress corrosion cracking caused by sodium hydroxide, which had been carried over with the steam from the boiler, into the turbine. Dave, though he accepted this was the most likely explanation, believed that other, admittedly less likely, possibilities should not be discounted. Though not having the university background of the others, he felt that his open-minded approach was more appropriate at this early stage.
Joe was next. He reported that he had produced two sets of pre-cracked specimens which he had loaded up to two separate values to obtain, at least a rough idea of the effect of stress intensity. He had also supplied Dave with similar specimens. His own tests were underway using laboratory produced ‘pure’ steam.
Henry expressed delight at the progress being made. He, of course, felt himself, as independent chairman, to be responsible for the overall work of the sub-committee. It was to him that the Technical Committee, overseeing the whole investigation and ultimately the board of the Strategic Supplies Authority, would look to provide answers.
Dave was pleased to report that his on-site test rig had been manufactured and installed on Number 5 turbine and that it was currently being steamed out to clean the system. The pre-cracked specimens he had received from Joe would be placed into the test vessel within days, together with his own specimens. These were un-cracked specimens in the form of plain, small diameter bars, made from LP disc steel, under stress – in effect just long bolts. Dorinda interrupted him, saying that it was ludicrous for anyone to imagine that alloy steels, of the strength level used for the manufacture of turbine discs, could possibly suffer from stress corrosion cracking in high purity steam. She had been studying the phenomenon since her post graduate days, which was longer than she cared to remember. She had contributed to and attended virtually every major conference on the topic. She could say, with confidence, that the small number of chemical solutions that could cause stress corrosion cracking of these alloy steels could be counted on the fingers of one hand and she added, warming to her argument, a pretty small hand at that. James Collingwood added the final point in their argument which was that the credibility of the whole sub-committee would be undermined if it became known that they were pursuing any odd fancy, when there was an urgent job to be completed. Dave was chastened. He was not in a position to refute Dorinda’s superior knowledge, yet he still thought, though did not express his view, that it was good science to include the less likely possibilities, even if only for the purposes of elimination. He sat awaiting Henry’s final judgement.
Before Henry could make his, probably damning, remarks, Joe came to Dave’s rescue in a way that surprised and pleased him. He said that he accepted much of what Dorinda had said but, on second thoughts, it could be that Dave may have a valid point in this instance. Everyone looked across to him for elucidation. After a pause, Joe went on to say that, at this time, everyone seemed to agree that the most likely cause of cracking of the Winford disc and therefore the turbine failure was contaminated steam. Further, it was generally agreed that cracking in normal ‘high purity’ steam was an extremely remote…
“Impossible in my view.”
Following Dorinda’s interruption, Joe continued by saying that this being the case, there remained the slight possibility, though remote, that contamination might still be present at Winford. If this was accepted, then the inclusion of some un-cracked specimens in the trial could be justified. If the chemical analysis of the steam during these trials, which Dave was monitoring, found evidence of contamination, it would give added weight to Dorinda’s hypothesis if the plain specimens did crack.
Some seconds of silence followed Joe’s comments. You’re a real star, was Dave’s unspoken thought. Henry, clearly relieved by Joe’s observation, was pleased to be able to satisfy, to some extent, all parties.
After lunch, Dave passed around a summary of the results of non-destructive testing. A number of apparently sound discs had been removed from the LP rotors of the failed turbine. These had been tested for surface cracking around their bores and keyways, using a magnetic technique. Widespread cracking had been found in some of the discs. It was the pattern of the cracking which Dave thought instructive. The discs that had been positioned near the inlet of the LP steam were the most badly cracked, whilst those nearest the exit from the turbine contained no cracks. In general, cracking of the remainder diminished moving along the turbine rows towards the exit.
It was known that the steam conditions varied along the LP turbine, being just slightly wet near the inlet and becoming increasingly wet along the machine, until the final discs were operating in a continuous shower of water. Furthermore, the fine balance of the steam conditions near the inlet end, was such that it could be either just wet, or just dry, depending upon operating conditions.
Dave summarised, the disc cracking was worst where the steam cycled between being wet and dry and it was absent where the discs were completely wet. It could be postulated therefore that cracking occurred predominantly when the disc surfaces were alternately wet and dry which, he had to admit, fitted in with Dorinda’s idea of contamination. One could imagine the gradual build-up of salt/impurity concentration as the wet/dry cycle took place, rather like the formation of a salt tidemark on a part of a beach, where the sea water evaporated as the tide went in and out. Henry thanked Dave for his contribution.
Dave was pleased with the eventual outcome of the meeting, but the residual tension caused by the argument about his work, with the implied suggestion that he was an idiot, made him weary and this feeling persisted during his journey home. He was less than pleased to find the place a bit of a mess, as well as being very noisy – the Potters’ kids were there again. He was glad that Jo and Katy had friends, but these two were particularly boisterous and this infected his daughters, which meant that when the four were together, he knew that he would have to resign himself to two or three hours of disruption.
Sue seemed to take it all in her stride. Of course, the bilateral agreement with Betty Potter suited her. This arrangement, plus the car, had led to a great improvement in her quality of life and she was no longer dependent upon Pam, who had been away quite often lately anyway.
*
During idle moments Sue had wondered about Pam and her relationship with her husband. Although she had not met Lord Marden, she had seen his photograph in the local paper in a variety of roles, including cutting the ribbon across the front of a new block of flats and pink-clad on horseback at the local meet. He appeared to be older than Pam, but still an attractive, imposing figure. On occasions, Sue also contemplated Pam’s precise relationship with Charles. Pam had, to Sue’s knowledge, had several meetings with him, including at least one in her London flat. She wondered? Her thoughts then turned to Betty Potter and what her reasons for wanting to be away from home so regularly might be. A man?
Oh! Susan, do stop it. Inexplicably, Peter then came into her mind. What would people be thinking about her? Had anyone from the village seen them out together, say in the Crystal Palace in Bath? What would they be saying? She shook her head dismissively. It was nonsense. Peter was nice, charming and good company and that was it. She didn’t care what other people made of it.
“Just how long are those bloody kids going to be here?” Sue was shaken out of her reverie by Dave’s outburst. “They’re becoming a blessed nuisance,” he continued.
“For goodness sake, Dave, they’re kids, they’re enjoying themselves. It seems you’ve forgotten what that was like since you’ve been down here.” Having said that, Sue went into the kitchen to prepare the evening meal. She was annoyed, partly with herself for her reaction to her husband’s irritability. Her mood had been altered in just the few minutes that he’d been home. In recent times, there had been periods where an uncomfortable atmosphere simmered just below the surface between them and this was the case for the remainder of that evening. He was so completely focussed upon his investigations.
A couple of days later, Peter called to say that another London trip was planned shortly, did she want to take advantage of it? Sue responded enthusiastically saying that she would be delighted but she’d have to check with Mrs Potter. The arrangements were subsequently confirmed.