The original pencil thin funnel

[June Ingram]

QE2 is simply the epitome of beauty !

[Rod]

Could of been a safety valve blowing.

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Could of been a safety valve blowing.

Could you elaborate please, Rod, for those like me (but I am probably the only one who needs such explanations...) who lack understanding?

Would the smoke normally issue at the top of the funnel (actually, with a bit of imagination, I can see some there)?

Is it coming out the side of the funnel as it seems to on the photo?

Why would a safety valve blowing make it do that?

Is it dangerous for the ship when a safety valve blows? Does it happen often?

[Clydebuilt1971]

Isabelle,

If I'm correct I assume Rod is referring to the safety relief valves for the boilers. These are there to protect the boilers from over pressure and are activated when the internal pressure exceeds a certain value, venting steam directly from the boilers to atmosphere to reduce the pressure - that s is the plume you see in the photo. As the name suggests they are a safety feature there to protect the boilers (and the ship) from the effects of over pressure.

I would imagine the noise would've have been quite something if a safety lifted - I've been on board Waverley when hers are being tested prior to going back into service and its quite a roar!

See attached pic for example.

Hope this helps.

Gav

[Rod]

Smoke would come out of the top (black bit) of the funnel. Steam, the lower part.
Clydebuilt's explanation is good. It could have been a test or a problem.

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Thank you both very much for your responses. I may now be much closer to understanding the situation!

Could it to be something akin to an old fashioned railway engine releasing steam... (also a fairly noisy affair) ? 

[Peter Mugridge]

Could it to be something akin to an old fashioned railway engine releasing steam... (also a fairly noisy affair) ? 

That's exactly right, except on a much bigger scale.

[Bob C.]

A bit dissimilar but same principle, my office is near the Walt Disney World Railroad roundhouse.  Every morning the engineers test the "pop-off" valve on the engines being put into service for the day which is pretty much the same thing as the safety valve being discussed. Quite noisy.

[Thomas Hypher]

This video, just prior to her re-engining shows the steam escape valves in action with sound - so yes a lot like a steam locomotive.

Thomas

[Rod]

The control room shown, is NOT the Turbine Control Room I remember, neither are the views of the other machinery spaces! An Officer wandering round the spaces in uniform??? Something definitely fishy there!!!!
The funnel shot is real, steam from a safety and smoke from the port boiler.

[Thomas Hypher]

Referring to Adam's post (number 135) and Rod's post (number 136). The photo of her original funnel releasing the steam via the emergency valves is a screengrab/screenshot from her final steam departure from Southampton in late 1986, when heading to Bremerhaven (hence her worn appearance). The engineers released the steam deliberately to mark/celebrate the occasion as she'd next be seen in Southampton in early 1987 as a motorship.

Here's one of the news report videos the screenshot is from:

Thomas

[Thomas Hypher]

Sorry, this is the exact video:

Thomas

[Michael Gallagher]

Back to Gardner and his funnel. He was determined it should not be painted in Cunard's red and black and would not miss an opportunity to push his preferred black and white scheme.

Having given Gardner’s design work unqualified support up to this point, Sir Basil Smallpeice decided that, on this controversial issue, diplomacy was required and so he decided to pass the buck. In an unexpected bout of conservatism, he elected to ask for The Queen's opinion when showing a model of the Q4 to her at Buckingham Palace at a special private audience, arranged in relation to Her Majesty's invitation to launch the ship in September 1967.

Gardner later recalled how the matter was irrevocably resolved once and for all:

“A week later he (Sir Basil) rang. Apparently he was a buddy of the Queen and wanted to show her the model (to ask if she would acquiesce to her name being linked with it, I guessed). I was to meet him with it at the side door of the Palace, and, ‘oh bring both funnels, please, your first one and the one in Cunard house colours’. So, he would ask the Queen, and my guess was she would plump for the red one; after all to anyone not practised at the objective visual design it would look more like a Cunard funnel is expected to look. At the appointed hour my model maker and I were gingerly steering the fragile model into the hands of a flunky, when Smallpeice asked: ‘Where’s the red funnel?’ ‘Awfully sorry’, I said, ‘it fell off this morning and someone trod on it. Absolutely useless, I’m afraid’. Smallpeice just gave me one look”.

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

What a wonderful story, Michael!

I wonder what the Queen thought when she was given the "You can have any colour so long as it's white" option...