@Dave This shoot has me crapping my pants! Finding photo shoots of these old engine houses is near impossible. I'd wear out a camera in this place just on these engines alone! Motts could post 100s of photos of these from every angle and detail, and I'd love every one! I'd want to see all the specs and blueprints, all of it. But then, I'm sick that way. ;o)
Slow. IIRC, the large flywheels on most of the old monsters never went over 500 RPM, if that. Many much slower. It was the heavy weight that stored the power, not the speed so much.
I've hunted down material on old giant engines in that past. Those flywheels had to made properly and used very carefully. Flywheel explosions were not uncommon. A runaway flywheel easily destroyed the building it was in, sent pieces into surround buildings, and took more than one engine mechanic out! Governor belts might break, governor sticks, an engine runs away? Guys scrambled to shut it down, but only the ones that dared to go near it!
NOW we're talkin'! I could spend a whole day just looking at those engines. I believe the massive steam engines for the rolling mills were removed from this site some years back. Huge giants!
When these giant installations are scrapped, it can send ripples through the scrap iron markets and reduce prices. Sometimes local groups want things preserved as historical sites. Maybe the owner thinks the stuff will sell some day to be used elsewhere? It's a good question, especially when some types of iron scrap topped $200 a ton. Motts mentioned 7 police cars. The owners get free security compliments of the local municipal infrastructure? Ok, takes a little "grease". Almost free.