| Well, tour 3 starts in the
Organ room. This has got to be one of the strangest exhibitions I have ever
seen. It is a bit like something out of Heath Robinson's back yard. You make music in an
organ by blowing air across a tube opening. So we start with whiskey jars. |  |
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There are some fantastic motors probably dating from the turn of the
century. These are the sorts of machinery which would have powered organs at
the turn of the century (BE - before electronics). |
| I've no idea how many
organs there are in this room but most would not be out of place in
a cathedral. Note the piano on the wall, not a normal part of an organ. |  |
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If you look up, and it is a three storey building, the ceiling is also
covered in organ pipes. I would think these are ex-church organs by the statues
associated with them. |
| The timpani are probably
borrowed from the musical automata or fairground organ genre and just
patched in. They are certainly impressive when used elsewhere especially in
the Carousel room with a very deep bass. |  |
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There is a lot of copper which looks as though it came from breweries.
Quite what its purpose i now is unclear, unless it is to manage the airflow.
Heath Robinson would have known. |
| All of these organs
require a console and there are three of the largest ever seen, including
the largest in the world. Quite how you would master these is beyond me.
Makes a Wurlitzer look puny. |  |
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This is a later electronic console and it may be that this is the largest
(however you measure these things). |
| But then you get this one
complete with TV monitors. These are surely beyond man to play. Perhaps you
program them like the other musical automata here.. |  |
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I know I have complained about the lighting, but they did try - there are several huge chandeliers high above trying to shed
at least some
light on the chaos below.. |
| Interspersed amongst the
organs are several huge clocks. This is probably 15 ft high and is one of
the smaller ones. They aren't quite Rowland Emmett, but if Alex Jordan had
met him then he would have had one of his as well |  |
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You need power for all this and what better to provide it than an old
marine engine with its burnished copper pipes and wires and dials. |
| It must include a
generator because of the huge copper braided wires on one side. And the bit
in the foreground?. |  |
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The propellor shaft, silly! |
| There are several pillars
holding up various parts of the collection and these are decorated with German/Austrian beer
mugs. Mind, you would need several football teams to drink these dry - they
are 10-15ft high. |  |
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There are smaller ones, but what they lack in size they make up for with
ornate decoration. You need flash to see these because it is so dark. Here you
can see three from the 20 or so surrounding this pillar which supports
more organ pipes. |
| In theory you can reach
the upper levels by these spiral staircases but most of them aren't
connected to anything at the top or the bottom. They are mostly carpeted in
red, in keeping with the overall decoration and the lighting. |  |
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These I recognise! There must be thousands of control boards in there somewhere, if any
of it works (and some certainly do). These are on display in one of the
shop windows. |
| I didn't take this shot
but found it on the web. I've no idea where it was taken from but it does give
an overall feel for the complexity of the room. |  |
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