Tailrace Tunnel Outlet: (Satellite, 229 photos)
This Niagara Parks website has a lot of information about this station.
The road goes over the forebay.
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| Street View, Jul 2015 |
The road goes over the forebay.
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| Street View, Apr 2021 |
Robert Gauthier posted two photos with the comment: "Canadian Niagara Power Forebay as it was being built in 1904. Second pic is from last week."
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| Candice Ann commented in Robert's post On a nice foggy day...it is an amazing building. |
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| Robert Gauthier commented on his post |
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| Dougie Jay posted Postcard of The OPG & Canadian Niagara Wm B Rankine Stations (Buffalo Morning News, courtesy ebay) |
You can take a tour that allows you to walk through the 2,200' (670m) long tailrace tunnel to the outlet for some interesting views of the falls and gorge. An elevator takes you down 180' (55m) from the plant to the tunnel.
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| Karen Hitchen, Oct 2023 |
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| NiagaraFallsTourism This was the first major power plant on the Canadian side of the Niagara River. |
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| 0:41 video @ 0:25 via NiagaraParks |
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| NiagaraFallsLive In 2023, the self guided tour was $20 (Canadian) for adults. The tunnel tour opened in 2022. |
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| Marni Blake Walter posted "The Tunnel" |
Not only was the tunnel dynamited out of bedrock, but the 14' (4 1/4m) deep forebay was also dynamited out of bedrock.
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| NiaragraParks_construction, this webpage has several more construction photos Construction started in 1901. "Although the plant was ready to generate power by the end of 1904, its generators did not operate until July 27, 1905. At the time it opened, the power station was 296 feet (90 metres) long and big enough to house five generators that were brought into operation between 1905 and 1906. In 1913, the plant was expanded to 600 feet (183 metres) and five additional generators were added by 1917. The eleventh and last generator was added in 1924." [I have not been able to find the megawatt rating of the generators.] |
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| Marni Blake Walter posted Niagara Parks Power Station |
This post taught me that the original name was the William B. Rankine Station.
Mark Knupp posted eight photos with the comment: "William B. Rankine Station Niagara Falls Canada. 25 cycle 11 units. Quite a unique operation. Now a museum. Would've loved seeing this in the full operational era."
James Irons: Why would they shut down a hydro operation ? Couldn't it be updated with new turbines ?
Mark Knupp: James Irons 25 cycle, some issue with rock strada shifting the alignment of the shafts . The turbines are 9 floors down. And water rights.
[At least they preserved it as a museum rather than tear it down or let it die a slow death.]
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A comment on the above post provided the following link.
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| MarkCsele, it has an extensive history and collection of photos |
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| 12:34 YouTube video @ 4:11 The thrust deck |
Was Rankine the Ontario Power Co.?
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| Voith Group posted Would you have thought that Voith was already commissioned 120 years ago by customers all over the world to build turbines for the generation of #CleanEnergy? As early as 1903, Voith received a special order to build large turbines for the power stations at Niagara Falls. 💦 The Ontario Power Company there ordered twelve Francis spiral turbines. At the time, this was no ordinary request, the twin turbines, each rated at up to 12,000 hp, were among the largest and most powerful ever built. 💪 This spectacular project caused quite a stir among experts as the turbines reached an output that had never before been achieved. ➡️ Are you curious about hydropower? Check out all the great information on our website: https://voith.com/corp-en/industry-solutions/hydropower.html Brett Wanamaker shared |
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| Canada Explore posted Best view of Niagara Fall Dougie Jah shared [About a fourth of the way down on the right is the Welland River from which Canal #1 goes to the Sir Adam Beck Power Station. Below the mouth of the Welland River are the two intake towers for the tunnels that veed Canal #2 of the SAB station. The dam sticking out into the Niagara River is the International Control Structure. At night, its gates are close to divert the river's flow to the American and Canadian power stations. As the bank of the Niagara River approaches the right side of the photo we see the Ontario Power Intake. It fed a tunnel that I think went to this now removed power station. Next is the diagonal dam and intake structure for the Toronto Power Station. Finally, we see most of the diversion dam for the William B. Rankine (Niagara Parks) Power Station. Niagara History and Trivia shared |
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| 1:42 video @ 1:06 (source: NiagaraParks) |
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