British Columbia Ferry Corporation
130 m Burnaby Class RO-RO/Passenger Ferry
MV Queen of New Westminster

The British Columbia Ferry Corporation single-ended ferry, MV Queen of New Westminster, has undergone a major refit. Four new 3375 kW (4590 hp) engines and a complete propulsion control system were installed.

The propulsion controls and consoles were designed and manufactured by Prime Mover Controls Inc. The control system is primarily pneumatic and it includes engine manifold pressure load limiting, which minimizes smoke during acceleration. The engine control room console and three bridge consoles incorporate the ship's controls and instrumentation.

PMC PCA-2L hydraulic/pneumatic pitch controllers provide accurate pitch positioning throughout the pitch range. When the engine fuel requirements reach a predetermined speed/power curve, the load control feature of the pitch controller is activated. The fast yet stable automatic load control adjusts pitch automatically to maintain the fuel consumption at the predetermined speed/power relationship. If the load changes for any reason the pitch controller automatically compensates by changing the pitch and thus maintains optimum loading on the engines.

Automatic load sharing is incorporated to satisfy the close tolerance required by two engines sharing a single load.

All critical machinery functions are continuously monitored and displayed by a PMC Type 8421 alarm annunciator system. This solid-state, fully programmable annunciating system offers high reliability as well as ease of service with interchangeable identical plug-in modules.

The PMC Type 5401 lever telegraph system provides emergency orders between the bridge and engine control room. These telegraphs include the nine standard telegraph orders as well as bridge control, standby and finished with engines. They also include wrong direction alarms. PMC's new 2302 RVDT fuel rack position transmitter provides fuel rack position signals to the fuel management system.

PMC also supplied a Type 8118 digital tachometer system which displays shaft rpm on digital meters in the engine room and analog meters in the bridge.

Pictures