Barrow Road Coaling Tower
Since receiving the model of the Coaling Tower from Peter Leyland I have been collecting research material on the operation of the tower with the intention of making the coaler operational.
Whether this results in full operation, with the wagon tipper operational, or whether the wagon hoist is just raised under the hood, remains to be seen.
Recently I obtained permission from West Coast Railways to visit their Carnforth Site in order to photograph the Coal & Ash Plants as part of this research. The most difficult part of the research was to identify the tipping mechanism of the plant which is obscured by the 'hood' at the top of the hoist.
For those officionados of mechanical coaling plants here are a few close up photos taken with a telephoto lens. Unfortunately the plant has concrete cancer and for the usual health & safety reasons [ I did ask] I was not able to climb the plant [ sounds like Jack i the Beanstalk]. The other reason being the bottom 20ft of the access ladder had been cut off!
I have other photos of details on both the Coal & Ash plants if anyone is interested.
West Coast Railways kindly gave me a guided tour of the site where amongst other locos present I saw Scots Guardsman and the completed chassis of Jubilee 'Galatea'. A pleasure to see another former Barrow Road loco in the process of restoration.
A trip down to the East Lancs followed with the sighting of another ex Barrow Road Jubilee 'Leander' and a trip behind her to Rawtenstall & return.
Today I visited the History Centre at Chippenham where I found the 1937 GA drawing of Bristol LMS - Locomotive Coaling Plant - Ref 2515/409/0719ms. Excellent drawings of the end and front elevation with the 'hood' removed.This drawing has eluded me on previous visits not least because it is not with the other Barrow Road material - it was with the GWR Bath Road shed material - now I do'nt recall that railway having modern coaling facilities!
In the meantime I am pressing on with the 'very long' ash disposal pits. An update will follow in the next few days.
- 2
14 Comments
Recommended Comments
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now