johntur

thank you for info will give it a go john

Thank you for your comments John

I am in proses of building a 4mm model of Cambridge sidings Devonshire Road Engine sheds coaling tower and Cambridge Station in the mid 1950s as i used to go there as a child does any one know what the tw0 articles in the fore ground were used for were some sort of cleaning arches to clean the engines i remember seeing them but never found out the purpose has any one got any ideas

HI Jamie Co0uld you please send through the remaining photos of coaling tower I seem to lost them some where as my old lap top give up the ghost many thanks john

Hi John, The wagon is held on th eplatform using it's brakes. When the lift starts the wagon tips as it progresses up the guide rails and rests against the timber baulks attached to the vertical on the platform. This adds further security from any movement purely by friction. Now the bit you questioned. The platform has two guide wheels, the top one runs at the rear of the vertical guide rail whilst the bottom runs at the front. As the wagon reached the top the former runs into the channel show in the first three photos above and comes to rest against a stop. The latter lifts off the rail and the platform moves through an arc tipping the wagon through 90+ deg to start the emptying operation. During this the top of the wagon makes contact with the 'rope wound' timber baulks shown in the prototype photos 2 and 3. There are two of these, on either side which are held against the top of the wagon during the tipping operation and prevent it from falling off the platform. Both are fixed to the steel rectangular frame shown in the pics. The arc metal frame in pic 1 prevents the stop roller from jumping out. There are about 2.5tons of counter balance weights attached to each arm of the tipping mechanism - shown outboard of each vertical guide rail at the top in pic 4. I need to model this on Barrow Road'd coaler as Pete has modelled the earlier version of the counter balance weight s which dropped to ground level - Accrington Coaler had this type and this was the drawing I send to Pete for the model. At the time I was not aware of any difference. Hope this helps, Regards, Robin Hi Robin Thank you for all the information you sent me it will be of great help to me when i start to model my coaling tower , i asumed the cradle worked after studing your pictures but was not sure of the tipping of the wagons , we used to have a coaling tower in Cambridge but alas it has long gone .. When i complete my working model i will send some pictures i plan to do a prototype in card then the final tower in plastic card Meny thanks regards John

Hi Jamie Could you help please i am building a coaling tower for my model rail lay out, and i am stuck with the securing of the wagon at the top of the tower when it tips, look forward to hearing from you regards john

Hi Robin have you any idea how the wagons were secured when they were tiped at the top off the tower. your model looks great regards john