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Curious track arrangement


highpeakman
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Apologies if this has been raised before but I couldn't find it.

 

This picture appeared on Facebook today and the shot shows the bottom of the incline leading to Mapperley Brickworks in Nottingham. 

 

To the left seems to be a catch pit as might be expected at the bottom of the incline but I can't understand why there appears to be two separate routes to it. What is the purpose of that little loop arrangement? 

brickworks pointwork.JPG

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Functionally, it is a logical AND gate, and I imagine this is exactly the purpose here. Two separate conditions, A and B, each need to be fulfilled for a wagon to run onto the correct line. I can imagine someone working out how to make A operate a set of points, and how to make B operate a set of points, but not how to make A and B both operate the same set of points.

 

There is a hint of point rodding running through the bridge on the left, which suggests that the first set of points is controlled from the incline head.

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1 minute ago, Jeremy C said:

Functionally, it is a logical AND gate, and I imagine this is exactly the purpose here. Two separate conditions, A and B, each need to be fulfilled for a wagon to run onto the correct line. I can imagine someone working out how to make A operate a set of points, and how to make B operate a set of points, but not how to make A and B both operate the same set of points.

 

There is a hint of point rodding running through the bridge on the left, which suggests that the first set of points is controlled from the incline head.

 

OK. I see what you are getting at. So for a wagon travelling normally and going to the right into the sidings then both the control at the top of the incline and control at the bottom have to "agree" that all is OK by setting their respective levers otherwise the wagon would go into the catch trap. If either think there is a problem they can direct the wagon into the trap. That does make sense.

 

So two people need to make a decision about a runaway? Would that be a bit of over control especially during that era when safety wasn't such a priority? If you realise that the Cromford and High Peak relied on just one man watching for runaways to direct them into the catch pit. Also I guess the "second" control need not be at the top of the incline but could be just behind the photographer.

 

The item also showed this photo of the incline and it looks quite steep and long - difficult to see if there is any control link running beside the track. I must admit the photo track looks  a bit narrow gauge, but that might be just the angle of the photo, so I am not entirely sure if it the same era or even incline?

brickworks incline.JPG

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12 minutes ago, highpeakman said:

So two people need to make a decision about a runaway? Would that be a bit of over control especially during that era when safety wasn't such a priority? If you realise that the Cromford and High Peak relied on just one man watching for runaways to direct them into the catch pit. Also I guess the "second" control need not be at the top of the incline but could be just behind the photographer.

No, that is the point (excuse the pun). Either person on their own can deflect the wagon into the catch pit. A more conventional way of looking at it is that two people, acting independently, each need to decide that the wagon should NOT be directed into the catch pit.

 

You are right about the second control; he could be anywhere (within reason). It was just a guess of mine that the point was set by the person operating the incline at the top.

 

The Disused Stations site for Sherwood (http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/s/sherwood/index5.shtml) dates the first picture as 1904 and the second (which does show a narrow gauge railway) as 1963.

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The narrow gauge lines were ropeways from memory. 

I had a school friend who lived in one of the then newly built houses beside the brickworks incline bridge, which had obviously been out of use a good many years before I went there probably around 1962-3.

There was a small petrol or diesel loco in a shed on the narrow gauge system which extended under Sherwood Vale further up and Breckhill Road, all the former clay pits now full of housing or a park to the side of Breckhill Road.

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9 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

A peculiarity is that the OS 25" maps show no sign of any headgear at the top of the incline.

If it's the same one where the top is pictured in an earlier post, then I think I can see a pit between the rails on the right hand track, which would contain a bullwheel (?) leading the cable underground.  It could then presumably be led off to a winding engine somewhere convenient.  

2 hours ago, Nick Holliday said:

I'm puzzled by the blades forming the first turnout under the bridge. To my eyes the right hand moveable blade appears to be outside the running rail. Is it some form of stub point, and if so, why? Or do I need a visit to Specsavers (other opticians are available)?

Long shot, but is it something where a normal slow-moving wagon will be diverted off to safety, but one moving too fast will go straight on into the catchpit?  I'm thinking maybe a casting with a slope on it left to right, that the wheel flanges will slide down if it's going slowly enough.  But I've never heard of such a thing.  

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