Coal staith

[J50]

I'm going to build my own coal staith and will be using wood coffee stiring sticks, I'm wanting to keep it within scale as my layout is oo gauge so I'm wanting to know what height the staith should be, any advice will be great.

Edited September 13, 2017 by J50

[APOLLO]

I doubt there were ever any set sizes, they seemed to vary in height / length / construction type etc.

 

I googled "coal staithes" and images - lots to choose from !

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=coal+staithes&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwitmsKu9aLWAhVnIMAKHT_xC_UQsAQIJQ&biw=1280&bih=894

 

Loads of modelling info on this interesting site

 

http://www.igg.org.uk/rail/7-fops/fo-coal.htm

 

Also  http://www.igg.org.uk/rail/8-yards/y-coal.htm

 

Hope this is of help,

 

Brit15

Edited September 13, 2017 by APOLLO

[J50]

Hi APOLLO thanks for all the links I will be looking through them later tonight to gain more ideas.

[Londontram]

As a good guide the coal staithe would back up to the rail line so that a coal wagon drop down door would slope down onto it when open so some one could shovel the coal from the wagon into the staithe. so what you can do is sit a wagon on the track at the height your going to have it and measure from the ground to just below the bottom of the wagons side door this will give you the height you will need.

Edited September 13, 2017 by Londontram

[J50]

Thanks Londontram this will help me a great deal.

[allan downes]

As a good guide the coal staithe would back up to the rail line so that a coal wagon drop down door would slope down onto it when open so some one could shovel the coal from the wagon into the staithe. so what you can do is sit a wagon on the track at the height your going to have it and measure from the ground to just below the bottom of the wagons side door this will give you the height you will need.

 

That's correct, Londontram, and something which I found out  myself when for a whole I worked as a coalman in Bedford. The waggon door dropped neatly onto the top of the  staith timbers - old railway sleepers in this case -  thus making emptying the wagon a whole lot easier but not easy enough and hence the reason I quit after only a week ! 

 

Cheers.

 

Allan.

[Nick Holliday]

That's correct, Londontram, and something which I found out  myself when for a whole I worked as a coalman in Bedford. The waggon door dropped neatly onto the top of the  staith timbers - old railway sleepers in this case -  thus making emptying the wagon a whole lot easier but not easy enough and hence the reason I quit after only a week ! 

 

Cheers.

 

Allan.

It's interesting to hear about this sort of thing from first hand experience.

What I would say is that having coal bins close to the tracks was not something that occurred at many locations, unlike the perception of railway modellers, judging by the pictures in the Google search mentioned by APOLLO. From photographic research of the real thing, not models, I believe that it was largely confined to the south-east, although there are isolated examples outside that area, and I would say Bedford was getting towards the outer limits.

Another point is that, for genuine safety reasons, the propping of wagon doors was officially frowned upon, as there was considerable risk of severe damage to either the pens or the wagon if it was moved with the door down, perhaps by a rough shunt, or because someone forgot to close it before the wagon was moved. I have seen temporary arrangements using trestles or single poles, but they were only used when bagging the coal directly from the wagon, when the limited amount of coal that could be got from the wagon door opening was sufficient for a 1 cwt bag. A permanent set up would have required a Nelsonian "I see no ships" attitude from the stationmaster!

I would like to know the technique used to unload by hand, as that is something I have not experienced, but I would have thought that the bulk of the load was shovelled over the top of the wagon, as trying to post all 16 tons of coal through a hole three feet square seems a rather tricky prospect.

[ColHut]

You may find this thread useful:

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13253

 

see also:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13253&start=25

 

My understanding is that where possible the coal is stacked on the opposite side of the track beyond the access road. This saves double handling because the coal can be loaded directly from the wagons into bags or lorries, and the spare put to one side.

 

There is a useful modeller's guide I will try and dig up.

 

In some area, especially the NE I believe coal drops were more common with hopper wagons.

 

Here it is:

http://farnhammrc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/SmallCoalMerchants-2.pdf

 

YMMV, usual caveats about not uncritically modelling models apply!

 

regards

Edited September 26, 2017 by ColHut