Type/Use of Building at Beynon Colliery (Blaina)

[steveNCB7754]

Hi,

 

On the cover of B&R Video Productions DVD Vol.147 ('Steam In The Valleys -  South Wales Part 2') which I purchased recently, there is a photograph (dated 04.06.1970) by Colin White, of Hunslet 0-6-0ST (#3816) 'Tudor', working at Beynon Colliery in Wales.  Should you not have this video (shame on you), an internet search will find links such as this one;

 

videoscene.co.uk/images/thumbnails/0//700/BR147--B&R-147-Steam-in-the-Valleys-South-Wales-Industrial-Part-2.jpg  (copy+paste into browser address bar)

 

 

The locomotive is presumably shunting the open steel wagons under the screens building(?) in the background, but my interest and questions, concerns the structure immediately to the left of the locomotive and its wagons.  This consists of a raised steel platform, accessed via a stairs, on top of which is a brick building having a pitched roof and large windows.  Essentially my questions are;

 

a) What is the function of this building/structure?

 

b) Why put a brick building on top of this platform and not a steel-clad one?

 

 

The second question, is because whilst I understand the reasoning behind brick infill in steel-framed colliery buildings (the brickwork falls or is blown out in any explosion or disturbance, but the structure remains standing), why would you build what appears to be a solid brick building on top of such a platform -  surely the whole lot would come down in similar circumstances?  The screens building in the background is steel-framed with brick infill, so putting a solid brick building at height like this, seems to asking for trouble.

 

Puzzled.

 

Steve

[Fat Controller]

I'e seen similar structures at other locations in South Wales, notably the Resolven screens that have been discussed before. It seems to be intended to give someone a good view of the interior of the wagons, but to what end, I don't know.

As to why it's built of brick, I wouldn't like to guess, though with all the openings for doors and windows, there probably aren't that many bricks.

Brick-infilled steel structures were not uncommon, not just at mines; I've seen similar construction in industrial buildings, and also in multi-storey offices, and, I'm pretty sure, cinemas. The steel framework gives the structural integrity, and the brick fills the gaps. Were such structures to be built of brick alone, they would need to be several courses thick, and have substantial butressing to have the same strength.

[Arthur]

The second question, is because whilst I understand the reasoning behind brick infill in steel-framed colliery buildings (the brickwork falls or is blown out in any explosion or disturbance, but the structure remains standing),

 

I'd never before considered that the coal industry had adopted this style of construction as a consequence of the risk of a coal dust explosion, is that really the reason? Not saying you're wrong Steve, just curious. Were such explosions that common in above ground buildings? I'd have thought them pretty rare.

 

As Brian says, what is called brick curtain wall construction, be it with steel or reinforced concrete structural members, was very common in a wide range of industrial buildings in the middle of the 20th.C. It is stil used today though with a less utilitarian aspect.

 

Certainly many industries with no particular explosion risk employed this construction style.

 

It was a quick and inexpensive method of constructing a robust industrial building, the steel or concrete framework providing great strength to support heavy internal machinery. No reason at all not to build that raised cabin in the same style. It looks like it is meant to be 'inhabited' so to speak and a brick building is a sight warmer and more comfortable than a steel clad one.

 

 

.

 

.

Edited November 15, 2016 by Arthur

[br2975]

_{A very similar building once existed in the sidings just north of the Phurnacite plant, Abercwmboi.}

_.

_{As for its' purpose, I have no idea.}

 

_{Brian R}

Edited November 16, 2016 by br2975

[steveNCB7754]

I'd never before considered that the coal industry had adopted this style of construction as a consequence of the risk of a coal dust explosion, is that really the reason? Not saying you're wrong Steve, just curious. Were such explosions that common in above ground buildings? I'd have thought them pretty rare.

 

As Brian says, what is called brick curtain wall construction, be it with steel or reinforced concrete structural members, was very common in a wide range of industrial buildings in the middle of the 20th.C. It is stil used today though with a less utilitarian aspect.

 

Certainly many industries with no particular explosion risk employed this construction style.

 

It was a quick and inexpensive method of constructing a robust industrial building, the steel or concrete framework providing great strength to support heavy internal machinery. No reason at all not to build that raised cabin in the same style. It looks like it is meant to be 'inhabited' so to speak and a brick building is a sight warmer and more comfortable than a steel clad one.

 

 

.

 

.

 

Hi Arthur, thanks for your reply.

 

Unfortunately, I cannot lay my hands on a source right now (about the dust explosion link), but I am pretty sure that it is a factor in this design choice.  Equally, explosions at mines are not restricted to above ground events, as was witnessed at many sites over the years.  On the other hand, I take your point about the insulation factor of brick versus steel cladding -  especially in some of the remote and (in winter especially) cold locations for such mines.

 

The thought occurs that, after an explosion involving a steel-clad structure, the cladding is usually so distorted that it is scrapped and replaced, whereas any dislodged bricks could, in theory, be reclaimed and relaid (though I am probably clutching at straws here).

 

My 'fact' about this use of brick in this way has been held for a very long time, so if anyone knows for sure it is false I hope they can put me right before I tell it to anyone else (LOL).

 

Steve

Edited November 17, 2016 by steveNCB7754

[Respite]

I think the building you mention may be the control room for a wagon tippler.

 

Many collieries got 'foreign coal' i.e. coal from other pits for washing or blending with their own.  Some like Marine in the Ebbw Vale loaded coal into wagons when the washer couldn't cope with output. The  loaded wagons would then provide  the loco with work hauling them back up to the washer again for uploading. However the building might also be a weighbridge as at Lady Victoria colliery see https://www.railscot.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=6109

 

I would have thought however that the weighbridge would have been further away from the washer than this. The best way to answer the query is to look at old maps of the area in the 1960s. If there is a conveyor marked as running from the structure it will be a tipper control building.

[steveNCB7754]

I think the building you mention may be the control room for a wagon tippler.

 

Many collieries got 'foreign coal' i.e. coal from other pits for washing or blending with their own.  Some like Marine in the Ebbw Vale loaded coal into wagons when the washer couldn't cope with output. The  loaded wagons would then provide  the loco with work hauling them back up to the washer again for uploading. However the building might also be a weighbridge as at Lady Victoria colliery see https://www.railscot.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=6109

 

I would have thought however that the weighbridge would have been further away from the washer than this. The best way to answer the query is to look at old maps of the area in the 1960s. If there is a conveyor marked as running from the structure it will be a tipper control building.

 

Thanks for replying.

 

You are right, the elevation and the preponderance of windows does suggest some sort of production control structure.  Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a suitable map yet -  the Library of Scotland website is a gem in this regard, but unfortunately the best series to show such detail (25 inch to 1 mile), has not yet been done for Wales.  There is detail on the 6inch map (1948), but deciding where that structure might be, is proving difficult.  There is a plethora of tracks shown in the Blaina area (unsurprisingly) and although I have scoured the valley from Brynmawr down to Abertyleri, I have yet to actually find a colliery specifically called Beynon.  Maybe the OS did not get around to calling it by this newer name?

 

Steve

[br2975]

If I can, I'll check with the relevant IRS books.

Edited November 22, 2016 by br2975

[Fat Controller]

http://www.welshcoalmines.co.uk/Gwent/Beynon's.htm   has some details

http://www.welshcoalmines.co.uk/Gwent/HenwaenBlaina.htm has an aerial photo shewing Beynon's and the other pits around Blaina in relation to one another.

[br2975]

Beynon Colliery, Blaina

.

Ordnance Survey 1" sheet No.154

.

Grid References SO198083 and/or SO198084

.

.

The pit closed in April, 1975 altho' loco working had ceased in 1972 when "Tudor" HE 3816/54 was moved to Penallta.

.

The previous locos were:-

 

"Nan, No.18" AB 1444/16 which moved to Six Bells / Arail Griffin, Abertillery in 1968, and

 

"Cwmtillery" HL 3376/19 which was sold or scrapped in 1967.

.

Brian R

Edited November 22, 2016 by br2975

[Wheatley]

Many collieries had brickworks attached, as many coal seams have bands of high quality clay interbedded with them due to the way coal deposits are formed. They were therefore available on site, effectively at cost. Similar to the way many railway companies used clinker for ballast and surfacing paths and platforms.

Edited November 22, 2016 by Wheatley

[br2975]

Reading this table (and associated article)  in 1971 alerted me to what wast fast disappearing, virtually from my doorstep.

.

Brian R

Edited November 22, 2016 by br2975

[steveNCB7754]

http://www.welshcoalmines.co.uk/Gwent/Beynon's.htm   has some details

http://www.welshcoalmines.co.uk/Gwent/HenwaenBlaina.htm has an aerial photo shewing Beynon's and the other pits around Blaina in relation to one another.

 

Hi Brian,

 

Thank you -  that second link (Henwaun Pit) is brilliant, in that the aerial view (looking south) at least clinches the position of Beynon Colliery.  Still not sure which is the building in question, but at least I now know which part of a map it is going to be in.

[HGT1972]

One possibility for the raised building is the checking of incoming wagons. Mineral wagons could often arrive at collieries with the remains (or sometimes all!) of their previous load and it was customary to check that they were empty. Any remaining scrap metal, for example, in a wagon would contaminate (potentially dangerously) the coal load, which would then get rejected by the customer and be returned to the colliery.

 

Hywel

[steveNCB7754]

One possibility for the raised building is the checking of incoming wagons. Mineral wagons could often arrive at collieries with the remains (or sometimes all!) of their previous load and it was customary to check that they were empty. Any remaining scrap metal, for example, in a wagon would contaminate (potentially dangerously) the coal load, which would then get rejected by the customer and be returned to the colliery.

 

Hywel

 

Thanks Hywel, for the info.

 

Have not had much time to pursue this issue any further, other than scouring the limited mapping available online.  Nothing I have seen at the supposed location, seems to match the juxtaposition of tracks, buildings and scenery seen in the photo.  As someone who works in archives and has done historical research before, I really ought to go back to the source (B&R Video) just to check that they are happy with the photo's attribution(s), in case it turns out to be somewhere else entirely.

 

 

Steve

[Ruston]

I would have thought that it is a rather elaborate and large structure for something as simple as checking wagons for contamination. Doing that would only require one man with a notebook on a raised platform and how do you read the wagon numbers from up there to be able to come down and tell the shunter which wagons not to load/get cleaned out?

 

Having said that, in Geoff Silcock and Peter Cavalier's book Visions of Steam there is a picture of a tall steel and brick structure that spans two tracks, somewhere on the Mountain Ash system. It appears to stand alone and isolated from the screens and as there are no signals in the shot, and all the points are controlled by hand levers next to them it isn't a signalbox. There doesn't appear to be a weighbridge under it either, so perhaps these structures are for checking wagons...

[steveNCB7754]

I would have thought that it is a rather elaborate and large structure for something as simple as checking wagons for contamination. Doing that would only require one man with a notebook on a raised platform and how do you read the wagon numbers from up there to be able to come down and tell the shunter which wagons not to load/get cleaned out?

 

Having said that, in Geoff Silcock and Peter Cavalier's book Visions of Steam there is a picture of a tall steel and brick structure that spans two tracks, somewhere on the Mountain Ash system. It appears to stand alone and isolated from the screens and as there are no signals in the shot, and all the points are controlled by hand levers next to them it isn't a signalbox. There doesn't appear to be a weighbridge under it either, so perhaps these structures are for checking wagons...

 

Hi Dave,

 

I am still as puzzled as you and am ashamed to admit, that I have done little to investigate further. Taking your observations about the practicalities of wagon-checking, got me wondering whether (by the time of the photo on the DVD I mentioned), the building had already become redundant.

 

Perhaps in the days of wooden-bodied, private owner wagons, it was easier to spot who's wagons were either arriving (and whether properly empty or not) and of those owners wagons leaving, what type/grade of coal they had in them. As I am sure you are aware, colliery screens had several 'lines' ('roads') producing various grades of coal and waste/rubbish. In D K Jones' excellent article in 'Steam Days' magazine ('Mountain Ash: Steam On My Doorstep - But I Almost Missed It!'), he describes the four roads at Abergorki;

 

No.1 - The Duff Road

 

 

No.2 - Peas & Beans

 

 

No.3 - Small & Large Nuts

 

 

No.4 - The Slurry Road

 

 

 

Presumably, in those earlier days, a skilled person, with a keen eye, could spot the difference between the types of 'product' passing by/under that building, without having to get down from it to have a closer look? Just speculation of course - hopefully somebody will come up with the real purpose of the building in due course.

 

As to that other Mountain Ash system building you mention; I have accumulated quite a few images from various sources of that area, but I have not come across the type you mention. Will have to keep my eyes open for a copy of the book in the meantime - the title/authors seem familiar, so I am sure I have seen a second-hand copy somewhere.

[Ruston]

This is the building from Mountain Ash.

[steveNCB7754]

This is the building from Mountain Ash.

 

Thank you very much.

 

To my eyes, that looks almost identical to the one on the cover of (and seen in action sequences in) the DVD I mentioned at the beginning of this post (i.e. at Beynon Colliery).  Presumably, it served an identical purpose.  Interesting, that (unlike the one at at Beynon Colliery) there is no external walkway -  once you have entered, the only view you would have had is through the windows.  On the other hand, it is in a poor state of repair, so if derelict, could have had parts/features removed.

 

Very interesting.

[philwaglab]

The tall building at Beynon Colliery is the outward traffic weighbridge.Once the wagons had been filled they were gross weighed and from the tare painted on the wagon it was possible to calculated the weight of the coal inside the wagon.The weighbridge had the dials in the building and these were connected by rods to the weighbridge plate on which the wagon ran.The weighman would then make out the wagon labels and invoices in this building.Coal from this colliery went for washing at either Abertillery or Hafodyrynys with a small amount going to local merchants

[steveNCB7754]

The tall building at Beynon Colliery is the outward traffic weighbridge.Once the wagons had been filled they were gross weighed and from the tare painted on the wagon it was possible to calculated the weight of the coal inside the wagon.The weighbridge had the dials in the building and these were connected by rods to the weighbridge plate on which the wagon ran.The weighman would then make out the wagon labels and invoices in this building.Coal from this colliery went for washing at either Abertillery or Hafodyrynys with a small amount going to local merchants

 

 

Well thank you Phil (I assume its Phil?)

 

Blimey, I've just realised it is nearly a year since I originally posed the question -  doesn't time fly when you're failing to get any modelling done!  Useful information though and one less topic to track information down on.

 

 

Regards

Steve

 

[Edit 1 = corrected spelling!]

Edited October 4, 2017 by steveNCB7754

[philwaglab]

Well thank you Phil (I assume its Phil?)

 

Blimey, I've just realised it is nearly a year since I originally posed the question -  doesn't time fly when you're failing to get any modelling done!  Useful information though and one less topic to track information down on.

 

 

Regards

Steve

 

[Edit 1 = corrected spelling!]

 

Yes every colliery had a weighbridge.Most in South Wales were on ground level but there were a few with overhead weighing facilities.These were at Beynon,Celynen North & South,Six Bells and Lady Windsor.The buildings used to vibrate when weighing was taking place.Its a wonder how they never fell down !!!