gatesy Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 I am very interested in getting more info on Ponts Mill as I am buiding a small clay dryers on my layout. Ponts mill seems very interesting due to its small size but photos are scarce and the buildings are now all gone. I have all the images from the 'standard' China Clay sources e.g. John Vaughans/ Maurice Darts',Middleton Press books etc. Also any building plans etc. Thanks in advance Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomJ Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 I've been trying to base my little china clay dries on a kind of amalgamation of Ponts Mill and Carbis Wharf (although it doesn't look remotely like either). I think it is a fabulous prototype for a layout, rural location, short trains etc. Which John Vaughan books do you have? There's some good pictures in 'An Illustrated History of West Country China Clay Trains', and a couple in 'The Newquay branch and its branches'. Other than these and Middleton Press 'East Cornwall Mineral Railways', I've drawn a blank too. If you don't have any of these books let me know and I'll see what I can do for you. If anyone else has any info I'd be interested as well..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gatesy Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 Thanks chaps,have got th e books mentioned and a few odd photos in others. Good shout about Google Earth though. Ta Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gatesy Posted October 29, 2011 Author Share Posted October 29, 2011 Mickey you're a star. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterbournecm Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 I have some photos taken in 1986 at the junction with the branch, I didn't take any in the works unfortunately. Here are a couple: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gatesy Posted October 31, 2011 Author Share Posted October 31, 2011 Thanks Craig, nice photos. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterbournecm Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 Cheers - it was a quaint branch. As you can see the trip working could be "locked in" at Pontsmill GF with the staff in an intermediate token machine so that the branch could continue running. The train was propelled from St Blazey by the pilot and the guard (and us!) rode in the brake van. The wagons were unique from this locations (PRA's) from memory. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Ramblin Rich Posted November 1, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 1, 2011 Lovely photos Craig. I've always liked the variation in the levels of the lines here, makes for more interest than just a flat junction. There's a nice (but poignant) image at the back of John Vaughan's "Cornwall Branches & Byways" showing a train of 08 + 2 clay tigers + brake van in the last month of use, forcing its way through the weeds. Should be easy to recreate with the upcoming Kernow models Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomJ Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 I hope you're not getting any more ideas Rich....... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Ramblin Rich Posted November 2, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 2, 2011 That would be going round in circles, Tom! Ponts Mill & Coombe Junction were what inspired my original Tresarrick layout - but got sidelined by North Devon (as discussed ad nauseum....) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomJ Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 I know it's a bit late but if the OP is interested I've found a couple more photos of Ponts Mill. It's in the book 'Modelling the BR Blue' era'. One of the authors is a regular on here. There's a couple of photos of the works I'd not seen before and drawings of the wagons which were used between there and Fort William. Obviously I can't put the pics on here (copyright) but if the OP wants I can point him in the right direction. HTH Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gatesy Posted November 28, 2011 Author Share Posted November 28, 2011 Ta but got those too! Thanks again for the post though, Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomJ Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 I think you might have a duplicate of my library!! I've tried to get as many books as I can on the Clay scene and my layout is inspired by Ponts Mill but it seems to be somewhere that wasn't as photographed as other places. If I find any more I'll let you know, just in case you don't already have them! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gatesy Posted November 29, 2011 Author Share Posted November 29, 2011 Thanks once again Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoker Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Pontsmill started life as a standard coal fired "muck wagon kiln", where settled, thickened clay was taken in from settling tanks into the adjoining building using wagons, and then spread over a heated floor. This building was approximately 300 feet long by 50 feet wide. It's not clear to me exactly when, but sometime around mid-century, mechanical drying equipment was installed here. This was a band dryer, which consisted of a slow moving conveyor belt inside a heated steel box. Filter pressed clay was shredded, fed into a paddle mixer where it was backmixed with some dry clay, the mixer then extruded the mixed clay into pellets, which were fed to the belt. The pelletized clay was gradually dried as it passed through the box, dropping off the end of the belt with a relatively low moisture content of between 5 and 8 percent. This works had fairly low output, and produced a specialty product that was associated with the production of paper. Goonvean & Rostowrack Ltd produced a similar product, also dried in a band dryer, at their Goonvean works, which they called "Fine Particle Clay" or FPC. Pontsmill used a thermal milling process which ground the clay into an even finer, drier product that was packed into bags. It was also blown through a pneumatic conveyor system into the silo you can see in photos. ECC had special truck trailers that could handle fine powder, and these could be loaded from the silo. The specialized nature of the product was the reason why it saw such a variety of wagons. The band dryer, interestingly enough, was the first type of mechanical dryer ever used in the Cornish clay industry, installed around 1912 by a secretive German company who were carrying out research and development into new clay beneficiation methods. For this purpose they were working a deposit on the Belowda Beacon, where they erected their plant. As with most things German, this technology was well ahead of it's time, running on gas rather than oil. It wasn't until 1939 that ECC installed their first mechanical drying plant, which they were not able to commission until 1949 due to Board Of Trade wartime restrictions on the use of oil, and natural gas wasn't used as a fuel for dryers until well into the 70s and 80s. The Belowda works is also believed to be the first steel reinforced concrete structure in Cornwall, and still stands to this day. Among other firsts were the first use of centrifugal and chemical refining of clay, and the first use of dry mining. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rods_of_Revolution Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Sounds an interesting process of drying they used; I think they used a conveyor to load the PRA, Polybulk and Tiger wagons rather than a bucket loader. One assumes they also loaded bagged clay into vans? I also assume that there was no provision for the loading of slurry as I have never seen a slurry wagon in Ponts Mill bound trains. There are a few interesting photographs in Maurice Darts "East Cornwall Mineral Railways". It also seems the branch was brought into operation again in 2001 to server a CDA rebuilding workshop which was built upon the old Ponts Mill site. Regards, Jack Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Ramblin Rich Posted December 21, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 21, 2011 Definitely seen a picture of a VGA van in Ponts Mill so I assume that was for bagged clay. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
43179 Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Same here Rich - seen a couple of Speedlink VGAs there. I never saw any Polybulks or clay tigers down there. When Fotopic was still alive I found a great picture of a grey class 08 at Ponts Mill , with some CDA wagons (which I think had been taken there for either shotblasting or repainting ) that must have been one of the last , if not the last workings on the line in the mid 1990s . *edit * before reopening in 2001 as mentioned above - i think that was where the wagons were then repainted into EWS tfn Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rods_of_Revolution Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 In Maurice Dart's "East Cornwall Mineral Railways" there is a photograph showing Polybulks being loaded at Ponts Mill and in John Vaughan's "Diesel Days: Devon and Cornwall" there is a photograph showing Clay Tigers there. So those Polybulks and Tigers were definitely used. Were CDAs ever loaded there in the 80s/90s? Kindest Regards, Jack Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomJ Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 I don't think CDAs were ever loaded at Ponts Mill. The CDAs (and the earlier clay hoods) were designed for the export traffic to Fowey docks. The clay from Ponts Mill was mainly destined for Scottish paper works (in the 80s a lot went to Fort William) and so used different wagons. The mainstay in the 80s were the 4-wheel PRA's and then latterly, when these were withdrawn, the Tiger wagons. As mentioned bagged clay was carried in VDA vans. I have a photo of a polybulk but I don't think this was common, and I've never heard of slurry being loaded there. In the mid/late 90s the branch was reopened for a wagon repair facility in the ruins of the clay works, and this lead to CDAs being tripped there for work. I have seen a photo of a huge drum of some sorts (part of the drying process??) being transported behind an 08 to Par (Docks presumably) after the works closed. It was so out of gauge that the signals at St Blazey had to be turned 90 degrees. That would be 'interesting' to model. Come to think of it it must have been a squeeze getting it through the bridge before Par Docks! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoker Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 On 02/01/2012 at 16:10, TomJ said: I don't think CDAs were ever loaded at Ponts Mill. The CDAs (and the earlier clay hoods) were designed for the export traffic to Fowey docks. The clay from Ponts Mill was mainly destined for Scottish paper works (in the 80s a lot went to Fort William) and so used different wagons. The mainstay in the 80s were the 4-wheel PRA's and then latterly, when these were withdrawn, the Tiger wagons. As mentioned bagged clay was carried in VDA vans. I have a photo of a polybulk but I don't think this was common, and I've never heard of slurry being loaded there. In the mid/late 90s the branch was reopened for a wagon repair facility in the ruins of the clay works, and this lead to CDAs being tripped there for work. I have seen a photo of a huge drum of some sorts (part of the drying process??) being transported behind an 08 to Par (Docks presumably) after the works closed. It was so out of gauge that the signals at St Blazey had to be turned 90 degrees. That would be 'interesting' to model. Come to think of it it must have been a squeeze getting it through the bridge before Par Docks! That was quite likely the silo. They had similar silos at Par, which used the same pneumatic conveyor system, so they likely re-used it there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomJ Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Unfortunately I don't have a copy of the photo to hand. It was in the Middleton Press book 'Branch Lines to Newquay' dated 94 or 95 I think. One of the advantages of living near York is browsing the library at the NRM, usually after the toddler has worn himself out screaming at Thomas! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
csvt2004 Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Is this any good? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
csvt2004 Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Just found a few more. All taken on 19/09/87. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomJ Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Those photos are great. Just what I (and I suspect a few others!) have been looking for. Very atmospheric. Intersting how grassy the track is considering the works were still open and seeing almost daily trains. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.