Strange loads at Warminster 1937

[griffgriff]

KSA Cube wagons….. there must be an EWS 47 just out of shot

 

Griff

[rodent279]

Could they be for lining a trench or tunnel? Or repairing the same?

[didcot]

I did wonder if they were for an under pass.

[rodent279]

10 minutes ago, didcot said:

I did wonder if they were for an under pass.

Too small, surely?

 

What about a cable or pipe trough?

[Wickham Green too]

Normally buried rather than placed in a culvert ......... and, as has already been commented, these thingies are a bit flimsy.

[Darius43]

2 minutes ago, Wickham Green too said:

Normally buried rather than placed in a culvert ......... and, as has already been commented, these thingies are a bit flimsy.

Unless they were used as permanent formwork for a concrete surround - with props to stop them deforming/collapsing under the weight of the wet concrete.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

[Kris]

Whatever these are, they would appear to be of a specialist rather than a mundane nature. For an item of this size to be transported whole suggests that it is either a very precise item or has to be able to withstand pressure. For most items it would have been easier to ship in a smaller component size before final assembly at the destination. 

[KeithMacdonald]

Paging @hmrspaul - Paul, have you ever seen Covered Crocodiles (or whatever these wagons are)?

 

[hmrspaul]

15 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said:

Paging @hmrspaul - Paul, have you ever seen Covered Crocodiles (or whatever these wagons are)?

 

Oh come on. I'd have to be 90 plus years old to have seen a wartime load! and 1937 is when a lot of preparations began. They are Crocodiles with a load. 

 

I think you have all forgotten that long communal shelters were all over the place - I can remember them in school fields in the 60s. So I'm going with the suggestion that a trench was dug, a concrete raft put down and then these lowered on and the trench back filled. Mind I've never been in such a shelter. 

 

Paul

[MyRule1]

The web site British History Online says "Camps and permanent barracks in the town were begun in 1937, " so this may haven been an incoming load to do with this construction.

 

The only major industry in the town at the time was that of John Wallis Titt who made wind engines. As most replies seem to agree that the "covers" are in fact loads there seems to be nothing that this firm made that meets what is seen.

[Artless Bodger]

Just a thought, probably way off as Warminster is a bit far from the Box / Cosham etc area, but the army and navy were converting stone mines in those areas during the 1930s for ammunition storage, some tunnels were of that sort of profile, especially I think the tunnel / covered way that ran from the siding to Monkton Farleigh mine, in its lower stretches a covered way that was banked over to conceal it. Nick Camley wrote some books on these. 

[Nearholmer]

I thought at first you might be right, but looking at pictures on-line, the incline covered way seems to have been a block-lined trench with a flat roof of corrugated iron supported on steel beams.

 

Does open thoughts of covered conveyor-belt systems though...........

 

They do match the Farleigh Down conveyor tunnel very closely. You might be right after all. Scroll down to photo here of chap in blue boiler suit http://www.theurbanexplorer.co.uk/farleigh-down-tunnel-wiltshire/

 

And, guess in which year that tunnel was built ......... 1937.

 

I wonder whether they might be form-work for use in a continuous concrete-casting process, rather than permanent liners.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 26, 2022 by Nearholmer

[jcredfer]

13 minutes ago, Artless Bodger said:

Just a thought, probably way off as Warminster is a bit far from the Box / Cosham etc area, but the army and navy were converting stone mines in those areas during the 1930s for ammunition storage, some tunnels were of that sort of profile, especially I think the tunnel / covered way that ran from the siding to Monkton Farleigh mine, in its lower stretches a covered way that was banked over to conceal it. Nick Camley wrote some books on these. 

 

The Box/Corsham mines were cut out in blocks, which are regularly admired in Bath and a number of other places.  The tunnels were cut in such a fashion, so as to be self supporting.  They were also quite wide [as mines go] and rather larger than the curiosities on the trucks.  There were already railways into the mines, to remove the cut stone, with direct connection onto the main lines from London to Bath; which was an additional convenience for the various uses the deep mines that the Government have made of them.

 

[uax6]

7 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

I thought at first you might be right, but looking at pictures on-line, the incline covered way seems to have been a block-lined trench with a flat roof of corrugated iron supported on steel beams.

 

Does open thoughts of covered conveyor-belt systems though...........

 

They do match the Farleigh Down conveyor tunnel very closely. You might be right after all. Scroll down to photo here of chap in blue boiler suit http://www.theurbanexplorer.co.uk/farleigh-down-tunnel-wiltshire/

 

And, guess in which year that tunnel was built ......... 1937.

 

I wonder whether they might be form-work for use in a continuous concrete-casting process, rather than permanent liners.

 

 

 

 

 

Nick McCamley who wrote the Sub-brit report states that the cut and cover part of the tunnels were built with:

' The upper half of the seven-foot-wide tunnel was completed with a semi-circular brick-arched roof having a maximum headroom of 69". ' 

So could these be the formers for the arches? Seems a bit bulky to move about mind...

 

Andy G

[Nearholmer]

When I first typed that, I was getting mixed-up between the top of the tunnel, which was a sloping trench, lined with blocks, and with two narrow gauge tracks, and the inner part, which was arch-shaped, and contained a conveyor. There was a chamber where boxes were transferred from wagon to conveyor.

 

As my untidy post above now tries to make clear, I think these things do look incredibly like the long conveyor tunnel - right size, right shape.

 

Thinking about it, they are way too unwieldy for form-work, either for brick or concrete, so I wonder whether they formed the tunnel where it crossed a depression in the ground.  One section was effectively above the surface and was artificially buried to hide it.

 

I really think Mr Bodgerhas come up with the best explanation yet.