China Clay Railway Workings

[TheGingerTrainspotter]

I've been doing research regarding Cornwall's china clay railways, I understand that the clay is mined, and put into open topped trucks. What I need to know is exactly what happens next. I'd assume that the clay is taken to china clay dries, but beyond that I don't know. I'm also aware of china clay stores, but am unsure what role these play in the process. Any help would be appreciated

[Kris]

Have a look in the railways of Cornwall pages on here. There are a few topics of china clay workings.

[TomJ]

Here's my brief understanding of the process - although others know far more than me.

The main role of the railway is taking the finished product out of Cornwall, either to other parts of the UK or the docks for export.

The details have changed over the years but basically the clay is mined out of deep pits using water to make a slurry. This has to be processed to remove multiple impurities (thee is a lot of waste produced in the processing of china clay). The slurry is then transferred to the china clay works or dries - usually by pipeline. The works don't have to be anywhere near the pits, there are/were pipelines of several miles to clayworks far away from the pits. I don't think the railways were involved in the transport of the clay to the works, except for some tramways and so on

 

Here the clay is dried into the powder. Traditionally this has been done by coal fired dries. A fire is lit at one end of the long low building with a chimney at the other, with the hot gases travelling under the floor of the dries . The clay on the floor is then dried into powder. Nowdays there are much more sophisticated driers but the principle is the same, drying the clay to remove the moisture to make a powder. The powder is then loaded into wagons - originally by shovel but more recently by front loader. It is this powder that the railways transport. Traditionally by open wagons - which evolved into the classic clayhood (to keep water out) but a host of other wagons such as the Clay Tigers. Some clay is/was bagged up and transported in vans. A large amount is taken by rail to the docks at Fowey for export out of the UK, some travelled by rail to mainland Europe (originally the train ferry then the tunnel) and some is transported to elsewhere in the UK - mostly the Potteries and Scotland.

 

Finally the other way clay is transported is as a slurry in tank wagons for the customer to dry at their end

 

Hope this helps - others know a lot more than me