Any details on a gobsmacking loader?

[Phill_dvsn]

Glax wrote: Phill, you`re a marvel! What a model contributor! Many, many thanks, Glax That's no worries. Glad to help I tried to get a video of one working, but since they've long since been defunct there isn't much chance of that.

[Leodian]

The East End Park and Neville Hill were one of my play areas when I was kid in the late 1940s to mid 1950s. Sadly however I only vaguely recall the object but seeing Phill's drawings and models did bring up a memory of seeing coal wagons being lifted up, then tipped over with a loud sound of falling coal before the empty wagon came back down.

[majorhoundii]

I can remember the one at Holbeck. In retrospect they remind me a little of the Anderton Boat lift at Northwich, which lifts boats from the River Weaver to the Trent and Mersey Canalhttp://www.andertonboatlift.co.uk/VisitorsArea ... story.html

[dogduke]

Neville Hill coal plant viewed from my pushchairas a small child must be my earliest memory.Didn't have a clue what it was but it lookedimpressive.

[Patexpat]

Phill_dvsn wrote: You might find this of some use Glax.Full size can be viewed here.http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com ... bgBc8lk%3D     Interesting variation on a theme here - from what I can see in this diagram the coal wagon drops it load into a pit under where it is standing, which is then scooped up by big buckets to coal the locos ... as opposed to the other example above that lifted the whole coal wagon up the coal stage to drop it's coal directly into the loco's coal tender ...    

[jim]

There were a range of variants Patexpat. If you examine the Holbeck plant that Phill provided a link to further up the thread you will find that it was provided with a wagon tippler direct into a twenty ton capacity skip that was lifted vertically to the top of the plant. The skip was then traversed horizontally, and could be emptied into either of two bunkers. The left hand one was for best coal, reserved for passenger engines. The right hand bunker supplied lower quality coal to goods enginesThe plant at Farnley Junction was different again. Wagons were lifted to the top of the plant and tipped into the bunker. The plant was a good deal lower than most however, and the bunker base and jigger were at ground level. From there the coal was jigged into a small skip which was hauled up a miniature version of the wagon hoist and tipped into the locomotive tenders. On a couple of occasions I recall the jigger electrical switch welding itself closed, causing the jigger to run continuously until the sheer quantity of coal overflowing the skip and trying to overfill the confined space around it caused the motor to jam and blow the three phase fuses. The atmosphere from the shed labourers who had to clear the build up so that we could repair the damage was best described as tangible.I understood that this particular design was chosen because mining beneath the site meant that one of the more usual taller plants would have been unstable, but cannot vouch for the veracity of this concept.        

[Patexpat]

Thanks Jim .. interesting stuff ... and all 'gobsmacking' stuff!

[dogduke]

jim wrote: Nice views Phill. They were called coal plants Glax. Their function was to load coal into the tenders of steam locomotives. This was achieved by the devices to be seen on the underside of the hopper, called "jiggers", which delivered a measured quantity of coal when the operating switch was moved. Further east along the park at Neville Hill was the plant's predecessor, a building overlooking the track with a siding ramped up to it where wagons were shunted for gangs of men to shovel the coal into wheeled skips to be manhandled via a tipping plate into the locomotive tenders or bunkers. This was kept for the occasions when the modern plant broke down, or for the odd event such as someone mistakenly tipping a wagonload of cast iron firebars into the coal plant.Other coal plants in the Leeds area were at Holbeck, Farnley Junction and Ardsley. Sheds at Copley Hill and Stourton were hand-coaled to the end of steam. Stourton did get a gantry with an electric hoist in its last years, but a considerable amount of shovel work was still needed.For the first ten years of my working life, maintenance and repair of coal plants and coal stage equipment was part of my job, so if there is anything else you would like to know, enquire within.......      The hoist system at Stourton may have been the reasonwhy Stourton became the first shed in Leeds to do away with steam.On a slightly different tack,were the coal plants the forerunnersof the bunkers built for merry go round trains taking coal direct from pit to power station.Bunkers in the former BR Leeds division were located atBrodsworth,Frickley and Goldthorpe(NCB Doncaster Area)Grimethorpe,South Kirkby(NCB Barnsley AreaGlasshoughton,Kellingley,Prince of Wales Sharlston(NCB North Yorkshire Area)

[jim]

Hi Dogduke. My understanding of the situation is that bunkers in one form or another have a very long history in the coal industry - for example the various staithes and overhead coal jetties of the nineteenth century at river and canal side loading stations. Similar provision could be found at collieries. Mechanical plans at collieries probably preceded engine shed provision, after all, collieries dealt with far larger quantities of coal.What was novel about "Merry-go-round" was the various mechanical devices to load and discharge wagons automatically and while in motion at both loading and unloading points. They were initiated by fittings on the wagons which operated fixed devices known to the maintenance staff as "daleks" which would carry out door opening and closing and the operating of the bunker doors to let out measured quantities of coal. I am certain that wagons were filled at collieries with plant far larger and more complicated than MPD coal plants prior to the introduction of MGR.Locally the MGR wagons were maintained at Knottingley depot, where special test "daleks" were provided to check that the various operating arms and doors operated within fixed tolerances - they used to get a fair old bashing in service.

[Phill_dvsn]

Here is a good detail, and quality colour shot of the coal tower at Carnforth shed.http://www.flickr.com/photos/taffytank/ ... ream/Which still survives today. I wouldn't have thought there were many of them left.