Chaldron repairs continue…
Work on the chaldron fleet continues, with Tony and his apprentice Dan overhauling a further three waggons. The first of these, seen below, is 529, and was one of a pair of chaldrons rebuilt in the 1990s using under-length timbers. This resulted in a rather odd appearance. The side profile of this has now been corrected, though the position of the end ribs precludes a completely accurate appearance at this stage. Daniel, our painter, took advantage of a wet few days in order to repaint the waggon.
Below: Another of the waggons, 1115, which had a badly rotted pair of end cross members, has been partially dismantled to release these and enable their replacement. The rot is evident in this view, though the rest of the waggon is in sound condition.
Below: An overall view showing 1115 being dismantled to release the end cross members (which take the loading of the coupling).
I noticed two derilict examples near the new narrow guage line. Are you intending to rebuild these two?
Hi Paul. Yes, in part! The plan is to create three rakes of four chaldrons (which will obviously appear in any combination of waggons). We are currently at eleven. So the plan will probably see one of the two derelict examples (which are in fact 1970s rebuilds complete with a number of errors that were inadvertently incorporated at that time) completely rebuilt. The second example was in fact replaced when we reconstructed L1833, using components recovered from the derelict waggon. I would also like to create one of the square bodied Londonderry waggons, and also a Londonderry brick waggon. We have enough parts for these two latter replicas so in due course we should be able to add these to the 12 traditional Londonderry chaldrons. After that there are two Port of Sunderland waggons to rebuild, a PoS handcrane and a rake of Manchester Ship Canal side tippers to reconstruct using the massing piles of donor waggons and components. We should shortly complete our Hodbarrow side tipper, giving us a fairly comprehensive set of colliery waggons here in due course. Then there are the narrow gauge waggons to build…!!!
Thanks for that, Ever thought of using the narrow guage line to take clay from the mine to a brick works? Brick works were an important part of a colliery and you could extend the narrow gauge line to the pony doors at the pit head.
In short, yes! The new narrow gauge railway is the start of a system that will create a connection (and in time a working display) between the colliery, a brick yard and a stock yard. The brick yard is mooted for the area of land opposite the Pockerley tram stop, itself an area to which the standard and narrow gauge railways are being built as materials become available. The area between the new narrow gauge line and the standard gauge tracks in the colliery yard will become a stockyard of materials (bricks, pit props etc.) and we will be making some general improvements to this area to allow access by visitors. There is therefore the liklihood of some parallel running of standard and narrow gauges!