10A Carnforth MPD

What was that funny building I saw them tipping coal out of at Didcot last month then?

 

A Coal Stage rather than a Coaling Plant

 

And sights like this:

 

The Good Old days indeed Mr Sunstream, I can't help feeling that we have so much more today, but is it better?

A couple of photos of 4472 being serviced in June 1979, with the ash-pan being raked out by the late Erica Arniel:









Cheers,

Alan

 

And a few photos I took in 1978.....
http://www.railwayscenes.com/photos---1978---carnforth-depot.html

 

Fabulous pictures Keith. I wonder if similar opportunities to take photos at Carnforth MPD will ever be available again?

Cheers,

Alan

 

Great photographs but I'm not sure about the wellies for raking the ashpan!

Need a nice pair of clogs for that job.

 

Indeed, there would be the chance of a "wellie meltdown" with lots of red hot clinker flying around; however, the wellies came in handy when the hose was soon deployed and I made a swift exit from the pit!!

Cheers,

Alan

 

Not really, the Tyseley Museum site is smaller, but parts formerly used by the roundhouses and original workshop are still in railway use, where the Traction Maintenence Depot sits on the west side of the site, the VT site occupying an island between it and the and the stabling roads that were formerly carriage sidings, so technically Tyseley is about the same size site it always was, just a narrow strip in the middle is used for preservation use.

As for Carnforth, I do worry about the coaling and ash plants, if they are unsafe for use due to their condition, surely a point must come at some point when they will be structually unsafe, would WCRC spend money on an asset that offers them little advantage on a closed site ?, I'd hate to think demolition would be comtemplated on such rare items.

 

Like this?

 

A pic that explains far more than words could.

 

In the middle 80s we stayed in a little French village where the former SNCF official photographer lived. At the end of our stay we had a pancake supper on plates with SNCF locomotives printed on, and he provided me with an A1 photo of La France the Carnforth locomotive at the dockside in France ready for her export in the late 60s

 

Those structures are listed as is most of the site, so demolition isn't allowed.

 

I didn't think the Ash and coal towers were listed, but if they are isn't the owner obliged to maintain them?

 

They are listed

http://list.historicengland.org.uk/results.aspx

 

On a slightly related note, 01 1104 that used to be based at Carnforth is currently being overhauled for a return to mainline service at Crailsheim in Germany. Interesting little website with some photos of the overhaul. http://www.faszination-dampf.de/Projekt.html

 

With both being listed monuments im surprised that WCRC arent looking after them as within time they will become unstable and have to be worked on before they give way and either injure or worse kill someone. But what Im sure that people would be interested in is if Carnforth were to hold an open day for members of the public like they did in 2008.

 

What is the difference?

According to my understanding, listing a building restricts what can be done to it by way of repairs, but imposes no obligation to do anything at all. Repairing with modern materials is prohibited, but you are allowed to let it deteriorate until it falls down.

 

There were many forms of coaling stage, but most required the wagons of coal to be pushed up a gradient so they were higher than the locos taking coal. The coal would be shovelled out of them, possibly directly into tenders or bunkers, possibly on to a floor then shovelled into the tender, or possibly into tubs which could be positioned directly over the tender and the coal tipped in. A coaling plant was a tower structure, usuually of concrete but sometimes steel, in which the coal is raised to a high level bunker and fed into tenders by gravity, so no - or little - manual labour was involved. On some the entire wagon of coal would be raised up to the bunker and the wagon tipped over to discharge its coal.