Prototype PhilH's Industrial Railway Photos

[Yorkshire Dave]

A 4mm kit of the EE/Baguley Harton (Nos. 13-15) Bo-Bo is available from Judith Edge Kits as is the Harton Siemens ELoks Nos. 2 and 10. The latter being also available in 7mm scale (which I have built in my thread here post #585 onwards).

Shame the Harton Bo-Bo is not available in 7mm scale.

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[PhilH]

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No.13 crossing Victoria Road running light engine from High Staithes to St.Hilda Sidings, with the embankment and bridge of the BR High Shields Line behind in July 1972. The loco is in the white livery introduced after a tragic accident in which a young child was killed after running into the path of an oncoming train at the Laygate Lane level crossing. The white livery was thought to make the locos more visible than the previous black or dark blue, but it was soon found to be ineffective on its own and black inverted 'V's were added to the ends of the locos. At the two busiest crossings, Victoria Road and Laygate Lane, previously controlled just with a flagman, lights and full barriers with skirts were installed, and any close boarded fencing adjacent to the crossing replaced with chain link to give better visibility of an approaching train. The other four crossings on this line were in quieter locations and remained under the control of flagmen.

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No.10 crossing West Holborn road adjacent to Harton High Staithes, with the flagman controlling the crossing on the other side of the train. The barriers carried red lights and were only used after dark. The last short section of the High Staithes Line from Hilda Hole Sidings (where a connection was made with the adjacent BR High Shields Line) to the Staithes was normally worked by one of the smaller 4w locos - either No.2 or No.10.

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View of Harton High Staithes from the level crossing. On arrival the loco would uncouple from the incoming full wagons, collect the empties from the teeming shed over the staithe, draw the empties into the vacant side of the loop and then propel the fulls into the teeming shed for unloading.

No.15 on a loaded train for Low Staithes at St.Hilda Sidings.




No.9 built by AEG (Allgemeine Elektricitats Gesellschaft) of Germany in 1913 at Westoe Colliery. Its now preserved on the Tanfield Railway.


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No.1 withdrawn and minus pantograph at the rear of Westoe Loco Shed in July 1972. The loco had been sold to Beamish Museum in 1970, but was not removed until August 1973 when it was taken to Marley Hill for storage. This was a large and powerful locomotive for a 4 wheeler, rated at 300hp compared with the smaller 4 wheelers 2 and 10 at 100hp and the double bogie 3 and 4 at 200hp, and the long wheelbase and rather fierce braking system tended to limit its use.

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No.1 at Marley Hill in September 1975, presumably refitted with a pantograph before it left Westoe. Note the difference in buffer height between No.1 and the adjacent wagon. The German manufacturers got the buffer height wrong on the first 4 locos and they were set to only 3'-0" above rail level. Unfortunately it wasn't considered worth saving for preservation long term and it was scrapped at Marley Hill in February 1981.

 

[PhilH]

No.15 at Harton Low Staithes in July 1976, in the new green livery which began to be applied in 1972. On that July 1976 visit, which was not previously arranged, I was fortunate to meet the chap in charge of the Westoe rail system at Low Staithes, who turned out to be something of a railway enthusiast himself. He said that when his boss told him to paint the locos in something more serviceable than white he decided on LNER Apple Green, and very smart they looked too with yellow/black ends, yellow lettering shaded red and red pantographs. He arranged for me to have a cab ride from the staithes up to St.Hilda Sidings and return, the return trip with the full train being quite exhilarating as it left the tunnel at speed and the track turned sharply right up the gradient towards the headshunt. After that was over he said if you go up to Westoe Colliery, I'll ring the loco shed and tell them to bring some of the older locos outside for you to photograph.

So this is the resulting line up of Nos. 2, 9, 4 and 3 outside Westoe Loco Shed, kindly arranged by the shed staff.


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No.2 built by Siemens in 1908, and now preserved at Beamish Museum. Similar loco No.10 built by Siemens works no.862 of 1913 and still carrying the Harton Coal Co. cast numberplate E10 was in the loco shed and is now on the Tanfield Railway. One of these locos was normally used at Harton High Staithes, but the line from there to St.Hilda Sidings had been closed in February 1976 and colliery waste was now being shipped from Low Staithes.

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No.9 built by AEG works no.1565 in 1913. It was essentially a redesign of a narrow gauge mine locomotive previously built by the firm, which enabled AEG to promise a quicker delivery time for a larger locomotive than Siemens. The cab roof was so low that it needed additional supports to mount the pantograph at the required height. As mentioned previously this loco is also preserved on the Tanfield Railway. Note from the photo the lower buffer heights on 2 to the left and 4 to the right - AEG got it right !

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No.4 built by Siemens in 1909, now preserved on the North Tyneside Steam Railway. The original cab entrance had been modified to provide more weather protection for the crew.

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No.3 also built by Siemens in 1909, still in the now rather grubby white livery. It retains the original cab entrance although the upper section has been partly boarded in. This loco never received the green livery and it was scrapped in 1978.

 

[PhilH]

More photos taken on the 1976 visit

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No.12 on the empties (south) side of the coal processing plant with the Crown Shaft and tower winder in the background. The Crown Shaft was the main coal winding shaft at Westoe. In the far distance to the right of the loco is South Shields Pier, which forms a breakwater protecting the south side of the River Tyne Estuary. In 1984 No.12 was rebuilt using the original bogies but with a completely new body to the same design as the restricted height locomotives 13-15.

No.13 arrives at Westoe on a train of empties from Low Staithes.




No.11 draws full wagons over the weighbridge at the top of Erskine Road Bank.


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Westoe Coal Preparation Plant, built as part of the NCB modernisation of the colliery in 1953/4, with a network of overhead wires allowing the locos to access all the sidings.

Brake van A18 was used with the permanent way maintenance train - said to be ex LMS, possibly somewhat modified ?​

In 1988 coal traffic from Westoe was diverted from Low Staithes to the Tyne Coal Terminal at Tyne Dock, 1 mile up river from Low Staithes, as the TCT could accept ships of up to 30,000 tons whereas Low Staithes could only handle ships up to 12,000 tons. This traffic was handled throughout by BR, running over NCB track from Dean Road Sidings through the site of Westoe Lane Station to a new loading facility at the colliery. Low Staithes continued to handle waste traffic for dumping at sea, but this was diesel hauled to St.Hilda Sidings with electric haulage only for the last section through the tunnel to Low Staithes. The following year a conveyor system was installed to carry the waste from the colliery to the staithes and all NCB rail traffic ceased. The colliery itself ceased production on 7th May 1993.

 

[oldravendale]

Wonderful pictures of a system I never saw - only just missed it because my daughter was at Sunderland Uni. A trip to South Shields was an occasional treat for a walk up one of the breakwaters.

Thank you, Phil, for bringing these industrial systems to life.

Brian

 

[AndyB]

View attachment 159380

Brake van A18 was used with the permanent way maintenance train - said to be ex LMS, possibly somewhat modified ?​

I think it is pre-grouping - the timber underframe (plated), split-spoke wheels, type of spring and brake are all definitely not from an LMS brake van (or any other LMS wagon that I can immediately find).
The two big longitudes suggest to me some kind of well or glass wagon conversion - unless they were just old scrap beams that were added for ballast.
Noting the bolts for the brake hanger 'V' - they are on a diagonal (not vertically aligned). This is more common to L&Y / GC / NE than to MR / LNWR.

Andy

 

[Rob Pulham]

I think it quite likely to be a much modified NER Brake van. The two big longitudes as Andy describes them and the deep timber end posts that they support are very much in the style of the NER V1/3 brake vans. The deeper end posts being there to buffer up to Chaldron wagons.

 

[PhilH]

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Westoe Colliery also had a surface 2'-6" gauge system serving the pithead and stockyard worked by two Ruston & Hornsby Type 48DLZ locomotives originally built to 2'-2" gauge for underground use at Morrison Busty Colliery in 1949. After the closure of Morrison Busty in 1973 they were converted to 2'-6" gauge and provided with new cabs at the Lambton Engine Works, then sent to Westoe in 1974.

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No.1 Ruston & Hornsby 256314 in July 1976. The space at the rear of the cab was formerly occupied by the exhaust conditioner when the locomotives worked underground, but now its fitted with an additional seat and covered by a sort of veranda extending from the cab rear. The square plate on the bonnet side which appears to read "H(B?)" is actually a Ruston & Hornsby "RH" plate fitted upside down ! Both locomotives were painted yellow.

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No.1 again a little more mud splattered 3 years later. In 1988 it went to the Woodhorn Colliery Museum in Northumberland via the NCB's Ashington Workshops and was converted to 2'-0" gauge for proposed use on a passenger railway at the museum. However due to a change of plan it was donated to the Mosley Railway Trust and moved to the Apedale Railway in 2006.

No.2 Ruston & Hornsby 256323 in June 1979. It was sent to the NCB's Ashington Workshops in 1986 and scrapped there three years later.


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No.2 struggles to get a grip with a long train - it might have been easier if the first pair of wheels on the second wagon were actually on the track and not trying to dig trenches in the dirt at the side of the rails !

 

[steve50]

Fantastic photo's @PhilH, so much atmosphere, from the loco's to the embedded trackwork and the wagon loads. Thanks for posting

 

[PhilH]

Still on the overhead electric theme, although a rather different location

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Llechwedd Slate Quarry at Blaenau Ffestiniog converted two of its steam locos to overhead wire operation in 1927 and 1930. The first was THE ECLIPSE converted from a Bagnall 0-4-0ST, of which the quarry had two named MARGARET and DOROTHY. However its never been determined conclusively which one was used in the conversion. The second loco was dismantled and the chassis stored for possible use in a third loco, but this was never done. The chassis was sold in 1972 with the intention of using it to construct a new loco and after passing through several owners this work is now being carried out at the Bala Lake Railway, with the loco to be restored as DOROTHY.

In March 1965 THE ECLIPSE was working on the top (No.7) level taking wagons of waste slate brought up an incline from lower levels to the tip. The overhead wires on this level were fairly high and the twin trolley poles quite long. A two wire system was necessary because the current return couldn't be via the track, due to the use of stub points.

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A photo of one of the original Bagnall 0-4-0ST locos on display in the Llechwedd Museum, said to be DOROTHY although the name isn't visible on the loco.

Only the main route and siding to the loco shed were wired on the top level, and wagons were chain shunted on adjacent tracks.





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The overhead wires on the top level were stolen some time before June 1968 and by October 1974 THE ECLIPSE had been moved down to Level No.5, formerly worked by the second electric loco THE COALITION. The wires were much lower on this level as the line passed through a tunnel and the long trolley poles had been replaced by the shorter poles from THE COALITION.

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THE COALITION working on a snowy Level No.5 in December 1963. This was converted in 1930 from the Bagnall 0-4-0T EDITH originally built in 1890, one of Bagnall's "inverted saddle tank" designs where the front mounted tank is one unit extending under and supporting the front of the boiler.

A photo of EDITH as built on display in the Llechwedd Museum.




THE COALITION emerging from the tunnel on Level No.5 with a short train.


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By 1976 THE COALITION was on display at Llechwedd's Quarry Tours, repainted but minus trolley poles. The tips of Oakeley Slate Quarry are in the background.

By 1976 the wires had been removed from Level No.5 and THE ECLIPSE joined THE COALITION on display in the open. By 2010 the condition of the locos had deteriorated badly and they were taken to the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway at Portmadoc for covered storage with the intention of some restoration work being carried out. Unfortunately no work was carried out there and they were returned to Llechwedd, but have since been moved to the Statfold Barn Railway.

 

[David Hall]

This topic starts with a rather pessimistic note - I don't think there's a great deal of interest on WT in industrial railways, so it may not go very far.....

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Hello Phil.

Well I beg to differ.....

Thank you so much for sharing your photos on this thread. I've had a leave of absence from WT and have only just got back to the forum today.

All I can say is that this is perfect for me. It's like walking into my railway dreamland! I'm only really interested in industrial railways to be honest. Both standard and narrow gauge. That is all integrated with a wider interest in industrial architecture, archaeology and general paraphernalia. So I find the background, context and setting just as fascinating as the railways.

I'm going to spend many, many hours pouring over this thread and all the photos and discussion. It is an absolutely wonderful resource. I'm very jealous of those that saw this world first hand.

Thank you again. I'm going to get stuck into this this evening - I haven't even got past the first few photos yet - but just wanted to flag my gratitude!

All the best and keep the photos coming.
Dave

 

[David Hall]

Phil.

Thank you. I've just spent a very enjoyable couple of hours going through this thread from the beginning (so apologies for all the 'likes').

Whatever I say now is going to seem inadequate but here goes..... thank you so much for sharing these photos and the incredibly detailed explanation to each image. You have clearly put in an immense amount of time and work into preparing all these postings. It is something I am personally so appreciative of, so wanted to express my sincere gratitude.

As I said above, I love industrial railways, architecture, and archaeology, but my knowledge pales into insignificance compared to yours. It's incredible! I've learnt so much, but I have only touched the surface in a couple of hours this morning. It's going to take half a dozen times of going through the whole thread to start to take it all in.

The atmosphere you've captured is magical. The backdrop to the railways is just as fascinating. The buildings, machinery, industrial fittings etc. You captured a lost world. A lost world which was seldom photographed, and which I am too young to have seen first hand. So again, I'm very grateful.

It's all wonderful, but the photos of the Harton/Westoe/Whitburn system is particularly interesting to me. Poignant too. A few generations of my family worked at the pits in South Shields (and Boldon). They also played in the colliery band, which was at the heart of the community. My uncle conducted them for many years. My grandad, aunt, and cousins played. I continued that legacy and had a decade playing for Westoe Colliery Band, albeit in the 21st Century, long after the pit had gone. They're still going strong I'm pleased to note. But coal, railways, music, culture, is all bound up together in my family. Anyway, enough of that diversion, back to the railways...

I am very sad that I cannot remember the electric system. I have a very vague recollection of going to an 'open day' when Westoe Colliery was closing (some irony in that), but would have only been 7 years old in 1993, so it's hazy memories. Obviously by then there were no electrics and I just remember a few little diesels and a mainline Class 56 being around.

As we 'speak' I am sitting at home 500m from the site of Boldon Colliery. Coal is in the blood. Your wonderful shots have really struck a chord and inspired me. Please keep sharing. I for one have so much to learn.

Thank you once again for sharing and for all your hard work in putting it together for us. Keep them coming!

I'm going to shut up now and go back to marvelling at your photos

Dave

 

[PhilH]

Dave,

Many thanks for your comments, I'm pleased that the photos are of interest and very grateful to you and all the other members for all the 'likes', it makes the effort so much more worthwhile. It would be very gratifying if any of the photos gave some modelling inspiration to other members. I must admit in retrospect the opening sentence was a bit too pessimistic, but that's me all over - expect the worst and you won't be disappointed !

When I first started to visit industrial railways there was still plenty to see, most places were easy to access and the staff were usually friendly and cooperative. What I hope comes out of this topic is the large variety in the types and extent of industrial systems, from a few yards of narrow gauge track and maybe one loco with the odd wagon or two to the large standard gauge systems with 20 or more locomotives. Its also very useful to study the processes carried out in the facilities these railways served, which determines how they were laid out and exactly how they were used.

You may have seen my layout thread on here where I've attempted to portray a Lancashire NCB system in 0 scale:
MOVING COAL - A Colliery Layout in 0 Gauge
Its been dormant for a while - too many other things on the go - but I should get back to it before too long.

Philip

 

[oldravendale]

Philip.

As has been said elsewhere these are a wonderful series of photos. It's very galling but I was making long trips to see the wrecks at Barry from about 1967 and it never occurred to me that there may be something else of interest to visit, and often much closer to home. Such are the lost opportunities!

I'm very grateful to you for opening a book which had, to a large extent, been closed to me previously.

Brian

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Coming back to the Westoe Colliery Railway the 'H' section catenary masts were installed by the NCB when they carrried out their improvements and rebuilding as Phil alludes to in the posts.

What can also be seen in Phil's photos are remnants of the original Reichsbahn style lattice masts installed when the major part of the colliery network was electrified in 1908 (the colliery had German shareholders at the time hence the use of Siemens-Schuckert locos and electrical equipment).

Further history and reading of this fascinating network can be found in the The Oakwood Press book - The Harton Electric Railway by William J Hatcher (published 1994, ISBN 978-0853614579, now out of print). It's well worth the read if you can locate a copy.

 

[PhilH]

After the disposal or conversion of the steam locomotives, Llechwedd Quarry went all electric with the overhead wire locos and several small battery locos, with just one exception.

Three double battery locomotives built in 1921 were acquired from British Electric Vehicles Ltd. of Southport


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A single battery loco was acquired from the nearby Maenofferen Quarry in 1945, built in 1936 by Wingrove & Rogers Ltd. of Liverpool (who had acquired BEV in 1926)

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The only non electric loco was this 2-2-0 petrol loco built using the engine and gearbox from a Morris car or van No.323414 mounted on a rail chassis. Believed to have been built about 1936, it was out of use and partly dismantled by 1967 with the rear (driven) axle removed.

Dumped outside on the quarry's top level with the Morris 'flat nose' radiator removed


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By 1982 it was down at the Quarry Tours site on its side, giving a good view of the underside of the chassis. The front axle is pivoted and retained by springs. Part of the car chassis seems to have been retained within the new channel frames. The back driven axle had outside bearings fixed to the three holes each side in the underside of the channel frame at the rear. The brakes acted only on the rear wheels, they are in place but pivoted up into the frame, with the back wheels in place they would be dropped down by about 90 degrees. There's no provision for buffers or couplings although there are various holes in the ends of the frame.
So one wonders was there some problem with the drive to the back axle which was removed for repairs which were never carried out, maybe because it was found to be unsuitable in service.

 

[michael mott]

Thanks again for all the wonderful photographs. The conversions of the steam locos to electric was also covered in the Industrial railway review with drawings and pictures of both locos.

Michael

 

[decauville1126]

Might I ask if your travels also covered Manod and the two Brush 4-w battery locos there - one with the cab cut down and the other which became a skeletal shell having been stripped for spares? Thanks.

 

[PhilH]

Might I ask if your travels also covered Manod and the two Brush 4-w battery locos there - one with the cab cut down and the other which became a skeletal shell having been stripped for spares? Thanks.

Yes, I visited Manod in 1964 and 1968. On both visits, which were probably on a weekend, the working loco No.16303 (without the top part of the cab) was locked in the shed. In 1964 the other loco (No.16306) reduced to a body shell only was in the mill, and by 1968 had been dumped outside.

Brush 16306 in August 1968 (badly framed photo unfortunately - I've managed to miss part of it off !)​

Both locos later went to Gloddfa Ganol, but I didn't photograph them there.

 

[Mike W]

Thank you Phil. I remember our family having an unofficial tour of part of Llechwedd Slate Quarry during a holiday around the time you took those pictures. I was probably about 12 years old and vividly remember the slate splitting and dressing equipment. We never got to the upper levels to see what you photographed.