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Tuesday 20 April 2021

Pipework

Ian loading pipe bedding
Starting the pipework trench next to MH coal drops
(photo courtesy of Dave Dixon)
Ian & Dennis marking out pipework lengths alongside MH shed
Cameron & Dave following the digger
Cameron, Dennis, Steve & Terry levelling the trench bottom
(photo courtesy of Dave Dixon)
Ian & Ian discussing details
Dennis, Harry & Cameron digging forward
Concentrating on clemmies
The digger bucket is the correct width for the pipe,
but too wide for the gap between concrete sleeper ends
 & foundations for the drops, hence hand digging
Alex & Bob cleaning HL No.2
First attempt to get the fairly inflexible pipe into the trench
It's not going in
Waiting while Ian widens the trench 
I'm watching Steve succeeding .....
(photo courtesy of Dave Dixon)
..... with Ian & Dennis at the other end
(photo courtesy of Dave Dixon)
Another length going in
Installing a bend
(photo courtesy of Dave Dixon)
Shovelling bedding around the pipe
Steve removing excess fill

2 comments:

Strawberry_Lynn said...

Phew, I didn't even realise that the coaldrops existed! Presumably, they were for loading coal wagons and not the bunkers of locomotives, since the shutes look a little too wide and too high up! (on a shared account)

Derek said...

The coal drops date from the 50s or 60s when coal from local pits without a rail connection used the Andrews House branch at Marley Hill as a rail head connecting to the Bowes Railway towards Jarrow. I don't know if their coal went to landsale, coke plants, blending plants, onto the wider rail network or out via the Tyne.