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