simonrl
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18 years ago
Just a quick test of the image clickthrough to full size...

Photograph:

🔗Dwr-Oer-Slate-Quarry-Archive-Album-Image-023[linkphoto]Dwr-Oer-Slate-Quarry-Archive-Album-Image-023[/linkphoto][/link]
my orders are to sit here and watch the world go by
Vanoord
18 years ago
Oooh, very clever :)

I was wondering about this image earlier... was this type of wagon common in the Welsh slate industry? It looks like a rotating tipper wagon of sorts and I've only come across much simpler such wagons in the past.
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simonrl
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18 years ago
It does look very complicated.

Perhaps hymac580c could explain why such a complex setup was used here?
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JohnnearCfon
18 years ago
I believe the wagon was subsequently acquired for preservation (along with some rubbish wagons) by a gentleman in Newbury, Berks, but I do not know it's current location.
Vanoord
18 years ago
"JohnnearCfon" wrote:

I believe the wagon was subsequently acquired for preservation (along with some rubbish wagons) by a gentleman in Newbury, Berks, but I do not know it's current location.



That would suggest it's something of a rarity?
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jagman
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18 years ago
"Vanoord" wrote:

"JohnnearCfon" wrote:

I believe the wagon was subsequently acquired for preservation (along with some rubbish wagons) by a gentleman in Newbury, Berks, but I do not know it's current location.



That would suggest it's something of a rarity?



Don;t think so, I've seen several over the years. Just a side tipping skip on a bogie
simonrl
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18 years ago
Possibly a rarity for around here though?
my orders are to sit here and watch the world go by
JohnnearCfon
18 years ago
"jagman" wrote:

"Vanoord

That would suggest it's something of a rarity?[/quote wrote:



Don;t think so, I've seen several over the years. Just a side tipping skip on a bogie




No, it was a bit more unusual than that. It had a turntable on the chassis so it could tip in any direction.
jagman
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18 years ago
"JohnnearCfon" wrote:

"jagman" wrote:

"Vanoord

That would suggest it's something of a rarity?[/quote wrote:



Don;t think so, I've seen several over the years. Just a side tipping skip on a bogie



No, it was a bit more special than that. It was on a turntable on the chasis so it could tip in any direction




Ahhh that does make it a little more novel then!
grahami
18 years ago
I think the "Americal Devil" steam excavators at Penrhyn and Dinorwic had tipping wagons of this sort which were acquired with them.

Grahami
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ChrisP
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18 years ago
Quite right- they are wagons designed for use with steam shovels and diesel excavators. While common in many other industries, they are scarce in the Welsh Slate industry, due to only a few sites using excavators.
JohnnearCfon
18 years ago
I have to disagree with the previous two posts.

The wagons used at Dinorwic (known as "American Devil Wagons") and identical ones at Penrhyn (known as "Auto Tippers") were much larger than the one that was at Dwr Oer, also they were only end tippers, unlike the Dwr Oer wagon which could tip through 360 degrees. There is one (presumably from Dinorwic) outside Welsh Slate Museum, Llanberis. There is the chassis of another on one of the upper C levels at Dinorwic (C8T I think). There used to be one at Boston Lodge on FR as well, don't know if that is still there.
hymac580c
18 years ago
In responce to Simon's question.
The set up was quite simple really. The side tipping wagon was parked under the chute from the dressing machine. When the wagon was full it was pushed to the end of the tip on the rails. Then the waste could be tipped forward or on either side to extend the tip forward and both sides.
If I remember correctly this particular wagon went either to Gloddfa Ganol or Tal-y-llyn railway. All the rest of the slate wagons went to Gloddfa ganol as well as the dressing machines. And the railway lines on the site went to Sygun copper mine in Beddgelert when they were opening the place for tourists. Llechwedd quarry had quite a few bits and pieces. The 3 stationary engines have been preserved by a member of the family as well as 1 slate sawing machine which can be seen by anyone interested.
The A level shed also had a swivelling tipping wagon which was used on the same principal. Can't remember where it went. A Seddon lorry, tractor and the Muir hill loader went to the scrap as they were not classic machinery the but but obsolete machinery.
Bellach dim ond swn y gwynt yn chwibian, lle bu gynt yr engan ar cynion yn tincian.
JohnnearCfon
18 years ago
The revolving tipping wagon acquired by gentleman in Newbury was recovered from partway down the second (upper) incline it was over the side the incline where it is on a stone embankment. He also recovered some rubbish wagons from at or near the same location.
ChrisP
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18 years ago
I'm pretty sure the Dwr Oer wagon is a type which was made by one of the excavator manufacturers (Bucyrus, or possibly Ruston Bucyrus) and were a fairly small size to match one bucketful, and to allow easy hand tramming of the full wagon. A similar but not identical wagon is shown here.

UserPostedImage

[tweak]Tags tweaked to display image (needs to be in lower case, it seems 😉 - vanoord[/tweak]
JohnnearCfon
18 years ago
Nice photo Chris, yes that looks similar to the wagon I saw at Dwr Oer, but is quite different to the larger ones at Penrhyn and Dinorwic, I think thats where the confusion arose, two different types of wagon! As a matter of interest, where was that taken?
hymac580c
18 years ago
Hi John, glad to hear that some wagons went to a railway enthusiast. It would be good to see a photo of the swiveling wagon as it is now. I do remember a group of rail enthusiasts recovering a sled wagon on the lower incline about 1978/9 with a landrover. I can remember there was a long handle along the back of the wagon for grip. The axles and rails were regularly oiled with waste oil from machinery. I sometimes wonder what happened to the wagons that went to Gloddfa? Now that it is run by Mc Alpine and does not have a tourist attraction anymore. Some could be identified as they had yellow paint marks on them
Bellach dim ond swn y gwynt yn chwibian, lle bu gynt yr engan ar cynion yn tincian.
hymac580c
18 years ago
Hi sorry if I am going slightly off topic. About 18 years ago when I was working for a construction company in Porthmadog, I was given a task of breaking up a concrete yard and leveling it out at the old 'Terraso tile' yard next to the yot club at the harbour with an excavator. After clearing the concrete I dug down further and came accross narrow gauge rails going accross the yard with about 5 or 6 turntables with rails running towards the sea walls. We dug the rails and turntables up and they were taken to my employer's yard. There is a house and boat sales there now.
We asked the Ffestiniog rail, Gloddfa and Llechwedd quarry tours if they would be interested in the items. But they were not at the time. After lying at the yard for a couple of months they unfortunately found their way to the scrapman. They might have then have found their way to enthusiasts as the scrapman knows who buys what.
I am told that this area was the old Maenafferen yard for loading slate onto the ships. If I am wrong please correct me. Has anyone seen or got a photo of the yard as it was in the old days? With rails in place.
Bellach dim ond swn y gwynt yn chwibian, lle bu gynt yr engan ar cynion yn tincian.
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