Valentine - Sand pit and bridge above Boston Lodge Halt.

Valentine - Sand pit and bridge above Boston Lodge Halt.
Valentine - Sand pit and bridge above Boston Lodge Halt.
Valentine - Sand pit and bridge above Boston Lodge Halt.
Geolocation data
(52°55′13″N, 4°6′16″W)
Item details
iBase ID
992
Title
Valentine - Sand pit and bridge above Boston Lodge Halt.
Sand pit and bridge above Boston Lodge Halt, 1893.

The small wooden building on the extreme left of this photograph is shown on various plans as an oil store and, also according to those plans was served by a siding and waggon turntable. The pitched roof in front is the gable end of the former weigh house office, later known as 'the Brothel' or 'Halt Room'. The white gate across the road to Nos 3 & 4 and across the railway onto the headland (and today used for the works access road) is an interesting feature. At this time there was no road access to the Works, save over the Cob. On the extreme right can be glimpsed the down home disc signal for Pen Cob.

This photograph shows a plank path for wheel barrows, a common way of moving barrows across soft(ish) ground frequently seen in old photographs of the construction of early railway cuttings and embankments. The bridge carried barrows over the mainline so that they could be tipped into waggons stabled in the siding seen in the middle of the photograph. This continued right out of shot to access the locomotive turntable. A waggon (probably a iron 2-ton coal waggon) can be seen being used for this precise purpose. The sand being taken here was dug from the hillside and sold, by the FR Co., to local builders, an interesting situation, given that the Company didn't acquire the site until the mid-1990s. These workings are separate to the sand pit siding which ran for a short distance from the Top Yard through the gate to the right of Plas Smart, which was probably used to source sand for the locomotives.

The railway possibly used this sand themselves but, though fine and of the right grade for building, the sand was heavily impregnated with salt which meant that its use could be easily traced by the efflorescence that appeared (and still does) on local buildings; particularly on rendered walls.

This scene is dominated by Traeth Mawr, the Afon Glaslyn, and the Snowdon Massif. Note the original full length GWR Cambrian Coast railway bridge (it was shortened by a full 21 spans circa 1914 by infilling) and the substantial reserves of stone in Minffordd Quarry.

Source. Valentine 19640

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SH5859637966
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