Slate waggons loaded onto a GWR transporter.

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(52°59′39″N, 3°56′10″W)

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iBase ID

1803

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Slate waggons loaded onto a GWR transporter.

Slate waggons loaded onto a GWR standard-gauge transporter, 1927. After being been lowered down the long series of inclines from Craig Ddu Quarry, six waggons at a time could be transported in piggyback fashion from Tan y Manod Yard to the main GWR Yard in Blaenau Ffestiniog, where this scene was captured. Upon arrival they could either be transferred onto the FR, or unloaded in the transhipment sidings. In the case of the latter this would involve the slate being sent back the way it had come and on to Bala.

The journey was usually made by a locomotive travelling light to the shed at Tan y Manod for servicing and turning on the table there. The working timetable shows that the schedules were not tight, so the loaded transporter could return in the same path. Coal waggons for the gasworks, just below the level crossing on the Cwmbowydd Road, were shunted during the same trips, being left on the main line to be emptied into chutes beside the line.

Both of the empty 2-ton slates seen here are GWR waggons. The braked waggon on the right has the earlier form of axle boxes fitted. These are similar in appearance to those fitted to FR waggons, whereas those fitted to the left hand waggon are the more familiar and distinctive design that were fitted to subsequent batches.

The GWR transporter No. 25020 was a former broad-gauge 6-wheeler bolster waggon, converted to standard-gauge. The rebuild into a transporter (the gauge was probably altered at the same time given how Brunel's broad-gauge was still in use elsewhere on the GWR) would have taken place just prior to 1883 when the Festiniog & Blaenau Railway was rebuilt, in doing so cutting off the quarries from the FR and necessitating the piggyback operation seen here. It had sandwich construction solebars; timber held between wrought iron plates. This ancient vehicle was nearing the end of its service life in this scene, and was replaced by more conventional 4-wheeled standard-gauge bolsters. Note the buffer which has clearly been subjected to heavy shunting at some point. At each end of the transporter and between the slate waggons were upright 'combs' just outside both sets of rails. Into these were slotted short lengths of iron bar that bore against the slate waggon wheels, acting as chocks to secure against movement whilst in transit. The slate waggons were further restrained by chains wound through the wheels, as can be seen in the photograph. However these were not tightened down with turnbuckles or similar, so the loading process would have been relatively swift.

Queen's Bridge (still retaining the original iron deck) can be glimpsed in the background on the right, with the Bank building prominent on the left. The picture was taken a little to the east of the GWR signal box. The bearded gentleman's name is Joe Jones.

Source. HGW Household. Original from GWR 1927.

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SH7013245867

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