help

Just picked up tonight at a local toy fair a copy of 'A Railway Modeller's Picture Library', by Chris Leigh, published by Ian Allan in 1995. This has the following photos in it of concrete coaling towers:
Toton (LMS) coaling tower - wagon hoist to top of tower, single track through a wide base.
Kipps (LNER) - narrow base over one line, ground level wagon tippler and conveyor (not visible in photo) to take coal to top of tower.
Thornton Junction MPD - wide base over two tracks, wagon hoist to top of tower.
Patricroft (LMS) - wide base, possibly over two tracks (bushes in photo partly obscure base) Wagon hoist to top - similar to Toton but has a 'hood' covering the area where the wagon tips over.
There is also a photo of a smaller coaling plant (no location) between two widely spaced tracks in which a ground-level wagon tippler feeds a hopper from which a conveyor runs up to two discharge chutes, one on each side. Construction appears to be metal frame with corrugated sheet sides and roof.
Hope this is of help.
Regards,
John Webb

The disadvantage to the modeller of the concrete coaling tower is its SIZE. They really were HUGE. Of course if you have the space, all well and good. But even if you have enough room there is still the problem of producing a reasonable working or non working representation of the wagon hoist.

Of course you also need a reasonable length of siding for the wagons to pass through the hoist arrangement. For a true representation you need to be able to feed the full ones in at one end and take the empties out of the other.

For the smaller MPD, there was an alternative design of Electric Coal Hoist built entirely in steel which was much more compact. The coal was discharged into 10 cwt tubs which were then lifted up the hoist and tippled into the loco tenders. There were a fair number of these on the Eastern Region, originally installed by the LNER. One maker was Stothert and Pitt Ltd of Bath, and there are good clear photographs of them installed at Hitchin and Hatfield in Great Northern Railway Engine Sheds Volume 1 Southern Area by Griffiths and Cooper. This book is currently on offer.

There was certainly an identical coal hoist at Retford MPD and one of a similar type at Kings X "bottom shed". Examples may have been installed by other of the "Big Four" prior to Nationalisation.

There is an etched kit for such a coal hoist supplied by Walsworth Models Tel 01952 510198 for £12.50. Walsworth state that these units were also installed at Frodingham, Marylebone, Yarmouth Beach and Parkeston Quay.

To go with the coaler, you also should have some kind of ash handling system. Whilst the LMS favoured automated systems with hoists and concrete hoppers, almost as large as concrete coaling plants, the LNER was happy with wet pits and mobile cranes with grabs to lift the wet ash into wagons on an adjacent siding, which is quite easy to replicate.

Colombo

Hi Zep108 - it would seem that you have had a good selection of replys and suggestions on this thread regarding Concrete coaling towers, but can I just add mine.

I have somewhere at home a large collection of pictures taken of both the coaling tower and the ash plant at Carnforth which I took several years ago with the intention of building one myself.

You don't actually say where you are based but if you are thinking of visiting either Wigan or Leeds show in the next few weeks then I will be there as an operator on Linfit west, If so I can take these piccys with me and lend them to you if you like.

Incidentally folks, Carnforth is NOT the last remaining concrete coaling tower in the U.K. as is often stated, rather the last of its type - the one at Immingham still stands to this day as well.