These coal drops in a railway siding beside Sowerby Bridge train station date from the 1860's. They were used by coal trains bringing fuel from the mines and many Yorkshire towns had them in Victorian times. The fuel wagons would be positioned over the drops, a large cart would sit below and the coal would simply be dropped into the cart, for distribution around the town. They were in use well into the twentieth century, though the coal was dropped into waiting lorries, not horse-drawn carts. There are similar coal drops still in existence at Halifax and Huddersfield, all are now Grade II Listed Buildings.
I like this photograph because of the parallel diagonal elements which indicate the direction & movement of the trains and the contrast between textures of stonework, timber and foliage.
I just commented on another blog about my kids' obsession with trains when they were younger, and I learned the names of some of the cars, such as the "hopper car" that was used for transporting things like coal - loaded from the top and then unloaded through openings or chutes in the bottom of the car to the waiting trucks or carts or what have you below. Still used, of course, but I seldom see them as I don't live near a freight train line.
ReplyDeleteSo much Victorian era technology is still in use, it's amazing really! These coal drops at Sowerby Bridge obviously aren't used today, neither are others in the nearby towns of Halifax and Huddersfield but active ones still exist in Yorkshire at coal fired power-stations like Drax and Ferrybridge. The Ferrybridge also burns biomass, which releases less CO2 than coal.
ReplyDeleteMy grandsons like Thomas the Tank Engine, but their railway interests haven't extended beyond that!