Peak Forest Tramway - Construction

Construction

Built by Benjamin Outram, the tramway was initially single-track, on a 4 feet 2 inches (1.27 m) gauge, constructed of stone sleeper blocks and L-section cast-iron rails that were fastened directly onto the blocks, in the same manner as his Little Eaton Gangway built for the Derby Canal. The rails, known as gang rails or plates, were provided by Benjamin Outram and Company who also supplied the mineral waggons.

From Bugsworth it rose 129 feet (39 m) to Whitehough, then proceeded to Chapel Milton on the level. It then climbed 56½ to the base of the inclined plane, which took the line upwards 192 feet (59 m) over a distance of 512 yards (468 m). After a more gentle slope to Barmoor Clough the line proceeded to the Dove Holes quarries.

To aid acceleration from the top, and braking at the foot, the inclined plane varied from 1 in 6 at the top to 1 in 12 at the base. It was intended to be, at least partly, self-acting with descending wagons counterbalanced to some extent by partly loaded wagons being drawn up. Initially rope was tried, followed by a patent twisted chain, passing round a wheel, with a brake to control it, in a pit at the top. Eventually a chain with 5-inch (130 mm) links was purchased from Birmingham, which proved more equal to the work. By the beginning of the 20th century this had been replaced by a steel rope.

There was another small incline of 33 yards (30 m) within the quarry complex worked by a horse-gin at the top and a continuous rope.

The mineral waggons were originally similar to those used for the earlier Little Eaton Gangway, with a substantial wooden chassis with a wrought-iron body held in place by two wooden wedges. The axles were bolted onto axle trees and the cast-iron wheels (about 20 inches in diameter) were held on the axles by a linchpin (known as a "lily-pin"). Later the bodies were fixed with a door at the back, unloading by means of a tippler mechanism mounted on a turntable. Each waggon carried between 2 and 2.5 tons of limestone.

From the bottom of the plane to Bugsworth Basin, a team of four horses could draw up to twenty wagons. The ganger and nipper (apprentice), controlling a gang of waggons, rode on the axles and kept the speed at 4 to 6 miles per hour by spragging the wheels to make them skid.

Read more about this topic:  Peak Forest Tramway

Famous quotes containing the word construction:

    There’s no art
    To find the mind’s construction in the face:
    He was a gentleman on whom I built
    An absolute trust.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    No real “vital” character in fiction is altogether a conscious construction of the author. On the contrary, it may be a sort of parasitic growth upon the author’s personality, developing by internal necessity as much as by external addition.
    —T.S. (Thomas Stearns)

    There is, I think, no point in the philosophy of progressive education which is sounder than its emphasis upon the importance of the participation of the learner in the formation of the purposes which direct his activities in the learning process, just as there is no defect in traditional education greater than its failure to secure the active cooperation of the pupil in construction of the purposes involved in his studying.
    John Dewey (1859–1952)