Skewen Dram Road
| Skewen Dram Road | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.jpg) Narrow gauge locomotive below the Skewen Incline, 1897
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 Route of the former Dram Road, 2005
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| Route length: | 5 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 800 mm ( narrow gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maximum slope : | Adhesion: 25 ‰ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minimum radius : | 40 m | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Skewen Dram Road was a five kilometer long narrow gauge railway with a gauge of 800 mm at Skewen in Wales .
Route
The railroad was built to coal from the coal mines Dyffryn and Bryncoch a Skewen Incline called funicular to get to the pier of Skewen.
In 1871, the New Neath Abbey Coal Company , which had operated Dram Road across New Road, was asked to install level crossing gates over New Road . These were painted white and gave the district, which is still known today as White Gates , its name.
possession
The Main Colliery Company Limited owned and operated Skewen Dram Road . It was the successor to Dynevor Dyffryn and Neath Abbey United Collieries Company Limited .
The New Neath Abbey Coal Company is said to have been founded in June 1819 by the Fox family who held 7/12 of the company's shares, while Joseph T. Price held the remaining 5/12. The company failed in 1873, after which its assets were sold to Messrs Batters and Scott on behalf of the Dyffryn Main Colliery Company. In 1874 the company was sold to the United Company , which was formed by the merger of Dynevor Dyffryn and Neath Abbey United Collieries Company under the direction of John Newell Moore of Swansea. The United Company ceased to operate in 1888 and was renamed Main Colliery Company Limited with effect from May 1, 1899 .
Accidents
According to a contemporary newspaper report, an accident occurred on the evening of September 20, 1906 on the Main Colliery Company's private railway, with the death of three men and serious injuries to two other men. A group of ten track maintenance workers was riding a trolley when they collided with an oncoming locomotive in a curve. Three of the men were seriously injured and died from the impact of the impact before they could be transported home.
Locomotives
One of the steam locomotives was built by HH Price at the Neath Abbey Works. It had cylinders with a displacement of 8 × 15 inches (200 × 380 mm), wheels with a diameter of 2 feet 4 inches (710 mm) and a wheelbase of 4 feet (1,200 mm). She used 8 quintals (0.4 tons) of coal a day. With 30 empty lorries, each weighing 12 quintals (0.6 t), she was able to drive up an incline of 1 to 40 (2.5%) at high speed and safely negotiate curves with a radius of 40 m. Neath Abbey's price for the sale of such a locomotive was over £ 600, which was confirmed in writing in an offer dated April 19, 1864.
When Main Colliery Co. Ltd. were taken over, these comprised four locomotives, two of which were scrapped. In 1899 this company switched its narrow-gauge lines to standard gauge and therefore offered six locomotives for sale, two of which had been built by Neath Abbey Ironworks, three by Pecketts and an unknown company. Their track width was 800 mm (2 feet 7½ inches). There were three two-axle tank locomotives with the Peckett factory numbers 501/1890, 542/1890 and 602/1896, another two-axle tank locomotive, another saddle tank locomotive and a completely unknown locomotive.
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Two similar 0-4-0T steam locomotives with a track width of 826 mm (2 feet 8½ inches) of Neath Abbey Coal Company were in 1858 by the company R. & W. Hawthorn in Newcastle upon Tyne delivered. These two steam locomotives were originally built to be exported to South America in 1864 and 1870, but were instead used or stored at the plants of the Neath Abbey Iron Company. They were for sale in 1899.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Skewen Dram Roads.
- ↑ Carole Wilsher: The districts and streets of Skewen: "The streets echo with footsteps from the past".
- ↑ Gwasanaeth Archifau Gorllewin Morgannwg - Main Colliery, Skewen Records.
- ^ Fatal Accident on a Colliery Railway.
- ↑ Dean Forester: Mr. Keeling buys a locomotive. In: The Industrial Railway Record. No. 3 and 4, pp. 58-61 / 64, December 1963.
- ^ A b The Industrial Locomotive Society: West Glamorgan.
- ^ Peter Johnson: Festiniog Railway: The Spooner Era and After 1830-1920. Pen and Sword, 2017
Coordinates: 51 ° 40 ′ 17.8 " N , 3 ° 50 ′ 10.3" W.