440 THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN August 30, 1918. able, and 50,000 tons of coal can be kept in readiness for shipment. The Port Talbot Railway, although only 35 miles in length, has access to a considerable number of collieries. The Great Western and the Rhondda and Swansea Bay railways also serve this port. To ensure a minimum rail transport of coal from the South Wales and Monmouthshire collieries to the Bristol Channel ports, the Controller of Coal Mines recently issued directions, accompanied by a schedule, comprising a list of the collieries and indicating the Fig. 2.—Railway Tracks for Coal Shipment at modern Dock, with gross and tare Weighbridges at each Tip. port, or alternative ports, to which the coal from each colliery can be consigned. The ports included in the directions are those between Newport and Llanelly, and it is provided that when a vessel is loading at Cardiff;—including Penarth and Barry—bunker coal may, if required, be consigned from Monmouthshire collieries. In cases of mixed cargo shipments of coal from different collieries, the port of shipment must be that' to which the colliery supplying the largest portion is assigned, except that small coal is excluded from this provision, and mixed cargoes, of small coal only, may be consigned to whichever port desired. These directions should be of great value in saving transport and congestion of traffic locally. North-East Coast. The most prominent ports on this coast are the Tyne, Blyth, Sunderland, the Hartlepools and Middles- brough, which serve the Northumberland and Durham coal fields by means of the extensive connections of the North Eastern Railway. The Tyne is the prin- cipal coal-shipping centre, and holds first place for the extent of the coastwise shipments, exceeding by about 2 million tons the coastwise shipments at Cardiff during 1913, and the total cargo shipments from the Tyne that year amounted to about 17| million tons. , The greater proportion of the coal consigned from the Northumberland and Durham fields for shipment goes to the Tyne, which includes the Northumberland, Albert Edward and Tyne docks, as well as Whitehill Point and Dunston Staiths. The Tyne Dock, which is the property of the North Eastern Railway Com- pany, zholds the record for the largest tonnage of coal shipped from any single dock in the British Isles, about 7J million tons per annum being dealt with at that dock alone. As much as 176,849 tons have been- shipped in a week (138 hours), and 3,000 wagons (nearly 36,000 tons) have been discharged in 24 hours. The arrangement of handling the rail traffic is, briefly, as follows: The loaded wagons gravitate down the central tracks, pass off on an incline, and are thus stopped near the end of the staiths, whereupon they gravitate in a reverse direction back down the side tracks, to discharge at the different loading berths, as required, and then back-to the empty sidings. At one of the staiths two electric winch haulage equipments have been provided. These are situated in cabins on a staging below the deck of the staith. The hauling ropes are guided between pulleys, and are provided with hooks and shackles, whereby the wagons can be hauled in either direction. The traffic is con- trolled from the deck of the staith, there being six switch cabins situated at different positions, but, on Fig. 4.—Railway Wagon Tip and Ground-Level Hopper. account of the distance from the traffic control cabins to the winch cabins, a system of signalling is necessary. Shipments from the south of the Durham coal fields are effected at the Hartlepools, situated at the mouth of the River Tees. The docks at the Hartlepools are owned by the North Eastern Railway Company, and the extent of the coal traffic there in normal times is over 2| million tons per annum. Another _iorth-east coast coal shipping port is Blyth, which is situated about nine miles north of the Tyne. Supplies from Northumberland Collieries were dealt with at that port to the extent of about 4f million tons in 1913. It is of interest to note that there are about forty col- lieries within a radius of six miles of the port of Bly th. The North Eastern Railway is also concerned with the coal transport to Sunderland, where deliveries to the extent of about 4J million tons per annum are shipped, whilst that company’s coal traffic to Middles- brough, amounting to a considerable tonnage, is more particularly for bunker supplies. The Humber. The Humber ports include Hull, Immingham, Grimsby and Goole, where supplies from the Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire coal fields are shipped. The North Eastern and Hull and Barnsley railways are principally concerned with coal transport to Hull, the Great Central Railway serves Immingham and Grimsby, and the Lancashire and Yorkshire is asso- ciated with Goole. Hull takes third place of the ports of the United Kingdom as regards the extent of coal shipments—about 6 million tons per annum. This port has railway connections with about 390 collieries, and the coal sidings of the North Eastern and the and the coal sidings of the North Eastern and © Fig. 3.—Railway Wagon Discharge to Conveyor. Hull and Barnsley railways will accommodate no less than 10,000 wagons. At the Great Central Railway port of Immingham the reception sidings provide for 1,100 wagons, and there are fourteen marshalling tracks on which a similar number of wagons can be dealt with. Furthermore, the storage sidings are the largest in Europe—for over 170,000 tons of coal—and accommodation is provided for about 5,500 empty wagons. The coal shipments from Immingham during the year 1913 amounted to about 2| million tons, and facilities exist for loading 5,600 tons per hour. It may be mentioned that the points and signals of the sidings and service tracks at Immingham are con- trolled electrically from five signal cabins. Grimsby has to provide to a considerable extent for bunker shipments, amounting to about a million tons per annum, whilst return cargo shipments of coal are effected to the extent of about 1| million tons per annum. Coal from the west and south Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire coal fields is shipped at Goole, to the extent of about 1J million tons per annum for coast- wise distribution, and about 1| million tons are exported. Special facilities are available at this port to deal with water-borne coal via the Aire and Calder Canal, as well as the coal traffic of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. It may be added that although Goole is situated 50 miles inland from the mouth of the Humber, and is 27 miles distant from Hull, the port can accommodate vessels of up to 2,000 tons. Scotland. As regards the Clyde, Glasgow provides for the ship- ment of coal from the Lanarkshire field, and both the Caledonian and North British railways serve that port. The traffic exceeded 4 million tons in 1913. The Forth ports include Leith and Grangemouth, and the coal traffic thereto is dealt with also by the Caledonian and North British railways. The coal shipments from Leith amounted, in 1913, to nearly 2| million tons, including supplies from the Lanarkshire and Fife collieries, as well as about half the output of the Lothian coal fields, the port being within about four- teen miles of that field. The Caledonian Railway Com- pany’s port at Grangemouth is about twenty-six miles from Glasgow, to which city it is the nearest east coast port. Supplies from both the Lanarkshire and Stirling coal fields were railed to Grangemouth to the extent of nearly 2 million tons in 1913. Incidentally, it may be noted that the same railway company controls the Forth and Clyde Canal, which connects Glasgow by water with Grangemouth. Another Forth coal port is Methil, where coal from the east of the Fife field is railed. This port is the property of the North British Railway Company, and has been considerably extended to provide for the ship- ment of 7 to 8 million tons per annum, whilst there are storage sidings available for 20,000 tons of coal. Brief reference has been made to the coal shipping centres and the railway traffic thereto. It may be added that facilities for shipment of coal are provided at the London and North Western Railway Company’s own docks at Garston on the Mersey (about four miles south of Liverpool), the coal dealt with at these docks being principally conveyed from * Lancashire and Staffordshire collieries. As regards the Great Northern Railway, Boston is the only coal-shipping port con- nected therewith. Extensive coal sidings are available on the same railway at Doncaster, coal being received there via the North Eastern Railway, from the Northumberland and Durham fields. The Great Northern Railway coal traffic from the Yorkshire fields is sorted at Doncaster, and the wagons consigned south- east to Boston pass by a loop line and by the Lincoln- shire coast to Grimsby. It is not intended to describe at present the equip- ments at the coal shipping ports of the United Kingdom, such reference being deferred, for obvious reasons, until national conditions assume a more normal state. It will, however, be opportune to men- tion, in connection with railway transport of coal for shipment, a tipping gear for ’discharging end-door wagons at the quay level. This form of gear has been introduced in connection with the conveyor system of shipping coal. A steel hopper is constructed beneath the rail track, and is served by double tipping gear having hinged cradles. A feature of this equipment is that the wagons need not be turned for discharge, as they can be tipped from either end according to the position of the discharge doors. The hopper is provided with screens, the fine and dust coal being directed by chutes to an elevator which delivers to wagons on an adjoining track. Mechanical means are provided to reduce breakage of the coal in course of tipping, the rails over the hopper being diverted by this device to each side, thus affording a clear way for the coal into the hopper. Furthermore, a steel apron is fitted at the hinged end of each cradle, so that the coal slides from the wagon into the hopper. Fig. 4 will assist in explaining this tipping gear. (To be continued.) Pit’s Mouth Prices in Staffordshire and Worcestershire. —Article 1 of the Coal (Pit’s Mouth). Prices No. 2 Order, 1918, has been amended by an addition, to the area in South Staffordshire and East Worcestershire within which a standard amount of 13s. is applicable. This addition consists of so much of the area to the north of the line drawn from Bushbury Station on the London and North Western Railway to Streetly Station on the Midland Rail- way as is comprised in the Wolverhampton Union for Poor Law purposes, or the East Division of Wolverhampton for Parliamentary purposes.