Volume One - Into the Victorian Age - The Penarth Dock and Harbour in 1896 . .

The railway sidings leading to the coal-tipping staiths gravitate towards the tips for the laden wagons, so that a minimum of labour is required, and the wagons, when emptied, run back freely by gravitation over sidings which have an inclination of 1 in 80.

The staiths are fitted with two weighing machines each, so that the wagons may be weighed at the time of shipment both full and empty. The coal staiths are erected on short arched stone piers projecting from the wall on the south side of the dock. A number of large vessels can therefore, by overlapping each other, be loaded at the same time without delay or inconvenience.

Extensive reception sidings for the storage of coal awaiting shipment have been constructed in close proximity to the dock capable of holding from 20 to 30 thousands of tons.

The Taff Vale Company have direct communication with every colliery in the Rhondda, Ferndale, Aberdare and Merthyr Valleys, and run trains direct from the collieries to the coal staiths at Penarth Dock, so that the entire service from the coal-pit's mouth to the vessel's hold is entirely in one hand, coal brought to bank in the morning has often been shipped at Penarth in time for the empty wagons to be returned to the colliery and refilled the same day, and coal required for urgent shipment to complete the cargo of a vessel has been conveyed from pit to port in a much shorter time than would have been possible if the transit and shipment had been in separate hands. The dock is also in direct communication with the rest of the South Wales and Monmouthshire coalfields.

The dock is equipped with ten cranes, which are so arranged that as many as four cranes are worked in the discharging of a steamer simultaneously, thereby enabling the greatest possible despatch to be given. There is a powerful portable steam crane available, capable of lifting articles up to 20 tons. There is extensive wharfage accommodation and a commodious warehouse for the storage of goods in transit.

For the purpose of maintaining the water in dock to any required height, two centrifugal pumps have been erected; the pumps are 6 feet in diameter, and are worked by two single cylinder horizontal steam engines 20 inches in diameter and 22 inches stroke. Steam is supplied by four locomotive boilers working at 100 lbs. pressure. These pumps are equal to pumping 2,000,000 gallons of water per hour into the dock.