Volume Ten - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - Even more aspects - 1911 - The Penarth Dock of the Taff Vale Railway - Railway News Article . . .

Again, in lowering, as soon as the wagon has been tipped, the top man has only to open the release valve and the cradle descends, and is automatically stopped when reaching the bottom. The tip shutes are 24 ft. long, and there are arrangements by which they can be lengthened up to 33 ft. In order that the coal may slide gently out of the shutes to avoid breakage, they can be rapidly adjusted to any height or angle. They are also sufficiently large to hold the largest full wagon load of coal in use in this district. The shutes are also fitted with double wings for assistance in the trimming of the coal, and also in the " boxing, " and they are further made to radiate 5 ft. in either direction from the centre line of the tips, so as to allow them to assist and minimise the labour of trimming. Each tip is furnished with a traversing turntable platform, which is fitted with two turntables, one for the empty and the other for the full load. These platforms are also fitted with hydraulic capstans of a capacity of 2 tons pull, and are capable of being moved to suit the position of the tips.

The whole of the water power required is brought to these tips by means of two mains, each of 8 in. diameter, and so arranged that in case of failure of either one or the other, it is possible by an arrangement of stop valves and branches, connecting them together at intervals, to cut out any section of these pipes, and so turn the water past the defective section. The return water is carried back by a 12 in. main to the hydraulic engines. Two large accumulators are fitted upon these mains, one to the eastern end of the tips, the other at the engine house. The water is pumped by three pairs of compound " Tandem " engines, collectively capable of delivering 1,440 gallons of water, at a pressure of 750 lb. per sq. in. per minute.

The sidings are arranged in connection with these tips so as to facilitate the mixing of coal and insure rapid dispatch. Provision is made by which all wagons are weighed on the way in and re-weighed on the way out, so that the exact weight of coal can be ascertained. The sidings are so laid out that a full train can be put upon either. The sidings will, together, hold a cargo for a steamer of 2,500 tons, and are constructed with a slight rising gradient to the centre, and a falling gradient thence to the tip, so that the men engaged at the tips manipulate the whole train load and work it down without the assistance of locomotive power. The capacity of these new tips as regards dispatch may be gathered from the following fact : A steamer of 4,000 tons has been loaded at this berth in 3 hours 40 minutes.