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

There are two moveable tips on the north side of the dock. (nos. 19 and 20).

These tips, which are constructed of steel, are capable of tipping (at any point from 2 ft. up to 45 ft. above the coping, and about 55 to 60 ft. above the water level, when there is 33 ft. of water on the dock sill), loaded wagons of a gross weight of 25 tons, exclusive of the weight of the cradle, rams and all attachments thereto. They are equipped with hydraulic rams actuating rope drums, the ropes of which directly act on the cradle, enabling the latter to lift the full load indicated above, at a speed of 180 ft. per minute. The tips are carried on two lines of rails, each tip having a travel of 200 ft. along the quayside in either direction, being moved at a rate of about 10 ft. per minute by a set of direct acting rams fixed at either end of the road on which the tips travel.

The whole of the operations for working the tips are actuated from a cabin fixed in the tip framing. The tips are provided with shutes capable of reaching 24 ft. from the face of the dock wall. A detachable piece 9 ft. long can be added to these shutes when required, giving them a total length of 33 ft.

Cranes are also provided for working the " Dispatch " anti-breakage boxes ;  these are capable of holding 5 tons and 3 tons respectively of coal. These boxes can be worked from the point of shute to the bottom of a ship's hold once every thirty seconds. The cranes, which have a range of 100 ft. lift, can be swung round to reach the nearest line of running rails for loading or discharging cargo from, or into, railway trucks when required.

The tips are also provided with smaller cranes capable of lifting a load of 4 tons, for the purpose of carrying coal screenings from the ship's deck and discharging same into trucks on the line of rails nearest to the quay wall. Storage sidings, to hold coal awaiting shipment, have been provided in convenient proximity to the dock, and are capable of holding some thousands of wagons. Railway wagons can be retared after shipment, at all the tips in the dock, with the same despatch and on the same terms as at any other dock in the port.

Dispatch in the loading of vessels is a matter of supreme importance, and it is only by keeping cargo vessels fully employed and free from delays that there is any possibility of satisfying the requirements of the coal trade.