1963 - Penarth Cement Works - One of the last of two engines used to haul limestone from the quarry to the cement works. The peak of production was a year earlier than when this photograph was taken during late March 1963. During 1962, 175,000 tons of cement were manufactured but the works closed in late 1969 due to the working out of the existing quarries and the inability to extent workings into adjacent agricultural lands. It brought to an end quarrying and processing at the Penarth site which had commenced in 1886.

The story of a previous steam engine serving the quarry named 'Marjorie' was covered at More Moments Captured in Time

The engine pictured above is a 100 h.p. diesel powered, 0-6-0, Fowler No. 416005/1951 which was built in 1951 at the West Riding of Yorkshire works of John Fowler & Co. (Leeds) Limited which was established back in 1863. The permanent way which ran across the Lavernock Road between the quarries and the cement works was a narrow gauge railway of 2' - 6" gauge. She had a twin sister of the same specification and age.

The above photograph is held within the Penarth Dock Collection. [001]

One of the Fowler built engines at the Penarth Cement Company photographed during April 1963 whilst delivering its train of tipping wagons full to the brim with limestone for subsequent processing at the cement works. It would require about 1.5 tons of limestone (CaCO3) to produce one ton of cement in powder form dependent upon some variability in the seam being quarried. Crushed limestone was mixed with other raw materials such as clay, sand and/or shale in precise proportions to achieve the optimal composition. Gypsum was added which affected the setting time. The transformation of these limestone rocks to cement required processes such as crushing, grinding in a ball mill, mixing, and high temperature, pyro-processing, firstly to to create a clinker-like substance by sintering at 1,400 - 1,500 degrees C, which is subsequently cooled and ground to a fine powder with gypsum added. It was fed to storage silos and then finally, weighed and bagged and distributed in bags or in bulk. [photograph credit: Derek Chaplin - Peter Brabham Collection]

'Victor' and 'Hector' at the Whipsnade Zoo Railway, having been acquired from the Welsh Highland Railway and the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway in the 1970's these being the two Fowler engines formerly employed at the Penarth Cement Works! Now smartly dressed for hauling coaches of visitors and not limestone rocks! [photograph credit : K. Edwins and Narrow Gauge Heaven]

Cosmeston Country Park - The name derives from the 12th-century Norman village, Costentinstune, which was founded by the De Costentin family who arrived from the Cotentin peninsula (or Cherbourg Peninsula) of Normandy, France.

The photograph captures the extent of only one of the quarries following the closure of the works and the transformation of the industrial void into a series of lakes and the gradual conversion of the entire site to a country park. It shows that old mother nature has reclaimed what is rightly hers! Note the bridge in the distance which is the crossing between the quarries and also carries the track which connects the Cog to Lavernock Road. [000] [002]

Cosmeston Country Park - The bridge over the Cosmeston Lake which, when I were a lad, back in the 1950's and 60's, crossed the workings of the quarries below with men working away and the narrow gauge-railway transporting limestone blocks to the works across the other side of the Lavernock Road. I always felt that the depth of workings there were probably much greater than the depth quoted today being in my estimation c.60 to 80 feet (18 to 24 metres) below the bridge level. [000] [002]

Being one of the local vandals, my friends and I would hurl lumps of mud and turf at the workmen below who often shouted 'get out' or 'sod off' or unrepeatable new words to add to our vocabulary, as we trespassed and caused disruption to the workmen during our long walks from Dinas Powis, via the Cog, onto the beaches at Lavernock, Sully and sometimes over the causeway to Sully Island if the tide was right. Oh how I miss those days!