Tal-y-Bont station platform notice the gate to Huws and Gray's private siding and the posters.
The heritage train comes on scene
And stops at the platform
Backs up and runs round
And propels back to the platform
The train departs and runs of scene
Despite travelling on a similar train many years ago I'm not sure today health and safety would
allow passengers in goods wagons & break vans and shunting with the passengers on board
Empty timber wagons arrive
The train pulls down to the platform
Then backs up to collect the outbound wagons
The outbound wagons and break van are left on the running line.
Empty wagons are left on the timber spur
The loco 'zigzags' thought the points and couples up
The full timber train departs
A train of empty sand tipplers arrive at Tal-y-bont.
The loco collects the outbound full hoppers
The loco runs round the empty tipplers
The empties are propelled past the platform to the Sandpit
Inbound wagons are left just before the hopper - they will winched under the hopper and filled
The break van is left by the platform
The full tipplers are backed to the break van and the train leaves.
Empty wagons are left in front of the hopper and winched under the hopper using the chain.
When the wagons are full they are collected by the railway
A hose in to the pit allows a sand pump in the hut to pump a slurry of water and 30-40% sand out of the pit.
The slurry is fed into a hopper with an auger in a pipe known as a sand screw or dewatering screw.
Water extraction also removes the dirt from the sand the dirty water returns to the pit.
The slowly turning auger elevates the sand and it spills into the hopper over the track.
Huws and Gray are a local building supplier
The sand loader was built on the running line after the closure of the line south in Tal-y-Bont in 1960
Panoramas of the layout
