EPW027869 ENGLAND (1929). The Manchester Ship Canal and the Partington Coal Basin, Partington, 1929

The site of the original Cheshire Lines Railway viaduct over the River Mersey.

To discharge coal into ships the loaded Private Owner (PO) coal wagons, which had end doors, were pushed onto a lift/tipper. As the wagon was tipped the coal was shot into the ship. The wagon was then lifted to the upper level from were it rolled away empty to join the one before. Seen as the best way to do the job, such infrastructure was only very slowly replaced, even though the potential size and therefore the efficiency of railway wagons had increased. In this way such installations (often in private ownership), and their fossilised operating practices, retarded the growth of efficient mineral handling by the nationalised railway. This only happen with the arrival of bottom discharge 'Merry-go-round' trains (1960s) where coal was dropped on the move from high capacity wagons as a complete train passed over the discharge point at slow speed. What the picture does not show are the many hours of breaking up and re-making trains as each wagon was dealt with separately.... hours of unproductive work. It might be a Sunday when the picture was taken as there are no signs of movement around any of the tips.