Alan Sewell visits Falmouth Docks...

I came across this collection again the other day. Initially intended to accompany a magazine article I was preparing they were never published - so here, today, a forgotten 'Alan Sewell' visits, I hope you enjoy the photographs and report as much as I did - and tomorrow, I'll share the model they inspired...

Alan Sewell photo, July 1973.

FALMOUTH DOCKS and ENGINEEERING Company

The Docks, Falmouth, Cornwall

Gauge: Standard

Date of Visit: 27 July 1973 

The company dates from around 1860 and is still mainly a ship repair and supply operation for which the railway was, and is, a major part

The railway is ten to twelve miles in extent and leaves BR at the closed Falmouth Old station which still has two platforms and a goods yard for dock traffic. From BR the dock line descends a short steep incline to the dock area which it enters through two large gates. Inside the dock property the tracks are laid in a roughly half moon shape serving both ends of the harbour (the Eastern and Western Breakwaters) and running alongside the dry docks and repair sheds. Near the loco shed and under the cliff that overlook the docks were branches to serve a fuel storage area and the “rubbish” dump

At present  the railway has four main areas of work . These are

Bringing in fuel oil tank wagons from BR for the oil bunkers and moving internal tank wagons to ships in for repair

Shunting dry stores and ship repair materials around the dockside. This traffic and particularly paint and sand blasting equipment are stored in a variety of light blue vans moved around the docks as required

The disposal of rubbish generated during repairs. This is loaded into old four wheel drop-sided wagons and is dumped by the oil tanks at the eastern end of the works

Hauling ships for repair into dry dock and assisting tugs in restricted areas

Of these a. and c. occupy most of the time

For these duties one loco is required and at the time of the visit this was “F.D.& E. No3”  0-4-0ST by Hawthorn Leslie works number 3597 of 1926 painted an un-lined black but with polished plates . The loco had been recently re-boilered in the company’s shops and was in fine condition which it needed to be on the sharp curves and steep inclines abounding on the site

Having been coaled No3 took one old inside frame tank wagon from a short siding near the oil tanks around the docks to the Western Breakwater and left it on the “Empire jetty”. Coming off the breakwater three wagons were picked up near “Cox’s” and taken to the eastern end. Three fulls of rubbish were picked up and some paint wagons shunted. At one point shunting required the use of rope to place the wagon. Ropes for this purpose are kept on the running plate.  The three wagons were then pushed to the dumping point with some difficulty on the steep grade and track conditions. No3 was working hard. This all took around an hour and was views by numbers of visitors on the cliffs above.

Another two locos were inside the shed and also in beautiful condition externally and mechanically and all take turns at shunting. Both in the shed were also 0-4-0ST one by Peckett (no. 1530 of 1919) and the other Hudswell Clarke 1632 of 1929 (the first of their improved standard 14” design) . Unlike No3 these were painted a light green lined black and yellow, and the Peckett was receiving some attention to its bearing by the enthusiastic maintenance staff.

The working loco has a crew of three (driver, fireman and shunter) The shunter is responsible for planning shunting operations

The fireman of No3 said formerly up to four locos could have been at work at any one time as they shunted the repair sheds and carried out dock maintenance work both of which were rare now.

Large areas of the docks appear unchanged from  the nineteenth century , especially around the loco shed and oil tanks . This coupled with the old wagons, locomotives and 4w steam cranes in use gives the impression of being taken back fifty years or more.

Alan Sewell photo, July 1973.

Alan Sewell photo, July 1973.

Alan Sewell photo, July 1973.

Alan Sewell photo, July 1973.

Alan Sewell photo, July 1973.

Alan Sewell photo, July 1973.

Alan Sewell photo, July 1973.

Sketch map of the Falmouth Docks system by Alan Sewell, July 1973.

Thank you once again Alan, for sharing these wonderful period photos and your notes with us all - if you'd like to take a browse through previous entries in Alan's series, you can use the 'Alan Sewell' label to quickly find them all. I hope you all find them as inspiring as I did, and perhaps someone will produce a model based upon the prototype from this source material. Until next time, more soon...

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