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Pit to Port Project -
More History |
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On completion, Judy will be turned out in the Port of Par livery used in the 1950’s as this is best-remembered by those who worked with the loco. Early photos’ show Judy without a nameplate. The story is that the name was to have been Chough, after the bird that appears on the Cornish coat of arms, however, due to a mix up at Bagnall’s, the loco arrived proudly displaying the name Cough. The port manager, Alfred Truscott decided that Judy, would be more appropriate as a mate to Punch and a new nameplate was duly ordered and fitted, probably made locally at Charlestown Foundry. A little research has revealed that the first loco to be used at Par was Sara, built locally at Penryn by the company of Sara and Burgess. This had a vertical boiler and lasted from 1913 to 1927. In 1916 Punch arrived, estimated to be about forty years old originally built by Manning Wardle but reconstructed by J.F. Wake. A drop chimney was provided to allow this loco to pass under the main line bridge. Toby, a Sentinel, came on to the scene in 1926 as a replacement for Sara. This lasted until 1960 when it was sold off for scrap. The price for Judy, when new was £1,200. By 1951 when Alfred was ordered the cost had risen to £7,500! During the Winter months we will be carrying out a trawl through archive material in order to build up a picture of the typical activities at Par Harbour. Par Harbour had two rail connections; one from the down side of the Plymouth – Penzance main line between Par Station and St Austell controlled by Par Harbour Signal Box and another from the St Blazey to Fowey line controlled by Par Bridge Signal Box. This remains as a siding connection into the port that is accessed from St Blazey yard. Before the days of bulk processing and storage, the clay products would accumulate in the scores of rail-connected clay dries that were at one time a common feature of the area. A large fleet of 13 ton capacity clay wagons were used and rakes of these would be parked at many places around the mid-Cornwall area awaiting loading. There would be a great number of local trip workings to bring the required tonnage down to Par or Fowey as ships required loading. In 1959 St Blazey shed (83E), or SBZ in GWR days, had an allocation of thirteen pannier tanks and twelve small prairies to cope with the intensive working around the Newquay branch and the goods-only lines in mid-Cornwall. A couple of 42XX tanks were also provided to work trains from St. Blazey yard over the steeply-graded line through Pinnock tunnel to Fowey. |
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