jackgoobie
sim_coal-age_1959-09_64_9_0082-01_edited
Dredge cutter, Vlaanderen XI at Westfield in 1959.
In order to access the four main seams of coal at Westfield, 40ft of peat and sand had to be removed. Awkward to excavate using conventional methods, Costain and the NCB brought in a massive dredger from Belgium, the Vlaanderen XI.
At 550 tonnes and 143ft in length, it was one of the largest dredges in Europe. Dismantled, it took 4 ships to transport the body, and another 2 ships to carry the pipework and pontoons . Landed at Leith, it was
trucked to Westfield and rebuilt in a specially-built dry dock.
The Westfield site was deliberately flooded by diverting a stream and by pumping water in from the Kinglassie pit; A dredge usually found in harbours and estuaries was now at work in the middle of Fife!
After cutting the peat up, massive vacuums removed the resulting slurry was pumped to massive storage basins and left to settle (the water was then pumped back to the dredging area). On average 900 cubic yards of solids were removed per hour. After one year of work, 4.38 million cubic yards material had been removed from the pit.
sim_coal-age_1959-09_64_9_0082-01_edited
Dredge cutter, Vlaanderen XI at Westfield in 1959.
In order to access the four main seams of coal at Westfield, 40ft of peat and sand had to be removed. Awkward to excavate using conventional methods, Costain and the NCB brought in a massive dredger from Belgium, the Vlaanderen XI.
At 550 tonnes and 143ft in length, it was one of the largest dredges in Europe. Dismantled, it took 4 ships to transport the body, and another 2 ships to carry the pipework and pontoons . Landed at Leith, it was
trucked to Westfield and rebuilt in a specially-built dry dock.
The Westfield site was deliberately flooded by diverting a stream and by pumping water in from the Kinglassie pit; A dredge usually found in harbours and estuaries was now at work in the middle of Fife!
After cutting the peat up, massive vacuums removed the resulting slurry was pumped to massive storage basins and left to settle (the water was then pumped back to the dredging area). On average 900 cubic yards of solids were removed per hour. After one year of work, 4.38 million cubic yards material had been removed from the pit.