Swanscombe cement works - disused wooden wagons
Superseded by more modern all-steel wagons, these old wooden wagons with inside bearings are clearly designed to tip sideways. Note the open-spoked wheels. The sprung buffers may have been a later modification as I'd have thought they would have had wooden dumb buffers originally. They might have been used for "uncallowing" (removing overburden) rather than carrying chalk.
The works railway was converted to standard gauge in 1928-30, and these wagons were possibly obtained second-hand, as they look older than that.
I'm not sure what the structure behind the wagons is - possibly a range of old fixed kilns converted for another use.
Swanscombe cement works - disused wooden wagons
Superseded by more modern all-steel wagons, these old wooden wagons with inside bearings are clearly designed to tip sideways. Note the open-spoked wheels. The sprung buffers may have been a later modification as I'd have thought they would have had wooden dumb buffers originally. They might have been used for "uncallowing" (removing overburden) rather than carrying chalk.
The works railway was converted to standard gauge in 1928-30, and these wagons were possibly obtained second-hand, as they look older than that.
I'm not sure what the structure behind the wagons is - possibly a range of old fixed kilns converted for another use.