Locomotive coaling drops

Coal drops for refuelling steam locomotives, 1846 commissioned by William Bouch for the Stockton & Darlington Railway.

MATERIALS: sandstone rubble, mainly buff coloured, including some reused former sleeper stones, and buff coloured brick.

DESCRIPTION: the structure appears as a south-facing, stone-built revetment forming an incline that starts at the west-north-west end to rise and gently curve to the east. By the mid-point of the structure the incline has reached its full height, the eastern half extending at this level eastwards. It is constructed as a regular series of engineering arches with semi-circular heads formed from triple courses of brick headers, the piers generally being quoined. There are thirty of these arches forming the inclined western half. The eastern half of the structure is also mainly formed from similar regular engineering arches, but includes four rectangular, deep, open-topped alcoves marking the positions originally occupied by the coal drop hoppers. The first coal drop alcove is at about the mid-point of the structure, the next is sited after ten engineering arches, the eastern three alcoves then each separated from the next and the end by sets of three arches. The third alcove, which may not have been a coal drop, is nearly twice the width and depth of the other three alcoves and retains a ledge that formally supported staging. A number of the engineering arches are blocked with later masonry and buttressing. The structure retains a few iron brackets and other fragmentary fittings, but no longer retains chutes or hoppers.