Stage 4

Releasing the East Incline Rope

As the wagons come over the kip summit (at walking pace) the "D" link retaining pin is pulled out of the link by the bankhead shunter using a shunting pole. Because of the tension while hauling, the "D" link remains intact, and will not part until the hauler driver releases the tension by applying the hauler brakes at the knock off point.

As the set approaches the knock-off point at the "glinch plate", the hauler driver applies the brake to the winding drum. Because the set is now half over the kip summit, it is starting to accelerate and run down the gentler gradient formed by the west side of the kip. The result is that the set starts to run faster than the rope and the latter slackens and sags. At this point, the bankhead shunter clouts the tongue on the "D" link, which now easily separates, dropping the haulage chain and rope onto the glinch plate in front of the set. The glinch plate is clearly shown in the view below. The angled steel sheeting of the glinch plate causes the haulage chain and rope to slide off to the side and into the gulley, out of the way of the wheels of the wagons.

As the West incline is much steeper (1 in 13) than the East Incline, a maximum of six wagons is allowed on it. Therefore the set of up to twelve wagons on the Kip has to be divided into two sets for running on the West Incline.

Stage 3

Haulage Sequence Index

Stage 5

This page last updated 27th March 2006