Marley
Valenciennes
France
Gauge : 600mm and 500mm
Status : Working
(Click on images for full size picture)
Approximately halfway back to the brickworks the Plymouth loco travels past signs of an older shallow clay pit. A train of 6 skips is about the maximum load. The skips are push/pulled in this fashion because there is no run round loop at the end of the line. The loco can therefore leave the skips infront and behind it at one of several tipping points.
There is no mill where the bricks are made. This is done by one of several rail (600mm gauge) mounted brick forming machines at the head of the drying sheds. The bricks are then loaded into barrows for stacking.
The 500mm gauge line runs from the rows of drying sheds, down a small tree lined dirt road to the kiln.
Here the 500mm gauge loco returns with a load of 5 wagons of dried bricks ready for firing in the kiln.
The kiln has 500mm tracks running around its perimeter and portable wagon turntables are laid at the relevant point to load the bricks inside.
The Plymouth loco on the 600mm gauge tracks at one of the tipping points.
At the claypit a small bucket and chain excavator is used to load finely crumbled clay into the skips.
The 500mm Lilliput loco seen waiting by the kilns. There is only one loco on the 500mm gauge and one on the 600mm gauge tracks.
The 500mm gauge tracks laid along the drying sheds. To access a specific shed, a portable turntable is used, and track then laid the length of the shed to manually load the bricks onto the wagons.