Is it possible that the gear was sold to Victoria for use at Ararat, North Melbourne or Hamilton?
That could be read another way as well duttonbay they may have got 9 coal handling plants 7 of which were indeed used could the other 2 of them been of the type that was later put up in places where the Webb locomotives finally got to go there etc.
It does not really state that they were all the same though and most manufacturers of coal handling plants would have more than one type in their catalogue's. Just an idea here but it might have been thus.
My understanding was that one of the cement towers was intended for (but never delivered to) Pt Lincoln. As for selling the "left-overs" to the VR, remember that the then SAR CME had really good connections in Victoria...
Port Lincoln wold have made some sense, but I would have thought that if that was the case, Peter Knife would have dug up something about that, and there's no mention on Peninsula Pioneer Revisited. I do need to check some facts as to the dates the VR concrete coaling towers were erected to see whether it's feasiible that's where the equipment went.
Very interesting! I must admit that my focus was more on tracking down details of what was there rather than the many 'what-if' possibilities. But a search through the 'Local plans index' from Port Lincoln reveals references to plans for a proposed 200 ton 'Whiting Hoist' at Port Lincoln loco, including proposed position, general arrangement, foundation plan and amended plan. Unfortunately the actual plans don't seem to have survived, probably because nothing actually happened.
Ron Stewien's book gives the manufacturer of the mechanical equipment for the coaling towers as Roberts and Schaefer, a company that still exists in the vicinity of Whiting, Illinois. Whiting Hoists are still in business supplying rollingstock lifting cranes, amongst other things. Is it reasonable to assume that the equipment supplied in the 1920s by Roberts and Schaefer was commonly referred to as a Whiting Hoist? If so, then I would say that the references in the plans index confirm that Port Lincoln was indeed one of the intended locations for a Webb concrete coaling tower.
Research is never 'finished'!
Peter
Is it possible that the gear was sold to Victoria for use at Ararat, North Melbourne or Hamilton?
Sensible as it may have been to put a 200 ton coaling stage at Pt Lincoln I do not think it and the Whiting Hoist are the same thing.
I have heard/read of Whiting Hoists being referred to as engine lifts, wheel drop pits or similar.
Regards
Ian
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