Skewen Dram Road
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| Skewen Dram Road | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.jpg) Narrow gauge steam locomotive at bottom of Skewen Incline, 1897
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| Technical | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line length | 3 miles (5 km) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge | 2 feet 7+1⁄2 inches (800 mm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minimum radius | 2 chains (40 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Skewen Dram Road was a 3 miles (5 km) long mining railway near Skewen in Wales with a gauge of 2 feet 7+1⁄2 inches (800 mm).
The railway was built to take coal from Dyffryn and Bryncoch to Skewen Wharf via the Skewen Incline.[1]
In 1871 the New Neath Abbey Coal Company, who operated the dram road across New Road, was requested to install level crossing gates. These were painted white and hence gave their name to the location, which is still known as White Gates.[2]
Ownership
The Skewen Dram Road was owned and operated by the Main Colliery Company Limited, the successor of the Dynevor Dyffryn and Neath Abbey United Collieries Company Limited.
The New Neath Abbey Coal Company is said to have been founded in June 1819 by the Fox family, which held 7/12ths of the company's shares and Joseph T. Price, who held the remaining 5/12ths. In 1873 the company failed, and its assets were sold to Batters & Scott on behalf of the Dyffryn Main Colliery Company. In 1874 the property was sold again to the United Company, a merger of the Dynevor Dyffryn and Neath Abbey United Collieries Company, under the directorship of John Newell Moore of Cambrian Place, Swansea. The United Company ceased to operate in 1888 and was re-incorporated as the Main Colliery Company Limited with effect from 1 May 1899.[3]
Accidents
According to a contemporary newspaper report, an accident, involving the death of three men and serious injuries to two others, occurred on the evening of 20 September 1906 on the private railway of the Main Colliery Company, by means of which coals are conveyed from Bryncoch to the wharves on Neath River. A party of ten line repairers was proceeding towards the top of the Skewen, on a repairer’s trolly[sic], and was rounding a curve when a locomotive travelling on the same rails in the opposite direction dashed into the trolly. The effect of the impact was such that three of the men were seriously hurt and died before they could be conveyed home.[4]
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