88. Conveyor 9/9/21.
An interesting view, taken from the east bank of the river on what would become the Island Site. This shows just how much the river bank was cut back to provide the berthing for pulp lighters. The piers in the river were cast in holes dug in the river bank, as were the wharf walls in a trench, and have putlog holes for the scaffolding used by the workmen to erect the A frames of the conveyor. The third A frame from the right is the one seen being raised into the vertical in photo 83. Steam crane extreme right is grabbing material from the river bank, to be dumped into the narrow gauge tipper skip wagons beyond, notably this photo also shows one of the small petrol locomotives used on the internal narrow gauge contractor’s railway, most probably a Motor Rail ‘Simplex’ 20 HP unit or a similar type overhauled from Government surplus machines by Kent Construction and Engineering Company in Ashford (https://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/14/Planet.htm), later known as the ‘Planet’ type.
Just how far back the bank was cut can be judged from the superb photo od the APM fire brigade during practice. Note the absence of the flood wall built after the 1953 flods (as far as I know since the mill basements were flooded at that time).
