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John >After the line closed, the locomotive was used as "winding engine", running back and forth on a short track with winding >ropes attached front and rear... has anyone heard of such a (makeshift) arrangement elsewhere ?) Yes. At the Dorking Greystone Lime Company, Betchworth Quarry. Two 3ft 2 1/4 inch steam engines were used for general shunting and trip working around the quarry but also hauled empty wagons 300ft up a 1 in 2 slope. The rope attached to the wagons ran over rollers to the head of a gently sloping siding that the locomotive ran on. A full description of this system is given in the current 'Railway Bylines' magazine (July 2001, Vol 6 Issue 8). Also see - www.irwellpress.co.uk I have also seen reference to early Liverpool & Manchester Railway being used as stationary engines but I do not know the details. I think 'Rocket' and 'San Pareil' (1829 Rainhill Trials Locomotives) were converted at collieries and a later engine 'Lion' was used at Liverpool Docks for pumping. All have survived to the present but are preserved in locomotive form. Locomotives were also used for rope haulage in West Yorkshire to lower the barges on transporter wagons from St Johns Colliery (nr Wakefield) into the canal for transportation to Goole (the Railway on the Water). Andrew Hurrell