Warehouse Wednesday: Sand and gravel loading on the Thames

Who knew that there were so many sand and gravel plants alongside the river Thames?

Not me for a start. A recent trip to see the last runs of the current Woolwich ferries saw me stroll back to the Greenwich through some of the less salubrious bits of the capital. Bits that were fascinating to me and I took a lot of photos.

Most of the facilities are too large for me to photograph properly, but this little quay would be very modelable. That crawler crane looks a lot like and Oxford diecast one, albeit with a higher cab. How they got it out there is a mystery. The supports surely aren't strong enough to take the weight if it's driven, but then how else was this done? 

The crane loads into a bucket connected to a long conveyor belt to take the material into the yard, where is is loaded into lorries. Once upon a time, this would have been shifted by train if the remains of embedded track are any guide.

Check out this 3D view in Google Maps.