Blondin winder

The ”blondins” at Pen-yr-Orsedd slate quarry are “Henderson Aerial Cableways,” being manufactured by John M. Henderson & Company, of the King’s Engineering Works, Aberdeen. Originally steam wound the operation was changed when the quarry operations were electrified apparently as a demonstration and publicity exercise, by the North Wales Power & Traction Company in 1905-06.

The cableways have a three-wheeled load carriage and were operated by duplex winders of identical basic design. These have a narrow drum on which is wound the continuous travelling rope and a wider one on which is wound the hoisting rope. To traverse the carriage both ropes are wound in or paid out simultaneously, while to raise or lower the load the travelling rope drum is declutched and held by its brake. The Bruce Peebles three-phase asynchronous motors with brine bath resistances were generally contemporary with the electrification of the quarry.

On abandonment of the blondins in 1974, after the last one failed a safety inspection, the equipment has laid increasingly derelict and now there are signs of extensive scrapping in some of the enginehouses. It is a great pity that it has not been possible to preserve something of this fascinating operation, even though some of the structures have listed status.