Laboratory experiments were performed to measure the characteristics of a particle rope in a vertical pipe following a horizontal to vertical elbow. The experiments were performed with pulverized coal and air in a 0.154 m diameter pipe, with average velocities of 29 mis and air-to-solids mass Bow rate ratios from 1 to 3. A fiber optic probe was used to determine the transverse variations of particle velocity and concentration at different axial locations downstream of the elbow. Measurements were also made with an orifice plate at the elbow exit and these show that the flow patterns created by the orifice lead to accelerated rates of axial dispersion of the rope.