Aggregate Trains 1970s

[bubbles2]

From the age of 18 months to 22 when I got married, I lived with my parents 100 yards from Tangley level crossing at Chilworth our garden backed onto the Guildford to Redhill line, this was a non-electrified SR cross-country line from the Western at Reading to Kent and saw many through trains.

 

My childhood years were punctuated by hourly passenger trains in each direction with many freight and parcels services in between.

 

During the 70s with the building of the M25 motorway, there was a constant flow of stone trains originating from the Mendip quarries.

  

My paper round took me over the level crossing at Chilworth Station in the early 70s delivering the papers up to the village of Blackheath on my paper bicycle. One morning a Warship diesel had failed with a loaded stone train right on the crossing, the signalman ushered me around the closed gates right under the nose of the diesel and down the platform ramp beside his signal cabin. It was still there on my return so I took the same route back in front of the stricken train.

 

Not my pictures, but these were the trains that shook our home regularly in the 70s.

 

[/url]832 Ranmore 17 June 1972 by snatmann, on Flickr">http://832 Ranmore 17 June 1972 by snatmann, on Flickr

 

[/url]824 Ranmore 20 May 1972 by snatmann, on Flickr">http://824 Ranmore 20 May 1972 by snatmann, on Flickr

 

[/url]807 Ranmore 17 June 1972 by snatmann, on Flickr">http://807 Ranmore 17 June 1972 by snatmann, on Flickr

 

[/url]Class 42 Merstham 19 June 1972 by snatmann, on Flickr">http://Class 42 Merstham 19 June 1972 by snatmann, on Flickr

 

[/url]Merstham 19 June 1972 by snatmann, on Flickr">http://Merstham 19 June 1972 by snatmann, on Flickr

 

[/url]818 Reigate 1 July 1972 by snatmann, on Flickr">http://818 Reigate 1 July 1972 by snatmann, on Flickr

 

[/url]D1016 Reigate May 1973 by snatmann, on Flickr">http://D1016 Reigate May 1973 by snatmann, on Flickr

 

[/url] >Western Dorking November 1972 by snatmann, on Flickr">http://Western Dorking November 1972 by snatmann, on Flickr

 

[/url] >D1009 Betchworth June 1973 by snatmann, on Flickr">http://D1009 Betchworth June 1973 by snatmann, on Flickr

 

[/url] >1732 Ranmore 12 May 1973 by snatmann, on Flickr">http://1732 Ranmore 12 May 1973 by snatmann, on Flickr

 

[/url] >1670 Ranmore 25 June 1971 by snatmann, on Flickr">http://1670 Ranmore 25 June 1971 by snatmann, on Flickr

 

[/url] >1587 Ranmore 20 May 1972 by snatmann, on Flickr">http://1587 Ranmore 20 May 1972 by snatmann, on Flickr

Edited January 20, 2018 by bubbles2

[Steadfast]

Generally there would not be a rail weighbridge at the receiving terminal. In the early days of bulk aggregate movements the receiving terminal would usually be owned / operated by the same company as the loading quarry, so it would suffice to weight the product by obtaining the tare and loaded wagon weights at the loading point, this information also being needed by the railway for charging and operational purposes. Aggregate would have been weighed out of the receiving terminal by means of a road weighbridge as again the actual weights would be needed for charging and stock control purposes as well as ensuring lorries were not overloaded.

As far as I'm aware, the release paperwork from the loaders that is used by the rail company to load the wagons on TOPS is also sent to the customer. As well as weights, it also covers the grade of stone in each wagon, crucial to the customer so it goes in the correct bin

 

Jo

[Fat Controller]

Even more 24.5t hoppers in that lost lot of photos; I hadn't realised there were so many fitted ones. There are a few apparently-unfitted ones visible in some shots. Presumably that angle-iron frame at Mertsham is something to do with 'persuading' stone to flow through the hopper doors when wet or frozen?

[SED Freightman]

Bubbles2 thanks for posting that selection of interesting photos, in particular those of the temporary terminal at Merstham which show the overhead gantry structure more clearly than I have seen previously.  As suggested by the Fat Controller, the equipment suspended from the gantry is almost certainly a vibrating framework that can be lowered onto the top of wagons to encourage the contents to drop out during wet or freezing weather.  An alternative method for encouraging discharge, but definately not one to be recommended, can be seen in the first Merstham photo where one of the terminal staff is actually standing in the wagon, his hard hat will be very useful if he goes down with the load !  Safer methods of encouraging the load to drop, particularly with HTV's, involved banging the wagon sides with a sledge hammer or lengths of scaffold pole, much safer for the terminal staff but not so good for the wagon bodywork.

[jonny777]

I haven't anything like the quality hydraulic photos posted above, but I do have this of 47377 at Reading on 28th Feb 1978. 

 

I'm not sure what the working is though. 

 

 

[eastwestdivide]

How many times can one person attempt the same photo?

Strood with the Allington-Westbury empties between 1978-85:

 

1978 with 25T HTVs I think:

 

1981/2:

 

1982:

 

1983, the first with a late appearance of the 25T HTVs:

 

1984:

 

1985:

 

And a late class 47 in 1985, by which time it was fairly solidly 56s

 

[eastwestdivide]

And as the Allington-Westbury train was either going very slowly or stopped in the platform at Strood, I took the opportunity to lean over the car park fence and photograph some wagons too:

 

1983:

 

1984:

 

with a number typo on the panel - 

 

1985:

 

no number on the panel or yellow disc number either - 

Edited January 20, 2018 by eastwestdivide

[SED Freightman]

South Eastern terminals dealing with aggregates in the 1970's were, I think :-

 

Allington - ARC - Received stone from Tytherington & Whatley in HTV's and then PGA's, also received ballast from Lydd.

Angerstein Wharf - Foster Yeoman - Received stone from Merehead in MSV's and during construction of the Thames Barrier in the 1970's also received trains conveying large limestone boulders from Caldon Low.  The boulders were not secured to the low sidied (Plate?) wagons but sat in a bed of ballast which was usually sufficient to prevent movement.

Chislehurst - ARC - Received stone from Whatley in MSV's and then ex Iron Ore rotary tipplers (PTA?), also received ballast from Lydd in MTV's.

Cliffe - Marinex / Brett Marine Aggregates - Despatched sea-dredged aggregate in PHA's, also loaded traffic for Murphy / Marcon which later switched to their own terminal at Angerstein Wharf.

Hothfield - Tarmac - Received stone from Tytherington and Whatley in HTV's and then PGA's, also received ballast from Lydd (in HTV's?).

Lydd - ARC - Despatched ballast to Allington, Chislehurst, Hothfield and Merstham in MTV's (and HTV's?). Note this was not track ballast but builders ballast, a mix of sand and pebbles, although the SER had used the material for track ballast.

Stewarts Lane / Battersea - Murphy / Marcon - Not sure when this terminal opened but it received sea-dredged aggregate from Cliffe in PHA's.

Tonbridge - Foster Yeoman - Temporary terminal in old Loco Sdgs during construction of A21 Tonbridge Bypass (opened 1971), received stone in MSV's from Merehead.

 

I would be very pleased to receive any additions, corrections or observations regarding the above list.

[Fat Controller]

Lydd also despatched shingle in OHVs with doors that had been secured shut; not sure where this went to, though I encountered some very similar material at a flint mill in Stoke on Trent. There were plans to revive the shingle traffic a few years ago, with the re-installation of a loop at Lydd station, and a hardstanding for lorries to tip their loads, but I've never heard of it being used.

The boulders from Caldon Low to Angerstein Wharf were carried on vac-fitted Plates; I used to see them from my workplace in Stoke in the late 1970s.

[hmrspaul]

Even more 24.5t hoppers in that lost lot of photos; I hadn't realised there were so many fitted ones. There are a few apparently-unfitted ones visible in some shots. Presumably that angle-iron frame at Mertsham is something to do with 'persuading' stone to flow through the hopper doors when wet or frozen?

They are HTVs not HUV; 21T 21.5t

 

Paul

[Mark Saunders]

Even more 24.5t hoppers in that lost lot of photos; I hadn't realised there were so many fitted ones. There are a few apparently-unfitted ones visible in some shots. Presumably that angle-iron frame at Mertsham is something to do with 'persuading' stone to flow through the hopper doors when wet or frozen?

 

The frame has a small travelling crane with a wagon shaker attached for aiding discharge of sticking loads, most power stations had them!

 

Mark Saunders