RMweb Premium Andy Kirkham Posted February 27, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 27, 2017 Ernie Brack has posted a couple of interesting pictures from 1969 showing the inauguration of a service transporting molten metal from Consett. https://flic.kr/p/SrbYuj https://flic.kr/p/Sg2FEm Note the WR dynamometer car. I wonder how long this service lasted. I don't remember hearing or reading anything else about it after the inauguration. Railway Magazine had a report of this event and states "A week later the service had to be completely withdrawn temporarily for modifications to be made to the torpedo containers." Those wagons must have cost an immense amount of money. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 The service ran from Teesside (not sure if it was Redcar or South Bank) to Consett, providing a supply of molten iron to keep the rest of the plant functioning whilst the blast furnaces were being rebuilt. The 'torpedos' were probably reused for internal transfers within the Redcar- Lackenby complex when the need for main line services had finished. Whilst these wagons were big, the ones that were confined within the Teesside complex were about three times the capacity, and were moved around the plant at somewhat higher speeds than the sedate 20 or so MPH of the Consett service. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 They ran from the Cargo Fleet blast furnaces, on Teesside, to Consett whilst the furnaces at Consett were being rebuilt. There's a photo of one of the new ladles in my gallery here; http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/image/12668-rolling-stock-10/ I've copied over the caption below. "Movement of hot metal over public railways is still common in the U.S. but was virtually unknown over here. However in 1969 a special arrangement was made whereby British Rail moved hot metal the 63 miles from the blast furnaces at Cargo Fleet to the new Basic Oxygen plant at Consett. The Consett blast furnaces were about to undergo extensive rebuilding whilst the new BOS plant at Consett was an important steel producer and needed liquid iron. Steel making at Cargo Fleet was coming to an end and the solution was to supply iron from here. British Steel supplied three new torpedo ladles from its own Distington foundry in Cumberland built in association with German supplier DEMAG. These wagons are deceptively 'small' in that they had to fit within the B.R. loading gauge and weight limits. Carrying 100 tons, they weighed 241 tons fully loaded, with a 17 ton axle load and were 85' long. The load temperature would be around 1200 degrees C. but the outside skin never exceeded 80 degrees C. Working in threes and hauled by pairs of Class 37's the service started on August 4th 1969. Once teething problems had been overcome the service ran twice daily, seven days a week." . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 Some more photos and discussion starting with this post; http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/15402-the-tyne-dock-consett-thread/?p=1450330 . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Saunders Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 A bit more on the spacers here! http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/85490-on-shenston-road-the-fleet-is-in-type-1s-to-the-fore/page-8 Mark Saunders Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium keefer Posted February 27, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 27, 2017 I have the 1969 R.O., will have a look for any mention Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted March 1, 2017 Share Posted March 1, 2017 These were quite interesting from an operational point of view as well, all were under strict instructions not to stop the train on the grounds that if the contents went solid the wagon was a write-off, signalmen I believe were instructed to treat these trains as an out of gauge load so they were not allowed to pass trains heading in the other direction and the staff used to report it being quite an odd experience watching the trains go past at night as there was a slight glow to them along with the occasional spark drifting off into the night and the sensation of being able to feel the heat from the train as it went past the cabin was unusual. This is from a bobby who used to work one of the cabins on the route. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard Lamb Posted March 1, 2017 Share Posted March 1, 2017 These were quite interesting from an operational point of view as well, all were under strict instructions not to stop the train on the grounds that if the contents went solid the wagon was a write-off. I never saw these wagons in operation. However I did observe the movement of very hot metal in Llanwern works by road. The drivers there were also instructed not to stop as not only would the metal solidify and write off the truck, it would probable have a mind of its own and wipe out the driver. Strict instructions were given when you entered the site that you always gave way to the big trucks as they would not stop under any circumstances. Bernard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Posted March 1, 2017 Share Posted March 1, 2017 They would have been carrying slag Bernard, not hot metal. The internal movement of slag by road transporters started in this country around 1970 and over the years has become the standard method. Drivers have been killed whilst operating them, one when his vehicle overturned at Celsa in Cardiff back in 2002. This is a modern slag carrier. Hot metal has never, as far as I'm aware, been been moved by road. Unlike slag pots, the ladles are lined and very heavy. The Llanwern blast furnaces produced around 600 tons of iron per tap, the No. 3 considerably more. Double that for the weight of the hot metal ladles themselves and you've got 1200 tons to move at one time. So, three torpedo ladles or twenty or more very busy road carriers. It just isn't practical. There may be small road carriers used in foundries and they are used in aluminium smelting operations. . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium keefer Posted March 1, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 1, 2017 November 1969 R.O., p.383 December 1969, p421 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie MB Posted March 1, 2017 Share Posted March 1, 2017 I am not in a position to check right now, but I seem to recall there was a clip of a molten metal train in the BTF film Discovering Railways with Peter Purves. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porcy Mane Posted March 1, 2017 Share Posted March 1, 2017 There you go. Complete with music that sounds more like it should belong with "Get Smart". There's a second part somewhere. Found it. I've posted colour pics somwhere on RM web along with a stock diagram but can't remember where? The Testing Trains website has good phots of the first workings undertaken with the Dynamometer car. P Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Posted March 1, 2017 Share Posted March 1, 2017 It was part of the discussion I linked to in post 4 Porcy. Here's the posting with the diagram; http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/15402-the-tyne-dock-consett-thread/?p=1450689 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porcy Mane Posted March 1, 2017 Share Posted March 1, 2017 It was part of the discussion I linked to in post 4 Porcy. Here's the posting with the diagram; http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/15402-the-tyne-dock-consett-thread/?p=1450689 Note to self: Read threads more thoroughly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie MB Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 For completeness, here is a link to the Peter Purves starring film, which does include footage of a molten metal train: https://youtu.be/_LFXCzUDGh4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 Some nice clear footage in that film (6 minutes in). In the brief clip of the train out on the mainline it looks like it's going at a fair old pace. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porcy Mane Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 Nice Colour phot of Consett Low Yard with Train and Dynamometer Car being shunted. Thats the "C.I.C Fell Cokeworks" in the background. By the late Chris Davies. He was with JB taking the phots linked to in the OP. Good weathering reference for 21 ton hoppers. I'll see if I can get copies of the rest of the series at the weekend. P Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 Interesting photo. Couple of large ingots too, placed either end of that bogie bolster visible on the second track in with a third ingot, presumably on the end of another wagon, to the right. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndon Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 I've got a few more pics of the trains to Consett here: http://southpelawjunction.co.uk/wp/?page_id=1511 John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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