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Aluminium works in the steam era - What wagons and loads?

Corbs

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Corbs

Corbs

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Hello all,

 

I'm looking for some advice on what would make up trains to and from an aluminium works in the pre-1968 era.

 

My (fictional) railway has a large works as a prime source and destination for traffic.

 

All I know so far is that Alumina would be shipped in, and aluminium shipped out (as ingots or bars or rolls?).

 

The only dedicated Alumina wagons I've found are the LNER ones based on the 20T coal hopper.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/37310-lner-alumina-wagon/

 

7042A.jpg

 

 

However, this video on the works at Burntisland is very interesting

 

On show are:

 

BR standard 16T mineral wagons - not sure if these are internal user only or have arrived from elsewhere

Shell/BP tankers (and some larger tankers) - what's the oil for?

Covered hopper wagons (are these 'covhops'? what is in them?)

 

'My' works are powered by a large hydroelectric scheme, does this affect what I need?

Sorry for the barrage of questions but I've done a fair few searches on aluminium production and not come up with much!

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scottishlocos

scottishlocos

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Corbs

 

Hope i can help the Burntisland plant was not an Aluminium works it was a processing plat for thebauxite ore . I am not sure of the exact process but raw ore was brought into the river Forth and transhipped from bulk carriers into barges which were unloaded on to 16 ton mineral wagons and taken the short distance from the docks to the works .

 

Rail operations to the plant ceased in the 80's i think the steam pugs lasted until late 70's and the plant closed in the early 2000's (sadly now a housing estate)

 

Traffic would have been

 

Bauxite ore in 16 ton minerals

 

Heavy oil for the power/burners at the plant

 

Covhops for the finished processed ore

 

Also other chemicals were used i think caustic soda in tank wagons this was later brought in by ship and road tanker to the works

 

Kind Regards

 

Dave

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jim.snowdon

jim.snowdon

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There were only three aluminium smelters in the UK -

 

- Lochaber (Fort William) (1929), which used hydro-electric power and alumina shipped by rail from Burntisland (hence the LNER hoppers)

- Lynemouth (1974), which processed alumina shipped in to Blyth from Limerick and had its own coal fired power station fed from the neighbouring colleries around Ashington, and

- Anglesey (1971), which processed alumina shipped in to Holyhead and drew power from Wylfa nuclear power station

 

Jim

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Fat Controller

Fat Controller

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In the late 1960s, aluminium slab was brought to Swansea Full Loads Terminal for the rolling mill at Waunarllwyd; the vehicles used were Tube wagons of some description. Aluminium was refined and cast as slabs at the smelter, then taken by rail to rolling mills around the UK; ones that spring to mind were at Waunarllwyd (west of Swansea), Rheola (Neath Valley), Rogerstone (near Newport, Mon.) and Banbury. The three Welsh plants were built during, or just before, WW2, and Banbury dated to the mid-1930s; all had rail connections. They'd been built to provide aluminium sheet for the aircraft industry, so were widely dispersed- the government didn't want to risk losing all the capacity in one raid.

I did have a bit of a dig around Google for images but, although there were some aerial views showing large numbers of wagons, I couldn't zoom in to identify any.

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Pint of Adnams

Pint of Adnams

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There were only three aluminium smelters in the UK -

 

- Lochaber (Fort William) (1929), which used hydro-electric power and alumina shipped by rail from Burntisland (hence the LNER hoppers)

- Lynemouth (1974), which processed alumina shipped in to Blyth from Limerick and had its own coal fired power station fed from the neighbouring colleries around Ashington, and

- Anglesey (1971), which processed alumina shipped in to Holyhead and drew power from Wylfa nuclear power station

 

Jim

The first smelter was Foyers, on the eastern shore of Loch Ness, opened 1896 and processed up to 400 tons/pa. The second was at Kinlochleven, opened 1908 and the eventual output of the two plants combined was 10,000 tons/pa. In 1918 British Aluminium proposed an extension at Kinlochleven, to be provided with hydro-electric power abstracting from Lochs Laggan and Treig which were to be connected together and a tunnel from Loch Treig would convey the water to Kinlochleven. There were substantial objections to this scheme and which resulted in the construction of the new plant at Fort William, similarly served by power through the abstracted water conveyed through a tunnel and then falling at speed down a series of pipes on the overlooking hillside to power the turbines. The first stage opened in December 1929 and there were two subsequent stages of extension. The plant was served by the West Highland Section of the LNER and by the private pier that jutted out into Loch Linnhe, by a 3' gauge line that continued through the works and ran all the way to Loch Treig; its proper name was the Upper Works Railway but was locally known as the 'Puggy Line'.

 

One of the essential ingredients was Coprolite Cryolite, which like the alumina was imported by sea and transported along 3' gauge railway from the pier to the plant in 100 Kg bags, loaded onto pallets that were stacked onto flatbed wagons, but with only two shipments a year. Finished ingots were likewise transported away by sea and this continued through the second world war and into the 1960s.

 

Substance abuse corrected - apologies but after a not so wee dram or three the grey cells were mashed. :rtfm:

 

Oh, and possibly through reading too many Discworld books...

Edited by Pint of Adnams
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MarcD

MarcD

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'Coprolite'? When I did geology A-level, a long time ago, that was fossilised s**t.

I agree unless it was a trade name for a material. Aluminium is a strange metal to smelt from its ore as it is done by electric arc rather than the traditional roast and melt method. ie heat with carbon etc and let it run out of the furnace.

If I'm not mistaken the LMS converted some of the G&SWR's 20ton iron ore hoppers to bulk covered bauxite ore traffic in the late 1920's. 

 

Marc    

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Mark Saunders

Mark Saunders

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I agree unless it was a trade name for a material. Aluminium is a strange metal to smelt from its ore as it is done by electric arc rather than the traditional roast and melt method. ie heat with carbon etc and let it run out of the furnace.

If I'm not mistaken the LMS converted some of the G&SWR's 20ton iron ore hoppers to bulk covered bauxite ore traffic in the late 1920's. 

 

Marc

 

I have hot seen reference to bauxite but some were done for Zinc Oxide!

 

Mark Saunders

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MarcD

MarcD

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We have been commissioned to produce some G&SWR hoppers very localised use. Our Furness iron ore wagons were the same or at least that's what we thought until we're were informed by the L&Y lot told me about the 2 ore trains a day that left lindal ore sidings for Wigan.

Marc

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Kylestrome

Kylestrome

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There were only three aluminium smelters in the UK -

 

- Lochaber (Fort William) (1929), which used hydro-electric power and alumina shipped by rail from Burntisland (hence the LNER hoppers)

- Lynemouth (1974), which processed alumina shipped in to Blyth from Limerick and had its own coal fired power station fed from the neighbouring colleries around Ashington, and

- Anglesey (1971), which processed alumina shipped in to Holyhead and drew power from Wylfa nuclear power station

 

Jim

 

There was also an aluminium smelter at Kinlochleven (down the road a bit from Fort William). At the time it was built it was one of the biggest in the world.

 

http://www.caledonia.org.uk/socialland/kinlochl.htm

 

It received alumina by rail, from the terminus at Ballachulish, which came in Presflo wagons at one time.

 

Railways3

 

Scroll down about a third of the page: "Caledonian Railway 0-6-0 57667 at Ballachulish with alumina wagons"

 

David

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Corbs

Corbs

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Thanks everyone, this has given me a few more keywords to search with as well.

This thread:

https://www.lner.info/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10689

Says that the Prestwins were only used in the 1970s so may not be right for my era (1923-1968), so perhaps a covhop or presflo is more appropriate, or something similar to the NE converted wagons if I'm going a bit earlier.

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Fat Controller

Fat Controller

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This and the other thread has answered quite a few questions that I've wondered about for quite a while. I have been trying to justify one for my small O Gauge layout but it seems they were very specialist wagons and wouldn't be seen away from their area of use.

 

 

Thanks everyone. 

 

 

 

Jason

You could have something like an abrasives or paint factory that might take sporadic wagon-loads; examples being grinding-wheel factories in Stafford and Hertfordshire. After all, on a railway system that had not one, but two, rail-served false-teeth factories, anything is possible.

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design8027

design8027

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So after reading these great replies I can bring in pressflo’s into a Ballachulish (1950/60s) style yard for unloading and further transportation to the aluminium smelter but unfortunately no finished aluminium to return? Then I could bring my “modeller licence out”  Already have plans for a mixed train. Have seen 2 photo’s goods wagons on the front of Ballachulish trains at Oban. Just wondering if they put them on the front again for the trip from connel?

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