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Oxford announce 12T Tank Wagons


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1 hour ago, Fredo said:

Hi, would this be suitable for post 1948 BR steam era? Thanks Fred 

Yes:- four-wheeled Class B tanks like this one lasted until the end of the 1960s and beyond. Apart from Briggs, other operators included Berry Wiggins (bitumen) , ESSO and Shell-Mex BP (heavy fuel oil). A small fleet ran in South Wales until the Miners' Strike of the 1980s. They worked for Thomas Ness (an NCB subsidiary) carrying coke oven distillates from various locations to a refinery near Caerphilly.

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5 hours ago, Fredo said:

Hi, would this be suitable for post 1948 BR steam era? Thanks Fred 

All my photos are post 1948. It is a very long time ago, and the world changes slowly. They were building wagons to updated by relatively similar standards until 1960 

 

https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/pounbraked 

 

The Briggs fleet in 1977   https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/briggsdundee 

 

Paul

Edited by hmrspaul
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On 10/07/2021 at 11:18, Fat Controller said:

A small fleet ran in South Wales until the Miners' Strike of the 1980s. They worked for Thomas Ness (an NCB subsidiary) carrying coke oven distillates from various locations to a refinery near Caerphilly.

 

Do you have any idea when Thomas Ness started in Caerphilly?  A quick google has revealed that one of their tank wagons is preserved on the NLR and it was bought by TN in 1939.

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3 hours ago, Penrhos1920 said:

Do you have any idea when Thomas Ness started in Caerphilly?

 

I don't think the Ness name became associated with the Caerphilly works until the the mid 1950's and possibly during the NCB reorganisation of the late 1960's. Ness made everything from roofing felts, damproof coarsings to water filters.

 

Post 1938 would be a good start date for the tar works which became Ness tar works.

 

http://www.steampumps.net/CaerphillyTar.html

 

Caerphilly wasn't listed as a Tommy Ness site in 1959.

 

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/1959_Chemical_Manufacturers_Directory:_Chemical_Manufacturers

Edited by Porcy Mane
Add the graces Link.
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On 21/06/2021 at 15:39, TheSignalEngineer said:

@Mallard60022 I have seen a picture of a Class A Esso tank in a train at Meldon Viaduct. Also there was a fuel depot at Barnstaple Victoria Road GWR station.

 

There were actually 2 depots at Barnstaple Victoria Road. The Shell/BP depot was on the station site serviced by the oil spur. There was also an Esso/Anglo American depot on the opposite side of the road to the good shed, with unloading done at the end of the Back Road behind the good shed.

Edited by 57xx
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12 hours ago, 57xx said:

 

There were actually 2 depots at Barnstaple Victoria Road. The Shell/BP depot was on the station site serviced by the oil spur. There was also an Esso/Anglo American depot on the opposite side of the road to the good shed, with unloading done at the end of the Back Road behind the good shed.

Slightly pedantically 3 - there was also a slightly smaller National Benzole depot, next to Shell/BP - the large sign on the boundary wall visible in photos at that end of the yard. The sign is still prominent in early 1970s, by which time the yard was reduced to little more than a siding, although whether the site was still in use by National Benzole (or successors) I don't know - if it was it must have been serviced by road rather than rail.

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2 hours ago, Pteremy said:

Slightly pedantically 3 - there was also a slightly smaller National Benzole depot, next to Shell/BP - the large sign on the boundary wall visible in photos at that end of the yard. The sign is still prominent in early 1970s, by which time the yard was reduced to little more than a siding, although whether the site was still in use by National Benzole (or successors) I don't know - if it was it must have been serviced by road rather than rail.

National Benzol became part of Shell-Mex & BP in 1957, becoming part of BP when the joint operation was split up 19 years later. According to Tourret, there was no renumbering of wagons.

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On 21/06/2021 at 13:16, Mallard60022 said:

.......might I have ever seen any of these through Seaton Junction between 1958 - 1964......

 

@Mallard60022

Phil,

I have just been looking at the Irwell Press book on the North Cornwall and there is a picture of the Up afternoon goods from Wadebridge arriving at Ashwater in the 1960s hauled by 31845. In the middle of the train there are three tanks, one of which looks like the smaller barrel as in the Oxford model. Unfortunately the angle doesn't allow the livery to be seen.

 

Eric

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9 hours ago, Pteremy said:

Slightly pedantically 3 - there was also a slightly smaller National Benzole depot, next to Shell/BP - the large sign on the boundary wall visible in photos at that end of the yard. The sign is still prominent in early 1970s, by which time the yard was reduced to little more than a siding, although whether the site was still in use by National Benzole (or successors) I don't know - if it was it must have been serviced by road rather than rail.

 

It's not pedantic, thanks for keeping me honest. I had forgot National Benzole had their depot next to Shell/BP, also serviced by the Oil Spur. According to the GWRJ article, both the Shell and NB depots closed at roughly the same time in 1956.

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16 hours ago, 57xx said:

According to the GWRJ article, both the Shell and NB depots closed at roughly the same time in 1956.

 

Yes it does. It appears that there was still some Oil traffic in 1960 - see p33 of Welch, Devon Steam, where at least 3 tankers are visible on 24/4/60, 2 silver, 1 black. One of the silver tanks appears to be '4258'. if so then I suspect that is an Esso tank (ex Air Ministry), but I have not found anything to confirm, one way or the other.

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I was watching an old Dr Who VHS tape of the story 'Inferno' the other with my youngest, which was filmed around 1970, at the Kingsnorth oil refinery in Medway of Berry Wiggins. There are quite a few shots of various small tank wagons, all of them of dissimilar sizes, though I personally wouldn't be able to identify any. Lovely bygone industrial feel though. Worth a watch.

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17 minutes ago, Dick Turpin said:

I was watching an old Dr Who VHS tape of the story 'Inferno' the other with my youngest, which was filmed around 1970, at the Kingsnorth oil refinery in Medway of Berry Wiggins. There are quite a few shots of various small tank wagons, all of them of dissimilar sizes, though I personally wouldn't be able to identify any. Lovely bygone industrial feel though. Worth a watch.

Berry Wiggins, nice shots of their    class A tanks.

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2 hours ago, Pteremy said:

 

Yes it does. It appears that there was still some Oil traffic in 1960 - see p33 of Welch, Devon Steam, where at least 3 tankers are visible on 24/4/60, 2 silver, 1 black. One of the silver tanks appears to be '4258'. if so then I suspect that is an Esso tank (ex Air Ministry), but I have not found anything to confirm, one way or the other.

I think that rather than closing down, the operation of some of the smaller depots may have been transferred from the oil companies to local distributors.

 

A friend's late father managed one in East Devon in the early 1960s. Although I don't remember the name of the company he was employed by, I'm pretty sure it wasn't any of the big boys. 

 

John

 

Edit: Medland, Sanders and Twose, rings a bell, but I may be thinking of somebody else, doing something else!

 

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2 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

I think that rather than closing down, the operation of some of the smaller depots may have been transferred from the oil companies to local distributors.

 

A friend's late father managed one in East Devon in the early 1960s. Although I don't remember the name of the company he was employed by, I'm pretty sure it wasn't any of the big boys. 

 

John

 

Edit: Medland, Sanders and Twose, rings a bell, but I may be thinking of somebody else, doing something else!

 

Quite a few in the more rural areas went over to Farmers' Co-ops/ Groups, such as West Cumberland Farmers. 

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32 minutes ago, Fat Controller said:

Quite a few in the more rural areas went over to Farmers' Co-ops/ Groups, such as West Cumberland Farmers. 

That connection makes sense, as MST were (and still are) in the agricultural machinery supply trade. Supplying farm fuel would have been a logical extension of that. 

 

John

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