Salt Wagon Workings

[Nearholmer]

They were vans, so covered, to keep the salt inside dry.

 

Not all salt wagons were of this form, some were open, but with a fixed sheet bar, to allow them to be covered that way, and some, I think, completely open.

 

I think that earlier in this thread there is a discussion as to why some sorts of salt needed to be kept dry, and for some that wasn't so important. Lime wagons were very similar: some, in some parts of the country, built as peak-roofed vans, others with sheet bars, and the same considerations seem to have applied.

[Artless Bodger]

Salt was used in water softening plants, to recharge the ion exchange resins. Aylesford paper mill took salt by the bulk lorry load in the 70s / 80s but probably by rail earlier. The water softening plant was adjacent to the west mill siding connection to the main line. The salt was tipped into a deep tile lined pit outside the building and covered by a timber cover which hinged up pulled by ropes like a drawbridge, the lorry backed up and tipped (10-20 t at a time) direct into the pit. If / when delivered by rail I'd expect salt was shoveled straight from wagons on the adjacent siding into the pit. The pit was kept topped up with water so that a saturated (as long as there was undissolved salt present) brine was kept ready and pumped out when needed. 

 

Incidentally papermaker's alum (aluminium sulphate) was handled in no 3 mill in much the same way, I don't know how kibbled alum would have been handled by rail but it was used in huge quantities and is as water soluble as common salt.

[Nearholmer]

I think there are photos in another thread (might even be this one) of alum being unloaded from ICI open wagons at Colne Valley waterworks near Watford.

[SirBud]

I have also been researching this topic and came across a fascinating 50minute video available on YouTube titled "Salt In Stafford - Staffordshire Film Archive".  Runs for about 50 minutes and people explain the whole process of salt manufacture from brine.  Towards the end of the film there is footage of salt being loaded into BR salt wagons.

 

There is a photo of a book on salt production in the film but I can't find any reference to it or the author on line.

 

Like others I wonder if local distribution to butchers, bakers, etc. in towns in the 1950's and early 1960's was via a local agent who would shop around and see who could provide a wagon load of bagged salt at the best price.  Then a wagon load would turn up in a mixed goods train and would be unloaded onto the agents local lorry for distribution / storage in the agents local warehouse. 

 

I can't see how else it would work for other than very large users like water works, Huntley and Palmers type operations, etc. who would have their own private sidings and receive at least several wagons per shipment.

 

There appears to be surprisingly little in print about these operations unless its buried in railway books I have not read yet.  Internet searches don't come up with much information about local distribution.

Best regards,

Trevor
 

[Stephen Freeman]

Unfortunately at the moment, Weaver Hall Museum in Northwich is closed due to the pandemic but when it does open, I think a visit may answer many questions.

[jim.snowdon]

Pictures of salt wagons do not turn up that often, however I discovered this in a film ("Full Cycle"), mostly about coal mining, in the British Film Council collection -

 

 

No idea which port it is, but for once it shows some being unloaded, revealing the contents as bagged salt (presumably).

 

Jim

 

 

[Compound2632]

3 hours ago, jim.snowdon said:

No idea which port it is, but for once it shows some being unloaded, revealing the contents as bagged salt (presumably).

 

It is presumably a South Wales port, with all those 20 tonners and the Powell Duffryn Male Voice Choir. Dated 1941.

 

 

[Steamport Southport]

They are Stoke Prior Works wagons from Bromsgrove. So quite handy location wise for South Wales or places like Bristol.

 

 

 

Jason

[Nearholmer]

8 hours ago, jim.snowdon said:

No idea which port it is, but for once it shows some being unloaded

It implies that salt is being exported, which surprises me. I wonder where on earth needed to import salt.

[Compound2632]

1 minute ago, Nearholmer said:

It implies that salt is being exported, which surprises me. I wonder where on earth needed to import salt.

 

... and in 1941. Possibly not salt?

[Nearholmer]

The U.K. apparently exports £59M/year of salt currently, but I can’t quickly find where to.

[keefer]

Looks like straw has been used to line at least the two wagons closest to the camera

[Mark Saunders]

On 16/03/2021 at 08:42, Nearholmer said:

It implies that salt is being exported, which surprises me. I wonder where on earth needed to import salt.

Dairy salt was still being exported to New Zealand in the 1950’s! I forgot which archive this was in.

[Andy Hayter]

On 16/03/2021 at 09:42, Nearholmer said:

It implies that salt is being exported, which surprises me. I wonder where on earth needed to import salt.

 

Lots of places  - even now judging from these salt export numbers

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/20-top-salt-exporting-countries.html

 

Remember it is/was not just used for seasoning food but a whole chemical industry required salt as a feed stock - caustic soda production and bleach production both centre on salt - before we even start to think about Dyestuffs, PVC, Chloroform, dry cleaning fluids, etc.

[Philou]

I found the above discussion regarding salt and export very interesting and I thought I'd look up the ship in question:

 

She is the SS Cambridge and according to Wiki she was German built in 1916 but was given to a UK company after the First World War as reparations. She was eventually sunk off Australia (Bass Straits) in November 1940 by a German mine. She had called at Cardiff, Newport and Swansea before quitting the UK for Australia, via Milford Haven.

 

Simple musing on my part but is the photo posted up one taken before her last voyage?

 

If the photo is wartime, then of course the UK would have been reliant on food coming in from its Dominions of the time - tying up exported salt with returning meat and butter. There was no mention of her cargo - but I wondered if the salt on board may have been saltpetre, a component in the manufacture of munitions? Wartime and all that.

 

(She was a refridgerated ship and I don't know if that would affect any 'dry' cargo.)

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

Edited March 17, 2021 by Philou
Additional info

[Compound2632]

43 minutes ago, Philou said:

Simple musing on my part but is the photo posted up one taken before her last voyage?

 

It's a screenshot from a film that carries a date of 1941. Of course that bit of the footage could have been shot earlier.

[Andy Hayter]

Interesting musings Philip but regarding saltpetre, there is no link between Salt (Sodium Chloride) and Saltpetre (Potassium Nitrate) and they are rarely found commercially in the same location - if ever.

[62613]

2 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

It's a screenshot from a film that carries a date of 1941. Of course that bit of the footage could have been shot earlier.

I would say pre - war. The hull appears to be black, with white bulkhead. In the war, British merchant ships were painted grey all over

 

[Philou]

'Salt' ...... codeword ..... shhhh ....... loose tongues cost lives .............

[jim.snowdon]

4 hours ago, 62613 said:

I would say pre - war. The hull appears to be black, with white bulkhead. In the war, British merchant ships were painted grey all over

 

It's just possible to read the name on the bow - Cambridge - and a search on Google for "SS Cambridge" turns it up. It was sunk after hitting a German mine in Australian waters in November 1940. ironically, it was built by the Germans in 1916 and taken into British ownership as part of the reparations for World War 1.

 

Jim

[Compound2632]

8 hours ago, Philou said:

I found the above discussion regarding salt and export very interesting and I thought I'd look up the ship in question:

 

She is the SS Cambridge and according to Wiki she was German built in 1916 but was given to a UK company after the First World War as reparations. She was eventually sunk off Australia (Bass Straits) in November 1940 by a German mine. She had called at Cardiff, Newport and Swansea before quitting the UK for Australia, via Milford Haven.

 

1 hour ago, jim.snowdon said:

It's just possible to read the name on the bow - Cambridge - and a search on Google for "SS Cambridge" turns it up. It was sunk after hitting a German mine in Australian waters in November 1940. ironically, it was built by the Germans in 1916 and taken into British ownership as part of the reparations for World War 1.