Aylesford Paper Mills Rail Traffic

[Artless Bodger]

As I was getting a bit off-topic in a response to  SED Freightman on the ICI 40t Bogie Caustic Tankers - Where, when, who? thread I thought I'd open a new topic with that and some other details of the old Reed mill at New Hythe, Kent - Aylesford Paper Mills or APM. However if this is of no interest please feel free to delete it.

 

Construction of the paper mills at New Hythe (Aylesford was the nearest village just to the south up river on the Medway, began just after WW1, and by the late 1950's it was the biggest mixed mill in Europe, with the main papermill and other associated industries on site. A major local employer. The original mill was constructed between the Strood - Maidstone West railway line and a navigation cut on the river Medway, where a new wharf was built. What became East Mill steadily expanded until in the late '30s the site was full and construction commenced west of the railway line - West Mill. Other industries were also set up to use paper from the mills - paper sacks, corrugated boxes, paper tubes. Post WW2 the expansion continued with a joint Reed / Kimberley Clark sanitary tissue mill and eventually building products too. The attached site plan shows the extent of the internal railway systems.

 

East Mill and West Mill railway systems were separate, and although the plans suggest the Blackhorse site to the north of East Mill systems might be easily connected I never saw any evidence, on the ground, or on plans to show they were. Though EM and WM had steam and later diesel shunters, Blackhorse was apparently shunted by a farm tractor fitted front and back with buffer planks. See attached:

 

At its height 7000T of coal were delivered each week and around 7000T of paper made. There were two boiler houses, in EM by the wharf, and in WM. Originally some coal was delivered by water but later all by rail, apparently much from the Kent coal field. An aerial photo found during demolition of EM and scanned for me shows multitudinous 16T mineral wagons in both EM and WM sidings. West mill rail connection was known as Brookgate Siding (Brookgate Industries were adjacent, part of the Reed conglomerate and made coated papers with early types of carbonless copy paper and encapsulated ink papers for bus tickets and the like), the ground frame box (?) for East mill was Reed's Siding (from memory).

 

Several family members worked for site companies, and I was frequently taken in on Saturday mornings if my father had to go in, so I saw bits of the mill from the age of about 5 in the early 60s. I later worked in summer holidays from school and college for site companies, notably in the mill itself and later the technical department before obtaining permanent employment in 1978 in the technical dept, leaving for another job in mid 1985. My brother continued to work in APM from starting an apprenticeship, until being on the decommissioning team when East Mill was finally demolished.

 

Cameras were officially discouraged, though I managed to get several photos at odd times later on.

 

More to follow.

 

 

 

 

APM New Hythe.pdf

[Artless Bodger]

In the photo above (probably taken from the roof of 6/7 boiler house), at the very left edge just above the Stothert & Pitt crane may be seen Hornblower, the west mill 165DE Ruston and Hornsby shunter, this had replaced 2 steam locomotives in west mill, one of which was held in reserve, Pecket 0-4-0ST Howe. When Hornblower was out of service for tyre turning*, Howe was brought out and I got to spend a Saturday morning with the driver - even had a go at the regulator myself. A coal train arrived and we spent some time splitting it up and shunting the cuts into place so the S&P cranes could unload the wagons into the coal bunkers.

 

*Due to the sharp curvature in the sidings tyres got worn quickly, when Hornblower was transferred to east mill in around 1979 - 80 we found after some use that it was developing flanges on the outside of the wheels! It must have happened quite quickly as I doubt if BR would have allowed it to make the journey on the mainline from Brookgate siding to Snodland (to cross over) and back with the tyres that worn.

[Artless Bodger]

Photos of Howe

 

1. Taken the morning I 'helped' with the shunting - sorry poor quality scan of a photo taken with an instamatic.

2. Scan of a photo rescued during east mill demolition.

3. 4. Two scans made from the archives during decommisioning work in EM, a minor contretemps on Perimeter Road.

 

 

[SED Freightman]

Thanks for starting a separate thread on Aylesford Paper Mills, I'm looking forward to seeing more photos and information on yet another former SED freight location.  My own involvement from BR's perspective, apart from the Hornblower movement (or not), involved regular liasion with Mick Gunner at the West Mill Boiler House regarding the oil deliveries from Grain / Thames Haven, and after replacement of the boiler house, MGR coal deliveries until they ceased.  Latterly I had some involvement in the design and construction of the new rail facility for export paper traffic for Aylesford Newsprint.

[hmrspaul]

Some photos of heavy oil discharge arrangement https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/oilterminals/e42db5e4    https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/oilterminals/e1a9e3ad6   https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/oilterminals/e16820bcb

 

Paul

[SED Freightman]

I have dug out some old timetables to establish the services to Reeds Siding (East Mill) in an effort to establish when the rail traffic ceased, details as below.

 

SR Section WK Conditional WTT commencing 08/05/1978 shows :- 

6T45 0934 SX Hoo Junction to Maidstone West arr 1050 - VB service. Worked by ED. Headcode 4G

Halling Rugby PC Sdg 0951-1005

Snodland 1011-1022 shunt to allow train to pass.

Reeds Sdg 1027-1041

 

SR Section WK Freight WTT commencing 01/06/1981

6T45 0905 SX Hoo Junction to Tonbridge W Yd arr.1119 - VB service. Worked by ED. Headcode 4G

Halling RPC Sdg 0922-0935

Snodland 0941-0952 shunt to allow train to pass.

Reeds Sdg 0957-1011

Maidstone West 1020-1050

 

SR Section WK Freight WTT commencing 04/01/1982

6T45 1005 ThO Hoo Junction to Tonbridge W Yd arr.1149 - VB service. Worked by ED. Headcode 4G

Reeds Sdg 1029-1041

Maidstone West 1050-1120

This service ceased to call at Reeds Sdg from 08/07/1982, hence the last scheduled service would have been on 01/07/1982.

 

The reduction in service from daily to ThO from w/c 04/01/1982 would probably have coincided with the end of general VB traffic on the Medway Valley Line, with the residual weekly service retained for Chlorine traffic to Reeds and any remaining wagonload coal traffic and engineers wagons for locations served via Tonbridge.

 

 

[Artless Bodger]

Thanks SED Freightman, 4G headcode certainly rings a bell. Though scheduled for an ED I remember seeing a 33 on some occasions, once with just 1 fitted 16T loaded with coal, no brake van. Sometimes the train was long - mainly minerals and pressflows, our 1 or 2 5 planks for clay and / or the chlorine tanker. 

[Artless Bodger]

21 hours ago, hmrspaul said:

Some photos of heavy oil discharge arrangement https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/oilterminals/e42db5e4    https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/oilterminals/e1a9e3ad6   https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/oilterminals/e16820bcb

 

Paul

Thanks Paul

 

Interesting photos; I left APM at the end of April 1985, by which time the original west mill boiler house had been demolished and construction of an unloading hopper for coal and a new coal fired boiler house had started. Your photos show the remains of 6/7 boiler house but after it had been decommissioned, the electrostatic precipitators and metal chimneys have gone from the roof. Whether the oil discharge was still in use by 1990 I cannot say, as oil may have been held as a reserve fuel. The old west mill pulp conveyor gantries are still in place (no cranes though, they went before I left). A new paper transhipment shed (more like a dutch barn) was built just to the right later as refered to in SED Freightman's post - again views on some urbex sites.

 

Oil trains were usually 3 a week, 10x TEA 100T bogie tankers (it always tickled us - big tank wagons labelled TEA - sustenance for British industrial workers perhaps?), they had to be delivered in a short time frame so the oil did not cool and become too viscous to discharge. Watching and hearing a 73 on diesel backing the train upgrade through New Hythe station until it crested the hump and gravity took over down the Brookgate siding connection was always exhilarating.

 

All gone now, houses and distribution services only.

Edited February 10, 2020 by Artless Bodger
To include reference to SED Freightman's post re transhipment shed.

[Artless Bodger]

For comparison here's a picture of the old west mill boiler house being demolished, c1984, 6/7/visible on the left. East mill rail connection and sidings just visible in the foreground. This photo was taken from the entrance steps to our building.

 

The oil discharge was out of sight beyond the left edge of the photo and below the gently rising embankment of the main line. The lattice structure in the foreground carried cables over our internal tracks.

 

 

[Artless Bodger]

Not Reed's traffic; ARC aggregate empties from Allington. Boiler house demolition in the background. Taken from the steps up to our building. Our east mill reception siding ran under the beater floor to the right which was where Bounty usually stabled, later Hornblower too. The wiggly tin on the far right was the builders' ladder store (single storey lean to) and the size plant. The covered bridge carried pulp and water mains, steam pipes and electrical connectors between em and wm - there were some alarmingly accessible open busbars in the roof space above the pedestrian walkway with just a wire mesh guard under them - beware if you were carrying anything metal, thin and over 5' long!

 

 

[SED Freightman]

7 hours ago, Artless Bodger said:

 

Interesting photos; I left APM at the end of April 1985, by which time the original west mill boiler house had been demolished and construction of an unloading hopper for coal and a new coal fired boiler house had started. Your photos show the remains of 6/7 boiler house but after it had been decommissioned, the electrostatic precipitators and metal chimneys have gone from the roof. Whether the oil discharge was still in use by 1990 I cannot say, as oil may have been held as a reserve fuel. The old west mill pulp conveyor gantries are still in place (no cranes though, they went before I left). A new paper transhipment shed (more like a dutch barn) was built just to the right later as refered to in SED Freightman's post - again views on some urbex sites.

 

Oil trains were usually 3 a week, 10x TEA 100T bogie tankers (it always tickled us - big tank wagons labelled TEA - sustenance for British industrial workers perhaps?), they had to be delivered in a short time frame so the oil did not cool and become too viscous to discharge. Watching and hearing a 73 on diesel backing the train upgrade through New Hythe station until it crested the hump and gravity took over down the Brookgate siding connection was always exhilarating.

 

All gone now, houses and distribution services only.

The first coal delivery to the new boiler house was a test train of 6 loaded MGR hoppers from Oxcroft hauled by 56063 on 19/09/1986 and regular coal traffic in MGR wagons commenced shortly afterwards.  Oil deliveries presumably ceased prior to demolition of the old boiler house c.1984, I will dig out some details of the services to Brookgate Sdg when I have a chance.

 

Presumably there was another boiler house to provide steam whilst the old boiler house was replaced. Oil was supplied on alternate weeks by BP or Shell, although it was amusing to note that normally all the trains were actually loaded at BP Grain, although some trains did operate from Thameshaven. As mentioned by Artless Bodger, the heavy fuel oil began to solidfy if allowed to cool down in the wagons particularly during the winter months, therefore the tank cars had to be heated prior to discharge and there appear to be steam lines for connection to the wagons laying adjacent to the discharge pipes in Paul's photos.  I think the oil discharge pipework remained in situ until c.1995, it was definitely still there, albeit disused, in 1986.

 

After the end of coal traffic and the commissioning of a gas fired boiler house (date unknown) the sidings lay dormant until refurbished and extended to handle export newsprint in 1995 with the first empty wagons arriving from Paddock Wood on 15/01/1996 behind 47285.

[Artless Bodger]

Demolition of the west mill boiler house (the cream corrugated structure) and the associated brick flue and chimney were complete before mid 1985, the new coal hopper and boiler house construction started in that space. The big black building housed nos 6 and 7 boilers and remained in use as did no 8 boiler which was new - in among the photos of west mill bh demolition I have photos of the chimney being lifted into place on no 8 bh. West mill bh contained Stirling boilers 1-5, with the turbine house behind. From what I've seen of old photos the tallest part was built before the war - as was the chimney - for the new no 9 m/c. 9 m/c was a newsprint machine and its pulp was supplied from east mill beaterfloor. After the war 3 MG paper machines were added alongside no 9, and the extension of the wm bh provided steam for these. No 3 mill (13 m/c) dated from the late 50s, and I think that was provided for from wm bh. 6/7 bh came a bit later, possibly to allow the oldest boilers in east mill to be shut down - by now these were numbered in the 20s, though there had been a bank of Lancashire boilers in em too. All were coal fired until some time in the late 60s or early 70s when converted to oil, I'm unsure about the dates, and those family members who might have know are unfortunately all now dead. Reduction of steam requirements to just 6, 7 and 8 in the mid 80s was determined by machine closures, only 2 and 3 remaining in em and 13 in wm by then. We'd had a spell of relying heavily on grid electricity when no 5 turbo generator broke down, and ultimately with reduced demand and oil price rises, it must have been more economic to go for coal fired steam (for drying), and buy in all electricity. Later moves to gas fired CHP was also an economic choice, much as Portal's mill at Overton did.

 

These two photos show the cranes ready to fit the top part of new no 8 bh chimney - the wm bh is still standing, and the remains of the brick chimney and flue, with no 8 bh to the right. The building behind with fans in the wall is the turbine house.

 

 

[The Lurker]

I had a look at my Middleton's Strood to Paddock Wood last night - just a couple of pictures of Reeds, including one of "Hornblower" but a map of the site/New Hythe is included, which I found very interesting. Old maps also has a 1:2500 from the same date (1930s)

 

https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/570500/159500/12/101224

 

 

[Southernman46]

Great thread !

 

ISTR the coal did turn up as an MGR train during the early 80's ?

[eastwestdivide]

Just looking at some notes for something else, and came across this:

19 July 1981, "grounded body of Murgatroyd's/BP Chemicals tank T207 + one other" at Brookgate/New Hythe 

T207 corresponds to the bogie chlorine tankers listed by Paul Bartlett at https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/bpcmchlorinetbv

[muddy water]

Is this triang wagon the same as the bogie chlorine wagon? Has anyone detailed it?

[Wickham Green]

This is the one you want : https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/triang-oo-gauge-r349-murgatroyds-219757015

[muddy water]

Found this on Flickr!

 

 

Looks like the 10 TEAs could use a 33 to bring them in

[hmrspaul]

7 hours ago, muddy water said:

Is this triang wagon the same as the bogie chlorine wagon? Has anyone detailed it?

No, much more typical of the American design built in considerable numbers during WW2 and shipped to Europe and the Middle East. I'm not aware of any remaining in the UK. https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/iranrailway/e20626f81

 

I can remember seeing them from passing trains in France, when I was a good deal younger - looking as if they were being used as stores, as we did with older tank wagons.

 

Triang did do a British style bogie tank in ICI and Murgatroyds liveries. BUT that is the other thread which this branched from!

 

Paul

 

 

Edited February 18, 2020 by hmrspaul

[Artless Bodger]

On 15/02/2020 at 14:03, Southernman46 said:

Great thread !

 

ISTR the coal did turn up as an MGR train during the early 80's ?

I've a recollection that some trials were run before I left in 1985, with 56s on MGR wagons, but I did not manage to take any photos.

[Artless Bodger]

On 18/02/2020 at 12:52, muddy water said:

Found this on Flickr!

 

 

Looks like the 10 TEAs could use a 33 to bring them in

Yes, both 33s and 73s were used, on the oil trains and the earlier coal trains of 16 and 21 tonners. This photo looks like a slim jim bringing the loaded train north towards Aylesford station crossing, the tank on the left was part of an oil depot originally supplied by water - I dont think there was ever a rail connection - there are some aerial photos of the two in Aylesford on Britain from the Air. This train looks like a mixture of bogie and 4w tanks which occured from time to time, more common was 10x bogies.

Beyond the distribution depot sheds seen above the train was Aylesford village crossing, we got held up there while returning from a lunchtime sojourn at a local pub one day. After an inordinately long wait a 73 ambled slowly into view pulling our oil train. Eventually getting back to the mill we nipped over into west mill to find out why the train had been going so slowly to find one tanker with a wheelset on skates (first time I'd ever seen a skate). After unloading the defective tanker was cut out and left in a parallel siding. Over the next few days, a lowmac with two new wheelsets was dropped off by the local goods, then an iron fairy road crane came and the wheelsets were exchanged, finally the repaired tanker, duff wheels etc departed with a later oil train - I'll look for my photos of that departure. 

[Artless Bodger]

On 17/02/2020 at 10:57, eastwestdivide said:

Just looking at some notes for something else, and came across this:

19 July 1981, "grounded body of Murgatroyd's/BP Chemicals tank T207 + one other" at Brookgate/New Hythe 

T207 corresponds to the bogie chlorine tankers listed by Paul Bartlett at https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/bpcmchlorinetbv

That is interesting - I cannot remember any grounded bodies of these tanks on site (though I didn't get to some of the farther corners all that often). Brookgate would suggest the west mill connection where the oil trains went and later coal. There were many odd tanks scattered around site - for condensate, starch, process chemicals etc, but none I'd have identified as ex railway wagons. In 1981 we were still using chlorine - just - my photos of the last wagon to leave east mill (Reed's Siding) would have been around 1983-4 probably. The chlorine siding by the Medway Pump House was visible from passing trains, it comprised two short parallel spurs with a discharge and access gantry structure between the two tracks. There would be two tankers present for a few days about every 2-3 months covering the changeover period. Bogie tanks held about 30-35T of liquid chlorine the older 4w tanks 14T. In winter we used around half a ton of chlorine a day, in summer and early autumn about 1 ton a day due to greater biological fouling load in the river water. I'll post a bit more about our chlorine deliveries / activities in a while.

[Artless Bodger]

Photos relating to the crippled tanker. 

 

First 3 photos taken from a window in the east mill technical dept building (originally the yard dept offices) - on stilts near the water tower. Later photos taken from the only window accessible along the beaterfloor and through having to wriggle part way out onto the large lagged steam main.

[Artless Bodger]

More shots of the ARC empties, earlier times when still double headed by 33s, in one case a slim jim and the 'lone ranger' with the black window surrounds.

 

 

 

[Artless Bodger]

Chlorine deliveries and use on the Aylesford Paper Mill site.

 

APM Water and Effluent Dept supplied process water (600-650 000 gph) and condenser cooling water (750 000 gph) to the mill and powerhouse. Water was drawn from the Medway (tidal here) and had to be treated with chlorine to prevent biological fouling of pipes. Typically in winter we'd use around 1/2 ton of liquid chlorine a day, in summer and early autumn when river flows were lower and more silt laden about 1 ton per day. Up until the 80s liquid chlorine was delivered in archaic looking 4 wheel tank wagons with open spoked wheels, and if memory serves me - vac piped but not fitted, so the daily goods would have a brake van when delivering chlorine. The chlorine siding comprised a pair of short parallel spurs next to the Medway pump house (fig 1). Normally only 1 tanker would be present, but two when a changeover was due. A raised access platform was provided with stairs in both directions between the sidings, this was to allow escape upwind in case of a leak when attaching or detaching the link pipe.

 

The chlorine tankers had 4 valves under a hinged dome cover, the two on the longitudinal centre line had siphon pipes reaching to the bottom of the tank and were used to draw off liquid chlorine, the other two valves on the cross centre line opened into the gas space in the top of the tank - we didn't use these. One liquid draw-off valve was connected to our pipework by a large spiral pipe to allow for the tanker rising on its springs as it unloaded. Liquid chlorine drawn off was mixed with water in an injector and the concentrate then added to the main process and cooling water streams.  Early in the 80s, the 4w tanks were withdrawn and replaced by bogie tankers (the Triang Murgatroyd type) which were vac fitted - our siding had to be relaid to larger radii, and the spurs lengthened; the drawing provided of the tanker was lettered for Murgatroyds. Holding larger quantities of chlorine on site meant we had to provide a concrete bunded area around the tanker bays connected to an old metering pit alongside to act as an emergency sump to contain any major leaks. In case of a leak the emergency services had to be contacted, with information on wind speed and direction (we had an anemometer and weather vane at the security main gate), as the police would potentially have to close the M20, evacuate parts of Ditton and stop all trains. Luckily the only leak I ever had to deal with was a minor one which was stopped by tightening the gland nut on the draw-off valve. When BR withdrew wagon load freight on the Strood - Paddock Wood line (c. 1983/4?) Kent County Council vetoed road deliveries (at least that was the story we heard in the tech dept), so APM changed over to an alternative biocidal chemical to treat the process water.

 

The RH 0-4-0 DE Hornblower was transferred from West mill to work the bigger tankers (and maybe because the 4w DM Bounty gearbox was damaged). When the last tanker was shunted off site the east mill tech dept (all railwayacs) decided to be involved - it was a chemical tanker after all - and the following photos record the occasion.

 

 

fig 1 - old site plan.pdf