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Furzebrook Oil Tankers - BR period mid1970s to 1990s


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Hi, I'm new to using RM web so bear with me. I hope I've got the right section for my question. Does anyone know for sure if the oil tanker trains which used to run on this route were bogie Oil wagons, which type/size they were and if they were BP or other? I seem to recall them being large grey tankers on bogies but not certain. I model in 00gauge using mostly Bachmann and want to find the closest to what ran on this route.

Cheers

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I don't know the answer to your question, but I think you will get a more consistent answer if you only post it in one forum. It might be best to get the mods to combine the two posts into one.

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It would take me ages to find the requisite slides, however, from memory they were at one time four wheelers, cream with red, and the bogie tankers were a later update. Capstan haulage at the Furzebroke end. LPG not oil, IIRC the oil became a piped flow. (Edit - in fact oil first then LPG - see a later post).

 

update - see links - 4 wheelers - from Flickr not my photo

LPG from Dorset

 

And website with the bogie versions. http://www.malcolm-smith.com/railways/working/sector/bulk/oil/furzebrook.html

 

 

Edited by john new
Correction re the LPG.
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Thanks guys. It's my first post and didn't realise which was the best category to use and subsequently realised it was probably better in the 'Modelling Questions' in the end. Anyway, John New, that's really useful thank you. Looks like there were BP and ESSO bogie tankers in the rakes later then which is what I'd like to replicate to some extent. 

Edited by Parailmodeller
mistake
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It depends what period. earlier it was oil in bogie tanks, later gas in 4 wheelers, you will need to look for trains in the period you are interested in. 

 

John Dedman was active in the area, he has a number of photos in his albums

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/johndedman/26156814785/in/album-72157629766666828/

 

47346 Woodfidley 25-7-84

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/solent-rails/8729984596/in/photolist-eirsgN-264oqfw-cJ8wbY-eH2n2p-e56jYr-Y67F9d-ZaaHzN-rTf8D1-TKtxuw-xRP3zi-fADdrv-i3HKAU-fAeSWj-TKtxUQ-eirteQ-cycMh3-de12RM-qZUbvZ-23JHJK9-E3dkAa-eh4rJP-SNdEZC-JpVUv6-xRLWiV-eikKwv-cyC9qq-TB22n7-dDhzvE-f7Gt51-paopKa-pdRrXV-Epo7Lr-aSYMor-dPsXKv-diQaMy-rdmnJn-gLArui-s8vVFf-eKALqM-27GXu3o-e26kmw-doxt8X-8c7VT8-9sAG9Y-dCnA15-SbBVtY-29XcczU-f7GCp5-F9uoWg-GPuBsa

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/74384955@N03/8367017337/in/photolist-dKn9KB-i9nSJH-GbWtzN-myCb3X-22y6gNV-H2Aok6-Ept1kw-F7wmhE-GrEQSh-Gf7cwg-FcnQYp-xzhvmW-9cSuSX-pJCRgY-S8aTZZ-8FidXx-eirsgN-264oqfw-cJ8wbY-eH2n2p-e56jYr-Y67F9d-ZaaHzN-rTf8D1-TKtxuw-xRP3zi-fADdrv-i3HKAU-fAeSWj-TKtxUQ-eirteQ-cycMh3-de12RM-qZUbvZ-23JHJK9-E3dkAa-eh4rJP-SNdEZC-JpVUv6-xRLWiV-eikKwv-cyC9qq-TB22n7-dDhzvE-f7Gt51-paopKa-pdRrXV-Epo7Lr-aSYMor-dPsXKv

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/solent-rails/16350394927/in/photolist-qUQ3LP-rjWi6b-UHztT8-fSuZqB-sqauZq-2491ucL-GbwBfz-Dy41D6-FRovKg-r7sGcX-TuUtJ2-J8Fek9-VATYr8-bzB4qe-bDq4sC-oTnUKd-A7mtnK-WVzTgr-BQVY7j-Vd8FTh-bzB4rM-ncjZFT-eKPdk9-TzoQG4-2adsPti-2bEiWmz-CjnDZA-bSjM86-bzB4tB-bDq4hQ-rZmjLA-e8bq1D-27nJLcE-vPmz8P-e91W8Z-t6Rynw-WmhVEw-fob31b-wA5v35-FWrjnF-28WSiFY-9yXBPs-NnNJAS-Eyw31a-TpuZt1-UvPSi5-TKmDU9-eh9Q4L-p7NHmT-oS81i7

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/hoover29/15779428720/in/photolist-2iZSHmP-rGMU35-2k7CBwZ-wub1dC-oqJa73-QdFPQ1-eSnBxc-UqMY5D-2kGpWHa-xLK2Z1-2jG7kNj-pMV4Cj-q3nGpS-f9cs8K-2kUi798-xLHUpL-WigKrS-V5uGzC-yuCVff-bjsN7a-FF5uhk-bjsNBx-kCBQij-2itk2Rc-kRMHbB-2kmP9if-bjsNoF-2iU7AUy-PtEcZ5-2ekKRjC-2iWC4N3-mp68FX-mp7gBq-dfKBPa-mp5rEg-8bTJZY-XdxT3h-FsZ3XY-2iWC3uB-2iUaueS-2iWC6gD-2iWdoSg-2iWC7E5-WxPuoL-2bYstj9-2iUuVo1-eQb1Fh-HMhPqC-7LiLpW-2kBBVXW

 

are just some of the earlier bogie tankers I found with this search

 

Flickr Search

 

and there are plenty of the later LPG tanks

 

 

Jon

Edited by jonhall
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The Furzebrook rail terminal must have been commissioned late 70s to transport crude oil from the newly developed at that time Wytch Farm oilfield.  The history of the oil field was that they discovered and developed an accumulation at about 900 m depth called the Bridport reservoir and the terminal was designed to export the volumes of oil produced from this (fairly significant) oilfield.  

 

As part of the development of the Bridport, a well called D2 was drilled deeper to see if there was any oil deeper below the Bridport which encountered the Sherwood reservoir at about 1500m - this turned out to be many times larger and more productive than the Bridport - in fact one of the largest onshore oilfields in Europe.  

 

I can't recall peak rates from the Bridport field but would expect them to be around the 5000 bbl/day mark which was exportable through the rail terminal.  However when the Sherwood was developed, oil production jumped up to a peak of 100,000 bbl/day.  Expecting this, a pipeline to Hamble was built to carry the crude direct to an oil terminal there from where it was exported in sea tankers.  This negated the need for the Furzebrook rail terminal to export crude and its purpose was converted to exporting the volumes of LPG (propane and butane) that were separated from the crude and gas at the Wytch Farm gathering centre near Corfe Castle.  I believe this LPG was sent to Avonmouth.

 

The re-development for Sherwood happened before my time there so i cannot put an exact date on things but I would guess early 90s was when redevelopment occurred and the switch to LPG from Furzebrook occurred. 

 

I took a job there on a whim and moved from one end of the country to the other - for those who don't know the area around Furzebrook has to be one of the most beautiful areas of the country and I loved my time there.  In fact to this day i am not sure why i left and i do hope to move back one day maybe...

 

M

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Matt this is all interesting stuff, even beyond the pure rail aspect. I didn't expect to learn this much so thank you. Rob, yes that makes things clear too. I cant decide whether to do the bogie tankers or LPG just yet as I could stretch my layout period to the 1990s in any case. The Bachmann bogie tankers are really pricey so will have to think about it.

 

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1 hour ago, Parailmodeller said:

Matt this is all interesting stuff, even beyond the pure rail aspect. I didn't expect to learn this much so thank you. Rob, yes that makes things clear too. I cant decide whether to do the bogie tankers or LPG just yet as I could stretch my layout period to the 1990s in any case. The Bachmann bogie tankers are really pricey so will have to think about it.

 

I shouldn’t contemplate the LPG then....they are not available off the shelf , you’d have to modify and repaint TTAs I guess and this ran something like 25-30 of them . There’s £600 plus right there !

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  • 10 months later...

Just come across this thread. Im modelling westbury in the early 90s and the Furzebrook - Avonmouth LPG was a regular. Either a railfreight petroleum 47 or 60 as traction normally. I made a rake of 18 from cheap Hornby TTAs (about £5 each). Cut the roof detail off, and sanded. Then added end detail and side hatches. Resprayed white with an aerosol from Halfords and added transfers.

04FA6916-C366-4CF7-A4E8-BA0885ED0806.jpeg

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On 14/03/2022 at 14:44, Fat Controller said:

Those LPG tanks look very impressive. ISTR they had a TTA filled with water at either end to act as barrier/reach wagons:-

https://ukrailwaypics.smugmug.com/UKRailRollingstock/K-Tops-codes/KBA-LNG-barrier-water-tank/i-SGdQf5B/A

 

Yes, the leading barrier wagon can be made out in this image here of 66035 passing through Hinton Admiral heading west on 7th September 2004, with a working to Furzebrook.

 

569518170_66035HintonAdmiral07092004-RMweb.jpg.5875961967a799e464918f47d733f5d8.jpg

 

Edited by 4630
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Thanks fat controller. Was a fun cheap project. Think barriers came later. Original post asks about 1970s to 90s. I don’t have any personal photos but quick search of Flickr shows no barrier as late as 91.

57C19616-38C3-47DD-BEE6-8B4CBEA31813.jpeg

EE49ABC8-11AD-4FF1-9FAE-41187F70DB33.jpeg

Edited by Clink junction
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