Gasworks Traffic

[garethashenden]

I'm interested in how rail served gasworks operated. From what I understand, gasworks create coal gas by heating coal in the absence of oxygen. This produces coke and tar as byproducts. Is that all the traffic? Coal in, coke and tar out? How are the tracks laid out? Are there different levels? Different sides of the building? Lets say its a medium-large gasworks c.1900. Big enough to need its own shunter. What else do I need to know to create a convincing model?

[Sandhole]

Coal comes in, is crushed and is fed into a retort house. It is there where the gas is produced. 
By-products are coke, tar and ammoniacal liquor.
There was no set track plan. You would have had a coal pile and an intake siding.. The really big gasworks would have a raised track to deliver coal into the retort house.
There would be coke piles for loading into wagons, after cooling down of course.
Sidings for tar tank wagons and tankers for the ammoniacal liquor. The liquor would, I think be used for fertiliser.
I am not an expert and I fully expect to be shot down by more knowledgeable people on this server.
Regards,
Chris.

 

[Mol_PMB]

When Britainfromabove is back working again, there are some nice aerial photos of gasworks. In the meantime, why not have a look for some gasworks on the National Library of Scotland old maps, 25" to the mile, and that should give quite a good idea.

[Fat Controller]

I believe some gas-works had 'scrubbing' or filtering systems that used fine iron particles. There was also a need for replacement of some cast-iron pipework on a fairly frequent basis. The GWR gasworks at Swindon even had a small fleet of bogie bolsters to bring in new pipes from Stanton and Staveley iron works near Chesterfield.

 

[APOLLO]

Loads of info here

 

https://www.igg.org.uk/gansg/12-linind/gasworks.htm

 

Brit15

[Marshall5]

England's only remaining gasworks at Fakenham, Norfolk has been preserved http://fakenhamgasmuseum.com/ and some period photos here https://fakenhamcommunityarchive.weebly.com/the-gasworks.html

Ray.

Edited January 13, 2022 by Marshall5
Correction

[doilum]

Gasometers were pretty impressive structures. I seem to recall an excellent gasworks model in MRJ perhaps about ten years ago. Their index is on line. Also of interest might be the Harrogate gas works which had its own narrow gauge gauge railway.

Most small towns had a gasworks of some type, probably shunted by tractor or horse. It is within modelling licence to stretch this to a small locomotive.

[Nick Holliday]

9 hours ago, doilum said:

Gasometers were pretty impressive structures. I seem to recall an excellent gasworks model in MRJ perhaps about ten years ago. Their index is on line. Also of interest might be the Harrogate gas works which had its own narrow gauge gauge railway.

Most small towns had a gasworks of some type, probably shunted by tractor or horse. It is within modelling licence to stretch this to a small locomotive.

In the area served by the London Brighton & South Coast Railway there were around 90 gasworks, large and small.  Of these 67 had NO connection to a railway line, despite some, such as at Sutton and Mitcham, being large sites. Most of their coal was moved by horse and cart from the railhead to the works, and 13 others had access to waterways.

BTW, technically a gasometer is not a structure, it is the piece of equipment used to measure the amount of gas passing through (hence the use of the suffix -meter) often housed in a small building within the works .  The large structures should be referred to as gasholders, because that is what they were. Sadly the word has been misused, even by the OS in Victorian times, and now appears interchangeable with the correct terminology.

[burgundy]

What uses did the coke have? Given that early locos burned coke, would it have ended up at the local loco depot or would the likely volume have been insufficient for the railways' needs. 

Conversely, where railway companies owned their own coking ovens,  would that have generated similar by-products or was the process different?

Best wishes 

Eric

[Din]

11 minutes ago, burgundy said:

What uses did the coke have? Given that early locos burned coke, would it have ended up at the local loco depot or would the likely volume have been insufficient for the railways' needs. 

Conversely, where railway companies owned their own coking ovens,  would that have generated similar by-products or was the process different?

Best wishes 

Eric

Steel production, coke is great for that. Burns clean and hot and thus doesn't put any impurities (namely sulfur) into the metal.

[Mol_PMB]

Coke is used in several industrial processes including steelmaking.

 

This 1908 map of Altrincham shows the track layout at the gasworks there, which was served by a private branch from the goods yard along the road to the gasworks:

https://maps.nls.uk/view/114581839

A variety of traction was used over the years including horses, steam locos, and steam lorries (hauling railway wagons).

I offer this as an example because it fits your period, is fairly local to me and well documented, some useful links and photos here below.

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/01/15/altrincham-gas-works-tramway/

https://archaeologytea.wordpress.com/2020/08/10/the-industrial-archaeology-of-the-altrincham-gas-works-tramway/

 

[jcredfer]

Father used to put coke in the Aga Oven, as it was clean to burn, it left a light dust requiring occasional brushing out.  I believe the Aga may have been designed for coke, I'm sure Father mentioned as such.

 

Julian

 

[Fat Controller]

2 hours ago, jcredfer said:

Father used to put coke in the Aga Oven, as it was clean to burn, it left a light dust requiring occasional brushing out.  I believe the Aga may have been designed for coke, I'm sure Father mentioned as such.

 

Julian

 

Like anthracite, it burns best with a forced draught, hence using it in an enclosed hearth such as an AGA or Raeburn. 

Steelworks tended to produce their own coke, as they used such large quantities, with strict control of the composition of the coals used. However, the would have been lots of local foundries, which used smaller quantities (and were less fastidious..), along with other industry; Flint Mills, for instance.

[doilum]

Not all coal is suitable for coking. Where it was, the coke ovens were often part of the colliery complex mainly supplying the steel industry. Long before Clean Air considerations my primary school burned coke in it's Edwardian boilers. If you have nothing better to do, can I recommend a parusal of the POWsides website. Whilst in no way a perfect historical record, it does give some idea of the geographical diversity of the coke and gas industry pre 1939. Be careful to leave your credit card in another room!

[SirBud]

In addition to the information Mol suggested above, if you can track down a copy of Railway Bylines April 2000 there is an 8 page article on Altrincham Gas Works that includes lots of information, photos of small locos and wagons, a detailed map including the works and track layout etc.

[Adam88]

On 09/01/2022 at 09:43, burgundy said:

What uses did the coke have?

 

Where I was at school the boilers were coke-fired until the gas works closed down in the 1960s after North Sea gas was introduced.  Before nationalisation the gas works would have been run by the corporation so it probably made sense to heat corporation-run facilities such as schools with coke. 

[doilum]

Only a guess, but coke seemed to burn down to a clinker rather than fine ash and so might have been easier for the caretaker to deal with. It is also probable that a good stoking around 7am and a top up before he went off duty around 11 kept the boiler fed all day. My secondary school used very small coal fed automatically by a screw feed.

[Michael Hodgson]

We weren't allowed anywhere near the school boiler room - the janitor's private domain, but at least the heating worked.

The caretaker was a miserable old so-and-so who was usually shouting at some kid or other.

[Phil Traxson]

4 hours ago, doilum said:

Only a guess, but coke seemed to burn down to a clinker rather than fine ash and so might have been easier for the caretaker to deal with. It is also probable that a good stoking around 7am and a top up before he went off duty around 11 kept the boiler fed all day. My secondary school used very small coal fed automatically by a screw feed.

The beauty of coke is that it doesn't produce clinker, one of the reasons most blacksmiths used it in their forges. I used to see my Dad fetching coke for his forge in a large two wheel  barrow, large because coke is light but bulky, it was light enough that he could tow it with his push bike.. I do remember him saying that the gasworks at Burton almost gave it away as they made so much of it that it was almost a nuisance by product, his boss was very keen on that idea. (How come I can remember details like this from 60 years ago ,yet I can't tell you what I had for dinner yesterday?)

Phil T.

Edited January 11, 2022 by Phil Traxson

[Nearholmer]

Our infants school boiler was bang in the middle of the cloakroom, surrounded by iron railings, which were always festooned with damp socks and coats, with boots and shoes all the way round on the floor. Chilblains were normal.

 

More to the point, one day I wandered in there, and came upon two guys in overalls doing mysterious stuff to the boiler, using a big hand pump, pipes and gauges. They were good enough to explain to c6yo me how boiler hydraulic pressure testing worked, which was interesting, and clearly memorable.

[petethemole]

 

On 09/01/2022 at 09:43, burgundy said:

What uses did the coke have?

Coke was widely used as a domestic fuel.  Coke fired domestic boilers were very common up the the '60s at least.  We had one that was as old as the hous (c1936) and replaced it with a similar but slightly more modern-looking unit in the mid-'60s.  I was passed out as competent to manage it at about age 12.  I had to fill the coke hod from the covered coke store in the yard, top up the boiler through the hole in the top and shovel the ash out into a galvanised bucket to cool off.  Using the dampers so it didn't go out overnight was a skill I learned later, as Dad went to bed after me.  It would go out during the day if everyone was out, and I had to light it when I got in from school, using the gas poker.  Coke came from the coalman along with coal for the fire.  We tried anthracite but Dad wasn't keen; I think it got too hot.  We used Phurnacite sometimes, usually mixed with coke.

[Marshall5]

18 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

 

The caretaker was a miserable old so-and-so who was usually shouting at some kid or other.

I think that was a pre-requisite of the job in those days.!

Ray.

[Adam88]

On 11/01/2022 at 16:20, Michael Hodgson said:

We weren't allowed anywhere near the school boiler room - the janitor's private domain, but at least the heating worked.

The caretaker was a miserable old so-and-so who was usually shouting at some kid or other.

 

The only time I ever went into the boiler room at my primary school was when I was sent for a bucket of sand from the 'tarecaker' because someone had been sick (white-coloured, I suspect largely regurgitated school milk - TMI, I know!).  The boiler was in the cellar underneath the main hall and the noise from the gym or dancing lesson above was incredible.

[Dava]

On 08/01/2022 at 19:08, Marshall5 said:

Britain's only remaining gasworks at Fakenham, Norfolk has been preserved http://fakenhamgasmuseum.com/ and some period photos here https://fakenhamcommunityarchive.weebly.com/the-gasworks.html

Ray.

Biggar is in Lanarkshire, still part of Britain and has its tiny gasworks intact as a museum. Actually too small for a railway.

https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/biggar-gasworks-museum/history/

Also see this thread on the Yorktown gasworks in Camberley.

 

Dava

Edited January 12, 2022 by Dava
Updated

[Asterix2012]

16 hours ago, Dava said:

Biggar is in Lanarkshire, still part of Britain and has its tiny gasworks intact as a museum. Actually too small for a railway.

https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/biggar-gasworks-museum/history/

Also see this thread on the Yorktown gasworks in Camberley.

 

Dava

That peckett is a cute little engine