Where did Brymbo steel works send it's steel?

[117puzzler]

Hi there.

 

Not sure if this is in the right place but :-

 

 

I was wondering if anybody here knows where Brymbo steel works sent the finished steel it produced in the late 1970's early 80's.

 

I understand that the steel works made steel from scrap at this time and then sent out the "billets" on various vacuum braked steel carrying wagons along a branch line to cross newyedd yard.

 

Any info would be much appreciated.

 

Cheers

Adam

[Arthur]

 

Brymbo was part of the GKN empire and produced engineering steels in it’s arc furnaces, it didn’t make steels for the general section and plate market. GKNs East Moors and Castle plants in Cardiff did that.

 

It had been the UKs smallest integrated works into the 60’s, when it still operated it’s single blast furnace, and didn’t have finishing mills, it rolled semi-finished products, blooms and billets.

 

Much of it’s output went to other GKN works for further processing into various GKN products, from fastenings, like nuts and bolts, and a whole range of engineering products including items for the automotive markets. Many of these works were situated in the West Midlands so a significant amount of Brymbo’s output made it’s way there.

 

Others may have some more specific traffic info.

[clarkea1]

This image shows a working from Brymbo - wagon loads of billet.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/actonwellsjunction/7858267110

 

Alastair

[Fat Controller]

It was one of the places that used 'Twin-Bolsters' in the 1960s and early 1970s; just the ticket for carrying 4" engineer's bar in stock lengths. Another works that did this was Duport in Llanelli, though they went over to Bolster Es at the end of the 1960s. The Twin-Bolsters had a 35mph max speed, IIRC, but this wasn't as much of a problem on the Brymbo- Black Country route as it would have been on the route from Llanelli to Great Bridge.

[The Johnster]

It was one of the places that used 'Twin-Bolsters' in the 1960s and early 1970s; just the ticket for carrying 4" engineer's bar in stock lengths. Another works that did this was Duport in Llanelli, though they went over to Bolster Es at the end of the 1960s. The Twin-Bolsters had a 35mph max speed, IIRC, but this wasn't as much of a problem on the Brymbo- Black Country route as it would have been on the route from Llanelli to Great Bridge.

 

Twin Bolsters featured in traffic from Panteg, Pontypool, as well.  The 35mph speed limit would not have been a burden on wagons largely used in class 9 (25mph) or class 8 work; class 8 trains were usually composed of 45mph wagons and that is, correctly, what I used to specify on the driver's slip when I gave it to him, but they were timed to run at a maximum of 35mph for timetabling and signalling purposes (signalmen had to have an idea how long a train was going to take to clear a section before giving it the road so as not to impede following traffic a few sections along).

[Fat Controller]

Twin Bolsters featured in traffic from Panteg, Pontypool, as well.  The 35mph speed limit would not have been a burden on wagons largely used in class 9 (25mph) or class 8 work; class 8 trains were usually composed of 45mph wagons and that is, correctly, what I used to specify on the driver's slip when I gave it to him, but they were timed to run at a maximum of 35mph for timetabling and signalling purposes (signalmen had to have an idea how long a train was going to take to clear a section before giving it the road so as not to impede following traffic a few sections along).

The 35 mph limit would have proved a handicap on the line between Briton Ferry and Cardiff, and thence on the line from STJ via Gloucester, where only double track (with occasional loops) existed.

[hmrspaul]

It was one of the places that used 'Twin-Bolsters' in the 1960s and early 1970s; just the ticket for carrying 4" engineer's bar in stock lengths. Another works that did this was Duport in Llanelli, though they went over to Bolster Es at the end of the 1960s. The Twin-Bolsters had a 35mph max speed, IIRC, but this wasn't as much of a problem on the Brymbo- Black Country route as it would have been on the route from Llanelli to Great Bridge.

http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brtwinbolster

 

Paul

[117puzzler]

Thanks all so much for the information. The question was sparked with a Xmas present of a slaters lowfit and a look through the above linked website and gallery’s for inspiration

 

Also the dimensions of the billets given is a massive help.

 

Cheers everyone.

Adam