'CHARD Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 (edited) Researching traffic over the Waverley Route, as I do about 200 hours/ week, I've come across repeated references to block fuel tank traffic operating to and from Westfield. The only Westfield I can find is the giant opencast mine near Cardenden, served from the Thornton direction, and latterly the Lurgi plant adjacent to it. I'm talking about traffic in 1967, the nature of it, what was handled, and in which direction the tanks were full and empties. Were they carrying the products or by-products of 'gasification,' do any of our learned body of contributors know? I've yet to see photographs of likely workings, which would have been principally in the hands of LM Brush Type 4s. The trains seemed to work to a short-term plan, running as required several times per week, sometimes more than once daily, both during daylight and overnight. I am not sure of the LM end of the workings, but am guessing the Ellesmere Port/ chemical triangle of NW Cheshire. Equally, it would be informative to know which way the trains were normally routed through Fife. The following extract from Canmore gives dtails of the only Westfield rail connected site in Scotland that could make sense. WESTFIELD OPENCAST Location: near Cardenden Other Details: Begun in 1955 on the site of the former Kirkness Colliery, production commencing in 1956. Produced 20,000 tons per week, 40% of Scottish opencast capacity at the time, said to be the biggest opencast site in UK, and claimed to be Europe's biggest hole. Had its own coal preparation plant. Experimental Lurgi plant [high pressure gasification process which converts coal into fuel gas] opened nearby in 1960 at Westfield. M K Oglethorpe 2006. https://canmore.org.uk/site/81626/westfield-opencast-coal-mine Edited April 7, 2019 by 'CHARD Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 I wonder if this was the source of the naptha that was used in one of the power stations or gas terminals in the West Midlands ( near Tipton) ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted April 7, 2019 Author Share Posted April 7, 2019 3 minutes ago, Fat Controller said: I wonder if this was the source of the naptha that was used in one of the power stations or gas terminals in the West Midlands ( near Tipton) ? That's an interesting thought, Brian. I'll have a look at the Lurgi plant, see if there's a clue to what its outputs were. In my 1967 'narrative,' a Midland Lines small yellow panel Brush 4 would look great on a decent length TTA rake! I just hope that I've not accumulated a decent quantity of Shell-BP tanks in error, if it was actually an Esso flow.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 I love the idea of the 'Lurgi' plant; it sounds as though Bloodnock might be involved in it... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted April 7, 2019 Author Share Posted April 7, 2019 4 minutes ago, Fat Controller said: I love the idea of the 'Lurgi' plant; it sounds as though Bloodnock might be involved in it... When I was in Fife as a child, staying with relatives every summer from around 1971 in Kirkcaldy, I was told about and shown the fabled 'Lurgi plant,' by my uncle, whose professional life was chemical based, holding a senior position at the British Aluminium plant at Burntisland. The only time I'd heard the word 'lurgy' before was in the context of bad colds or flu! Its purpose seemed very mysterious and somewhat unpleasant to a six year old! It's a shame my uncle passed away some years ago now - I'm sure he would have had a wealth of background on the subject, being a rail enthusiast too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted April 7, 2019 Author Share Posted April 7, 2019 (edited) source here: https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/File:WW(SGB)-p26a.jpg Do those look like a fan of sidings at '10' ? They were most certainly used during construction at least: https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/File:WW(SGB)-p6.jpg Edited April 7, 2019 by 'CHARD more data Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 I agree that 10 would seem to be a set of sidings. The other photo you linked to shows them clearly; a double track connection to the main line, fanning out into half-a-dozen sidings. There was a similar plant at Coleshill in Warwickshire, which fed gas into West Midland Gas's local grid. This drew its coal from the nearby Daw Mill colliery. Both plants probably shut as a result of the exploitation of North Sea Gas. Even if the Scottish plant didn't supply a Midlands terminal, I would not have been surprised to find it dispatching liquefied gas to terminals within Scotland. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted April 7, 2019 Author Share Posted April 7, 2019 Okay - I have managed to unwind a huge misconception that I was labouring beneath. There are two distinct and different Lurgi/ gasification plants in close proximity to one another. The existing plants (operated by Shell-BP and Exxon-Mobil respectively) are close to and north of the intersection of the A909 and B925 roads near Auchtertool. These have never been rail served and possibly date back to 1981 or so. They presently handle gas brought ashore by pipeline from the North Sea, and send out their products likewise. The Westfield Lurgi plant was north of the B9097 west of Kinglassie, a few miles north. None of the rail infrastructure remains and the once industrial landscape has been remediated and landscaped, including the various local open-cast and sub-surface mines. It appears that this plant was opened by the queen in 1961, taking local shale oil and coal as raw materials, and was possibly redundant by the mid-seventies as domestic gas was sourced from North Sea reserves. So the freight forwarding/ receiving location was genuinely at Westfield on the Thornton - Kelty colliery/ freight branch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted April 7, 2019 Author Share Posted April 7, 2019 8 minutes ago, Fat Controller said: I agree that 10 would seem to be a set of sidings. The other photo you linked to shows them clearly; a double track connection to the main line, fanning out into half-a-dozen sidings. There was a similar plant at Coleshill in Warwickshire, which fed gas into West Midland Gas's local grid. This drew its coal from the nearby Daw Mill colliery. Both plants probably shut as a result of the exploitation of North Sea Gas. Even if the Scottish plant didn't supply a Midlands terminal, I would not have been surprised to find it dispatching liquefied gas to terminals within Scotland. Spot on! Our posts coincided, and your point about North Sea gas is key I think. So now it remains to try and identify any photographic records that may exist anywhere showing one such train. A long shot, granted.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium keefer Posted April 7, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 7, 2019 (edited) 1961 OS map of the Westfield site: https://maps.nls.uk/view/130077881#zoom=3&lat=2943&lon=10646&layers=BT The other plant near Auchtertool is Mossmorran: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mossmorran Edited April 7, 2019 by keefer 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted April 7, 2019 Author Share Posted April 7, 2019 47 minutes ago, keefer said: 1961 OS map of the Westfield site: https://maps.nls.uk/view/130077881#zoom=3&lat=2943&lon=10646&layers=BT The other plant near Auchtertool is Mossmorran: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mossmorran That's the one - I'd forgotten how good the NLS map resource is, in fact I'd forgotten about the site! Thanks for confirming what I'd suspected. So, the traffic would presumably pass Millerhill, and use the sub to access the route to the Forth bridge, then away through Kirkcaldy to Thornton and up the branch. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium keefer Posted April 7, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 7, 2019 (edited) Better, continuous view on the side-by-side map: https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=15&lat=56.1698&lon=-3.2964&layers=170&right=BingHyb Shows a fan of sidings south of the plant, presumably for marshalling trains going in/out. (I initially tried the georeferenced overlay, but that only gave the 1959 map, so the gas plant wasn't shown) Edited April 7, 2019 by keefer 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted April 7, 2019 Author Share Posted April 7, 2019 4 minutes ago, keefer said: Better, continuous view on the side-by-side map: https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=15&lat=56.1698&lon=-3.2964&layers=170&right=BingHyb Shows a fan of sidings south of the plant, presumably for marshalling trains going in/out. (I initially tried the georeferenced overlay, but that only gave the 1959 map, so the gas plant wasn't shown) Ah, my mistake, I was slightly east of the site when I looked before, so the plant is still there but derelict, which fits with a report I read from an urban explorer, which described the site as having been in the process of clearance. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted April 7, 2019 Author Share Posted April 7, 2019 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cardenden,+Lochgelly/@56.1657078,-3.3071561,211m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x488634b031d6a14f:0xd78b98105c572574!8m2!3d56.145247!4d-3.2558919 Where the B9097 crosses the railway, track is still visible on Google Earth, presumably the headshunt ran some distance south of the road. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium keefer Posted April 7, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 7, 2019 (edited) Found an entry in the 1969 ScR Sectional Appendix Edited August 11, 2022 by keefer 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium keefer Posted April 7, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 7, 2019 34 minutes ago, 'CHARD said: Where the B9097 crosses the railway, track is still visible on Google Earth, presumably the headshunt ran some distance south of the road. Shown on the current 1:25000 map: http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=318865&Y=697860&A=Y&Z=115 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeh Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 The flow was LPG feedstock from Esso Hebranston (Milford Haven) to either Westfield Lurgi or Provan Scottish Gas Board. It started in 1965 and departed c 13:25 running as required but I understand timekeeping was pretty poor and subject to numerous complaints by Esso. Power was a Brush 4. Headcode 4S51. Basic trainplan was two a week to Westfield and five to Provan but it ran fairly erratically. There was a similar flow to Coleshill Lurgi. HTH Mike 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted April 9, 2019 Author Share Posted April 9, 2019 3 hours ago, mikeh said: The flow was LPG feedstock from Esso Hebranston (Milford Haven) to either Westfield Lurgi or Provan Scottish Gas Board. It started in 1965 and departed c 13:25 running as required but I understand timekeeping was pretty poor and subject to numerous complaints by Esso. Power was a Brush 4. Headcode 4S51. Basic trainplan was two a week to Westfield and five to Provan but it ran fairly erratically. There was a similar flow to Coleshill Lurgi. HTH Mike Mike, do you know what the block train consist might have been? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian Smeeton Posted April 9, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 9, 2019 Not sure if these photos are of exactly the same place, but.... https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/SAR033551 and others further down the page. Regards Ian 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 10 hours ago, 'CHARD said: Mike, do you know what the block train consist might have been? Almost certainly these:- https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/essolpg40t or these https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/essolpgtank The bogie tanks didn't appear until later. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted April 10, 2019 Author Share Posted April 10, 2019 2 minutes ago, Fat Controller said: Almost certainly these:- https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/essolpg40t or these https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/essolpgtank The bogie tanks didn't appear until later. That's very interesting, I wonder what kits are available.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 11 minutes ago, 'CHARD said: That's very interesting, I wonder what kits are available.... Short answer is 'none', I'm afraid. They wouldn't be too difficult to scratchbuild, though the domed ends would need a master making in laminated plastic card, then copying in resin. Leading dimensions can probably be found on here:- http://www.barrowmoremrg.co.uk/Prototype.html 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted April 10, 2019 Author Share Posted April 10, 2019 18 minutes ago, Fat Controller said: Short answer is 'none', I'm afraid. They wouldn't be too difficult to scratchbuild, though the domed ends would need a master making in laminated plastic card, then copying in resin. Leading dimensions can probably be found on here:- http://www.barrowmoremrg.co.uk/Prototype.html A long-lived and relatively charismatic, very recognisable type, that. Perhaps a manufacturer could be incentivised to take it on in due course, although didn't someone manufacture a similar variant many years ago? I feel sure I acquired a handful that I ultimately moved on... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 5 minutes ago, 'CHARD said: A long-lived and relatively charismatic, very recognisable type, that. Perhaps a manufacturer could be incentivised to take it on in due course, although didn't someone manufacture a similar variant many years ago? I feel sure I acquired a handful that I ultimately moved on... I can't remember anyone doing an LPG tank, though I think Appleby Model Engineering did the CO2 tanks which ran to a distillery in Fife. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium keefer Posted April 10, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 10, 2019 I take it that would refer to Cameron Bridge? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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