'Unusual' Industries still rail-served in ~1996

[ColinK]

Probably finished before your timeframe, but Metal Box had a rail served factory at Westhoughton (possibly elsewhere too) and on the Wigan - Southport line (Gathurst?) there was a rail served explosives factory complete with a narrow gauge railway.

[phil-b259]

3 hours ago, Rivercider said:

Merehead Quarry despatched concrete blocks to the Foster Yeoman terminal at Acton, they were loaded in OAAs and OBAs. There were normally four or five wagons attached to the rear of 7A17 10.55 Merehead to Acton stone train, a convenient and presumably cheap way of moving them. I do not know the unloading arrangements at Acton, but possibly on a separate siding to the hopper unloading road. I have just found a photo on the Iron Road website of 59001 working that service in 2003, unusually there is no stone traffic, just eight OAA/OBAs. 

 

cheers

 

Things like aggregates can fluctuate widely depending on local conditions. A large new housing development or road scheme can easily see volumes increase rapidly while during recessions consumption fall off a cliff. There was a massive fall after the 2008 financial crisis hit - to the extent that FOCs were having to make drivers and ground staff redundant such was the drop in traffic.

 

As for the concrete blocks - as FY were already sending aggregates to Acton tagging a few wagons of blocks on the end makes sense and although from time to time short train loads are run, thats not the norm (nor are they mixed in with other generalised building supplies).

Edited April 3, 2022 by phil-b259

[rob D2]

On 02/04/2022 at 20:45, phil-b259 said:

 

No there weren't

 

Builders Merchants products are very much 'low value' products and as such nowhere near profitable enough for rail haulage on the small scale you envisage.

 

In terms of building materials themselves - yes things like aggregates, cement, Gypsum (for making plasterboard), concrete building blocks, raw timber (as in felled trees) were (and still are) carried by rail - but from source to distribution hubs / processing plants in large trainloads not as a handful of wagons! Onward dispatch from said distribution hubs /processing plant to individual merchants would, by the early 1990s, be (and still is) by road.

 

I repeat, delivering a handful of wagons to private sidings was effectively killed off by HM Treasurys totally unrealistic demands as to the returns BR should be making from railfreight by 1992 at the latest. As such by the time privatisation came around such wagonload / less than trainload operations had ceased, certainly for the products you are thinking of and no amount of wishful thinking will change that.

 

Now of course in the model world you can pretend history was different - and there is nothing wrong with that approach. But you need to appreciate the difference between what actually happened in the real world and what you are wishing had happened. The two are not the same...

You are not actually correct, 

 

 

7x OTA going to the timber mill near Hereford dropped off at pontrilas.

cargowaggons of chipboard I believe to Milton park near didcot , about 96 or 97.

fertliser resurgence about this time as well, Yeovil pen mill …….

bridgewater ….soft drinks etc

 

theres actually quite a lot 

 

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by rob D2

[KeithMacdonald]

Teignbridge Railhead (on the old Teign Valley line) had ball clay traffic up to 2009. More recently, for a while, Colas was also moving timber from Teignbridge all the way to Chirk in North Wales.

[KeithMacdonald]

How about scrap metal by rail?

What was the Highworth branch in Swindon has still been used for scrap metal for decades

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/EMR+Swindon/@51.5733753,-1.763004,259m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x487145ce669f8b5d:0x693d667fe33ff1ef!8m2!3d51.5729332!4d-1.764128

 

Would Freightliner be too new though?

https://www.freightliner.co.uk/rail/bulk/metal-and-scrap/

[Fat Controller]

45 minutes ago, RailroadRich said:

 

Using the same rolling stock, Paddock Wood had a 'Transfesa' terminal alongside the bay platform (used into the 2010s) that processed foodstuffs that came through the Chunnel in gauge-variable wagons. 

 

Not quite niche wagons, but a bit different from the container/steel traffic along the SEML. 

 

 

 

 

 

Although the building was labelled 'Transfesa', it was, by the time the photo was taken, leased to Philips- Whirlpool. the 'white goods' manufacturer. The wagons are FS IMA bogie ferry vans. Transfesa still use rail, but from Dolland's Moor to Ripple Lane via HS1. The traffic is fresh fruit and vegetables, carried in swap-bodies. The traffic was originally parts for Ford cars, but as this died away, the space was taken by containers, some refrigerated.

The Transfesa warehouse burnt down on July 4th, 2005; I remember the day, as it was our wedding anniversary; we had to cancel the meal, as my wife's train had to return to Charing Cross, eventually returning after 23:00.

[adanapress]

Treacle Mines of course, coal in, plus pit props and tankers out.

[The Stationmaster]

On 03/04/2022 at 17:04, Rivercider said:

Merehead Quarry despatched concrete blocks to the Foster Yeoman terminal at Acton, they were loaded in OAAs and OBAs. There were normally four or five wagons attached to the rear of 7A17 10.55 Merehead to Acton stone train, a convenient and presumably cheap way of moving them. I do not know the unloading arrangements at Acton, but possibly on a separate siding to the hopper unloading road. I have just found a photo on the Iron Road website of 59001 working that service in 2003, unusually there is no stone traffic, just eight OAA/OBAs. 

 

cheers

Are you sure they were loaded at Merehead?  The original 'tail traffic' building blocks on the back of stone trains from Westbury were Celcon blocks from Celcon's factory at Westbury and I think (but can't be sure that they might have been loaded at Westbury using the loading bank as it was only a short drive from Celcon's place.  The blocks weren't exactly concrete but were a lightweight building block and they contained a fair percentage of fly-ash (hence the factory was a very mucky place with dirty black deposits all over the shop).  They were unloaded in one of the former goods sidings at the east end of Acton yard.

 

There might possibly have also been concrete blocks at some  time but the original traffic was from Celcon and there definitely wasn't a batching plant at Merehead in earlier years.

[phil-b259]

18 hours ago, rob D2 said:

You are not actually correct, 

 

 

7x OTA going to the timber mill near Hereford dropped off at pontrilas.

cargowaggons of chipboard I believe to Milton park near didcot , about 96 or 97.

fertliser resurgence about this time as well, Yeovil pen mill …….

bridgewater ….soft drinks etc

 

theres actually quite a lot 

 

 

IIRC that resurgence was rather short lived and was basically down to the head of Wisconsin Central (Ed Burkhardt), who bought up the ex BR trainload freight companies who wanted to replicate the success he had achieved in the US with such traffics.

 

Unfortunely the harsh realities of the UK rail freight market meant such an initiative struggled to return a decent enough profit and when Ed got disposed by a boardroom coup, the new management rapidly moved to end any UK wagonload traffic they had taken on in a bid to get the finances in order.

 

But yes, for the timeframe the OP is modelling then, as you have highlighted there might well be an option for some shortish trains, however even these would be of the single commodity type I.e. 7 OTAs of timber - not 1 OTA of timber, 2 wagons of breeze blocks, a cargo wagon of plasterboard, a box wagon of sand, etc

 

As such it’s questionable whether the shortish trains you have described would fit the bill for the OP - who from the sounds of things is looking at a sort of shunting puzzle layout.

[ColinK]

One that still runs today - there is an oil terminal at Dalston between Carlisle and Whitehaven.  From what I have seen when going past, it has two short sidings, so the train is split at Carlisle and there are two short trains in each day. 
 

If I was modelling it I would have it as a chemical works instead to give a greater range of wagon types.

[Northmoor]

Not until 1996 but short oil trains to small terminals were common until well into the '80s.  The National Pipeline network used to have many of it's local storage sites served by rail.  Some of them still have sidings but are disconnected from the main line.

[Fat Controller]

8 minutes ago, RailroadRich said:

 

Thanks for clarifying the details. Having used the Ashford line as a child & also commuting to uni in Canterbury that place always fascinated me; as a knowledgeable rail buff but never a rail industry employee 🙂

There had been a chocolate depot (Rowntree Mackintosh) next door to the erstwhile Transfesa depot. 

[Steven B]

There are/were a few rail served freight depots that still managed to see wagon and train load freight into the 1990s.

 

COBRA has/had depots in Wakefield and Middlesborough (and elsewhere?) - the Middlesborough one was shunted by a 0-6-0 Hunslet as per the NGS model. Steel featured heavily amongst traffic to Wakefield whilst Middlesborough saw potash. Both were used for more general freight.

 

Blackburn had Gilbraith's which saw a range of traffic, again including steel.

 

MoD workings could bring up all sorts of traffic in vans and opens as well as warwell/warflat and still run today with a range of train lengths.

 

 

Steven B.

[rob D2]

3 hours ago, phil-b259 said:

IIRC that resurgence was rather short lived and was basically down to the head of Wisconsin Central (Ed Burkhardt), who bought up the ex BR trainload freight companies who wanted to replicate the success he had achieved in the US with such traffics.

 

Unfortunely the harsh realities of the UK rail freight market meant such an initiative struggled to return a decent enough profit and when Ed got disposed by a boardroom coup, the new management rapidly moved to end any UK wagonload traffic they had taken on in a bid to get the finances in order.

 

But yes, for the timeframe the OP is modelling then, as you have highlighted there might well be an option for some shortish trains, however even these would be of the single commodity type I.e. 7 OTAs of timber - not 1 OTA of timber, 2 wagons of breeze blocks, a cargo wagon of plasterboard, a box wagon of sand, etc

 

As such it’s questionable whether the shortish trains you have described would fit the bill for the OP - who from the sounds of things is looking at a sort of shunting puzzle layout.

Yes, you are right of course with regards to the commodities , there wasn’t much multi drop - I think OP needs the 60s in that respect or America !

 

somewhere like chittening or bridegewater may give more variety of loads and wagons 

[MyRule1]

@bigboyboris You have mentioned Paul Shannon in one of your later posts.

 

I have a copy of his book Rail freight since 1968: Wagonload which was published by Silverlink in 2006. Page 107 contains a table of Speedlink  Enterprise Flows in March 1995.

 

This lists the following as sites with traffic (O)  = origin, (D) = destination

 

Aberdeen (D), Aberdeen Waterloo (O), Blackburn (D), Burngullow (O), Burton-on-Trent (D), Cameron Bridge (O), Cardiff (O), Carlisle (O), Corpach (D), Dalry (D), Deanside (D), Elgin (O), Ellesmere Port (O), Haverton Hill (O), Huntly (O), Ince & Elton (O), Inverurie (O), Keith (D), Killoch (O), Middlewich (O), Mossend (D), Oxwellmains (O), Park Royal (O), Quidhampton (O), Runcorn Folly Lane (O), Sandbach (O), Seal Sands (O), Sellafield (D), Sheerness (O), Shotton (D), Sittingboume (D), Sittingbourne (D), St Helens (O), Tees Dock (D), Thornton (D), Trafford Park (O), Warrington Dallam (D), Willesden (D), Workington (O)

 

Wagon types: HCA, ICA, IZA, JBA, JCA, OTA, PCA, PGA, SPA, TEA, TIA, TTA, TUA, VGA, YAA, ZAA

 

Traffic: Calcium carbonate, Carbon dioxide, Caustic soda, Cement, China clay, Coal, Coiled steel wire, Empty, after repair, Guinness, Nitric acid, Rail, Salt, Starch, Steel reinforcing bar, Sulphuric acid, Timber

 

1996 was a year of transition as Trainsrail and the other BR freight divisions were privatised that year and EWS took over, there was also a limited amount of cross channel traffic via the tunnel. 

 

[doilum]

On 02/04/2022 at 22:01, AW said:

You could try Bloxwich, which had wagonload traffic until 2006. Nothing exotic traffic wise, just metals (zinc ingots to be precise) but conveyed in a variety of vans over the years. Trains were usually modest in size and could vary in length. It was Cargowaggons in the late 1980s (four at most as a rule), but became four wheel vans thereafter. Starting with VAA (or similar), which were mixed with Cargowaggons to begin with, then just the four wheelers by themselves. Later it became VGAs (or similar). Mostly Class 31s in the early to mid 90s, later becoming 37s in the EWS era and finally 66s in the last couple of years. All in a variety of BR/sectorisation/privatisation liveries during the crossover periods. You can even, legitimately, have pairs of Class 20s around 1995 if you like (BRT and other liveries).

 

The location itself was also very modelable (is that a word?) if you wanted to go for prototypical accuracy, especially in N. Double track mainline with a fairly short goods loop on one side, plus an associated modest length dead-end siding parallel to the running lines. The factory sidings themselves veered off at a sharp angle across an ungated level crossing and then directly to two short sidings inside the factory premises. The factory sidings were on a notable gradient too, falling away from the running lines. This location (in 1996) also comes with a signalbox, semaphores (including ground discs), a gated crossing on the mainline, a shunt frame, a three-way point and (IIRC) a single slip - so plenty to go at.

 

There was also a vehicle crossing that spanned the two short factory sidings - used primarily by the forklifts that were required to unload the wagons - which meant that when wagons were placed in each siding the already short raft (or rafts if both sidings were used) needed to be split and those wagons nearer the loco moved a few yards away from the others so as not to block this crossing. Some more prototypical shunting potential there, to add to what was already quite a complex little shunt when there was both inbound and outbound traffic.

Plasmor at Great Heck? This may still be rail served and sits on the EDML.

[31A]

1 hour ago, doilum said:

Plasmor at Great Heck? This may still be rail served and sits on the EDML.

 

Yes, it is still served.  In fact it seems to have acquired a new(er) internal shunting loco recently!  I think the blocks it sends out go to Biggleswade and Bow (East London).

[The Stationmaster]

21 hours ago, Northmoor said:

Not until 1996 but short oil trains to small terminals were common until well into the '80s.  The National Pipeline network used to have many of it's local storage sites served by rail.  Some of them still have sidings but are disconnected from the main line.

A lot of petroleum traffic ceased in the big cull of freight flows in the late 1980s which occurred as a result of The Treasury increasing the rate of return it required on BR freight traffic.  A further consequence of this was the subsequent closure of Speedlink Network because the reduction of various flows robbed it of some of its traffic and unbalanced its economics.  

 

Hence in the late 1980s a number of flows which were profitable but didn't reach the new rate of return ceased.   When EWS came along Ed Burkhardt was a lot less fussy then The Treasury about assumed rates of return so a number of oil traffic (and other) flows re-emerged because they were profitable in taht teh revenue from them exceeded operating costs.   But things changed again subsequently as the Burkhardt approach was ousted from EWS.

[Fat Controller]

The Sinfin branch, to Rolls Royce Derby, is still active, I believe. I have seen a recent photo (on here, I believe) of a train comprising a loco and 2 bogie tanks.

[Rivercider]

23 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Are you sure they were loaded at Merehead?  The original 'tail traffic' building blocks on the back of stone trains from Westbury were Celcon blocks from Celcon's factory at Westbury and I think (but can't be sure that they might have been loaded at Westbury using the loading bank as it was only a short drive from Celcon's place.  The blocks weren't exactly concrete but were a lightweight building block and they contained a fair percentage of fly-ash (hence the factory was a very mucky place with dirty black deposits all over the shop).  They were unloaded in one of the former goods sidings at the east end of Acton yard.

 

There might possibly have also been concrete blocks at some  time but the original traffic was from Celcon and there definitely wasn't a batching plant at Merehead in earlier years.

When I worked in Westbury TOPS 1996-99 I remember processing the wagon releases from Merehead. 

I have asked the question elsewhere and the blocks were manufactured near Merehead and road hauled in to be loaded there. Forticrete was the product name, in later years the OAA/OBA wagons in that pool received replacement side doors made of a metal mesh.

You are right about Westbury Mike. I do not recall any blocks loaded at Westbury, but several others do. There was a blockworks behind the diesel depot, originally owned by Dews, but later possibly by ECC. Celcon has also been mentioned as the owner.  

 

cheers

[The Stationmaster]

19 minutes ago, Rivercider said:

When I worked in Westbury TOPS 1996-99 I remember processing the wagon releases from Merehead. 

I have asked the question elsewhere and the blocks were manufactured near Merehead and road hauled in to be loaded there. Forticrete was the product name, in later years the OAA/OBA wagons in that pool received replacement side doors made of a metal mesh.

You are right about Westbury Mike. I do not recall any blocks loaded at Westbury, but several others do. There was a blockworks behind the diesel depot, originally owned by Dews, but later possibly by ECC. Celcon has also been mentioned as the owner.  

 

cheers

The works at Westbury was Celcon - or it was when it first opened in the 1970s.  A number of us had a vist to the place a few months after it opened (because I knew the Project Engineer who had been involved in its construction) and it was already quite a filthy place that early due to the fly ash dust getting everywhere.   Celcon didn't start using rail in their early days (I left Westbury in 1978) and i think that flow might have started in the 1980s but it was the orignal tail traffic on the stone trains - I didn't know until you mentioned it about blocks later being loaded at Merehead so that's interesting to know thanks.

[rob D2]

some of the enterprise trains to Ely / brandon were quite mixed .

 

OTAs for timber and vans generally and a big mix of motive power including RES 47s , some 31s as well 

[SED Freightman]

On 05/04/2022 at 13:14, Fat Controller said:

There had been a chocolate depot (Rowntree Mackintosh) next door to the erstwhile Transfesa depot. 

There were also two depots receiving perishable traffic on the Up Side at Paddock Wood - Broome & Green and (I think) Mack & Edwards, further north, off the Long Siding was a rail served Bonded Store (now a car auction) operated by Bond Delivery which received tobacco products.

[rob D2]

Doncaster - Ely around that time 
not my pictures , usual Flickr caveats apply 

[rob D2]