Household coal traffic - 1950s, outside of coal-producing areas

[Cwmtwrch]

Sheets were heavy and difficult to handle, requiring two men at least to put them on a wagon, so 'good enough' was the usual approach, so long as the wagon was covered. The exceptions were sheets tailored to a specific wagon type, Clayhoods for example. Most 16T minerals were about 17ft 3ins by 8ft 8ins over the body, give or take the odd inch or so, so there was somewhere around 3ft 9ins in length and 5ft 8ins in width over, assuming a standard sheet as taut as it was supposed to be, which was not always the case.

3 hours ago, 009 micro modeller said:

it does have some markings on it - a bit annoying in modelling terms if they should be changed regularly

Not sure what you are getting at here, but markings on sheets were only changed when they were returned to a sheet works for reproofing and reissue. From photographs, the period between issue date and return date could be anywhere between 12 months and 60 months, most commonly in the 12-30 months range.

[Michael Hodgson]

30 minutes ago, Cwmtwrch said:

 

Not sure what you are getting at here, but markings on sheets were only changed when they were returned to a sheet works for reproofing and reissue. From photographs, the period between issue date and return date could be anywhere between 12 months and 60 months, most commonly in the 12-30 months range.

 

Wagons and sheets didn't usually stay together though.  You would unload the sheeted wagon or arrival, fold up the sheet and send it away with other spare sheets - or use it to sheet some other load in another outgoing wagon.  So next time you saw the same wagon, it would probably have a different sheet, or be unsheeted.  Nobody but a complete wagon number-spotting nerd is going to notice that on a model though.

[Nearholmer]

On 23/12/2023 at 20:03, 009 micro modeller said:

One difference might be whether a rural location on a minor light railway would bother to provide bunkers to store unloaded coal, or simply shovel it directly into a lorry or into a pile on the ground.)

I came back to that part of the question, because although the most common options were to bag direct from the wagon to a delivery lorry, or stockpile, and I’ve mentioned a case of ‘bulk haulage’ by lorry to coal yards remote from the station, there were odd places where coal was kept in sheds, I think because of the risk of theft, or perhaps because coal spoils quicker when left out in the weather. Two that I know of were Bembridge IoW, which had a covered coal store, although I’m not sure it was a fully enclosed shed, and one (more?) station on the Southwold Railway.

[Nearholmer]

This is yet another attempt to answer a question that regularly crops up on RMWeb: how much coal traffic for a town/village of a given size?

 

So, some decent numbers, after a long search:

 

 

So, in 1955, domestic consumption seems to have been of the order of 35 million tonnes, or tons at this level of approximation. Population was 51 million, so roughly 14cwt/person.year, with consumption very weather dependent, so mostly October-March.

 

Most towns also had a gasworks, but I’ve yet to work out a way of roughly approximating demand from that source on a population basis, because I can’t find a figure for homes on mains gas in 1955! [Stop Press: I have found a credible source which seems to say c13 million domestic “consumers”, which if that means the same thing as “households”, amounts to virtually every home.]

 

The whole article is well worth a read: https://ourworldindata.org/death-uk-coal

Edited December 28, 2023 by Nearholmer

[Compound2632]

So 1956 was "peak coal", for UK consumption.

[Nearholmer]

Seems to have been.

 

Trying to disentangle the amount of coal used for domestic gas supply, about as far as I can reasonably get is “a bit less than for direct domestic coal consumption”, so maybe in the order of 10cwt/person.year. I’m still not convinced I understand the “reach” of mains gas at the time though; if I’ve understood the figure I cited above correctly, then it seems to have been greater than I expected, with probably only isolated villages and farms not connected by that stage. Nowadays, 25 Million of a total of 29 Million homes have mains gas connected.

 

Despite the still very approximate nature of these numbers, I’m happier with the basis of them than some of our previous attempts, and the domestic coal consumption figure is of the same order as the 1cwt/household.week that I was using before.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2023 by Nearholmer

[Compound2632]

4 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

So 1956 was "peak coal", for UK consumption.

 

2 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Seems to have been.

 

Driven by the doubling in coal for electricity generation - all other sectors show only a moderate increase, or a decline. Domestic energy consumption increased steadily, as it has continued to do. 

[Michael Hodgson]

12 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Most towns also had a gasworks, but I’ve yet to work out a way of roughly approximating demand from that source on a population basis, because I can’t find a figure for homes on mains gas in 1955! [Stop Press: I have found a credible source which seems to say c13 million domestic “consumers”, which if that means the same thing as “households”, amounts to virtually every home.]

 

The whole article is well worth a read: https://ourworldindata.org/death-uk-coal

 

Gas demand would be much less seasonal than coal in the 1950s.  Gas was used for cooking and often also for hot water but it wasn't wideley used for central heating.  The majority still used coal fires for heating and electric cookers were less common then than today.  Gas had been used for lighting in the Victorian era, but that had died out almost entirely by the 1950s.

[Nearholmer]

Yes, there seems to have been a change in gas-making practices during the 1920s and 1930s, when they moved from making gas primarily for lighting, so focusing on purity of burn and illumination output, to focusing on calorific value for cooking and for heating water; it permitted a change in retort technology apparently.
 

All this was in parallel with the projection of electricity distribution - my childhood home, which had previously been my grandparent’s house, was a case on the cusp, in that it was built c1930 with gas piping and connections for lighting, but was ‘electrified’ at the last minute during construction, so gas lamps were never actually fitted. When my father re-wired in the 1960s, he used the gas pipes as conduits to the light fittings!

[KeithMacdonald]

On 23/12/2023 at 22:52, Stoke West said:

Exmouth received coal by sea which was forwarded to local stations as close as lympstone and as far as Alphington Road at City Basin Jn 

 

Similarly, Teignmouth Docks received domestic coal for the local area, and also coal transferred to barges to go up river to the power station at Newton Abbot.

[Cwmtwrch]

7 hours ago, KeithMacdonald said:

On 23/12/2023 at 22:52, Stoke West said:

Exmouth received coal by sea which was forwarded to local stations as close as lympstone and as far as Alphington Road at City Basin Jn 

 

Similarly, Teignmouth Docks received domestic coal for the local area, and also coal transferred to barges to go up river to the power station at Newton Abbot.

My understanding is that such coastal transport ceased entirely during WW2, and never resumed afterwards. The coal traffic via Kingswear to Hollacombe gas works did resume, though, and continued into the 1960s.

 

20 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

here were odd places where coal was kept in sheds, I think because of the risk of theft, or perhaps because coal spoils quicker when left out in the weather. Two that I know of were Bembridge IoW, which had a covered coal store, although I’m not sure it was a fully enclosed shed, and one (more?) station on the Southwold Railway.

Torre had a range of assorted, mostly open-fronted, black painted, corrugated iron, structures behind the Up platform, which were used by the local coal merchants, Renwick, Wilton and Dobson, Ltd., as a large sign painted along the front of the structures proclaimed. It's possible that the closed-fronted parts were the garages for their delivery lorries.

Edited December 28, 2023 by Cwmtwrch
spelling

[Stoke West]

5 minutes ago, Cwmtwrch said:

My understanding is that such coastal transport ceased entirely during WW2, and never resumed afterwards. The coal traffic via Kingswear to Hollicombe gas works did resume, though, and continued into the 1960s.

 

Torre had a range of assorted, mostly open-fronted, black painted, corrugated iron, structures behind the Up platform, which were used by the local coal merchants, Renwick, Wilton and Dobson, Ltd., as a large sign painted along the front of the structures proclaimed. It's possible that the closed-fronted parts were the garages for their delivery lorries.

The Exmouth one i quoted was in a 1960 Trains Illustrated article applicable to the year , as well as Teignmouth ( last coal for Newton Abbot power station 1972 by road a lot of RW&D lorries ) , Hayle was similar and along the South Coast would think Hamworthy , Littlehampton and Shoreham 

[Nearholmer]

1 hour ago, Cwmtwrch said:

ceased entirely during WW2, and never resumed afterwards

It resumed.

 

Not only to supply numerous power stations around the coast, and up river to places like Battersea and Bankside, and to lots of cement works on the Thames and Medway, but also for domestic consumption. The boats were a bit bigger than before, so some of the smaller ports/wharves couldn’t be used any longer, but I think Whitstable, I know for sure Kingston Wharf at Shoreham, and if think harder I’m sure I’ll come up with others, were used into the 1960s.

 

This was I think all coal from the NE, rather than South Wales, and the trade was all down the east coast and along the Kent, Sussex and Hampshire coasts.

 

Nice photo 

 

Oh, and Dibles Wharf at Southampton, which had deliveries of coal both by sea and rail, I think into the 1970s, and Strood Dock, which went on into the late 1980s, although I don’t remember coal coming by ship, only by rail, in the 70s and 80s.

 

Edited December 28, 2023 by Nearholmer

[Stoke West]

30 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

It resumed.

 

Not only to supply numerous power stations around the coast, and up river to places like Battersea and Bankside, and to lots of cement works on the Thames and Medway, but also for domestic consumption. The boats were a bit bigger than before, so some of the smaller ports/wharves couldn’t be used any longer, but I think Whitstable, I know for sure Kingston Wharf at Shoreham, and if think harder I’m sure I’ll come up with others, were used into the 1960s.

 

This was I think all coal from the NE, rather than South Wales, and the trade was all down the east coast and along the Kent, Sussex and Hampshire coasts.

 

Nice photo 

 

Oh, and Dibles Wharf at Southampton, which had deliveries of coal both by sea and rail, I think into the 1970s, and Strood Dock, which went on into the late 1980s, although I don’t remember coal coming by ship, only by rail, in the 70s and 80s.

 

Dibles Wharf had coal in by rail 70's into 80's 16T minfits end tipped , some destined for the Isle of Wight , it was probably in by sea out by rail years past

[Nearholmer]

As a PS: I got very confused by Strood Dock coal yard, because one day I noticed a really smart, blue painted, and somewhat vintage-looking  Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0DS there. I thought it was a port of London Authority loco, and couldn’t work out how come the PLA writ extended there. I later learned that it was a Port of Bristol Authority loco, newly arrived secondhand.

 

 

Edited December 28, 2023 by Nearholmer

[TheQ]

This house didn't lose it's coal fired kitchen range till about 1980, but probably got electricity in the 1950s,. Electricity meant water was pumped up from the well into a barrel in the loft. Mains water didn't arrive till the 1970s.

Prior to electricy the lighting would have been paraffin lamps. There was still paraffin on pump at the local garage till the early 2000s, when the new Tesco killed the local garage.

[Bernard Lamb]

On 24/12/2023 at 10:36, 009 micro modeller said:

I know (Berkhamsted for instance being a good example of a smaller works), although I think my layout will be sufficiently rural that it won’t be particularly near a gasworks and will mostly take household coal.

 

 

 

Berko gas works was a long way from the station. It was served by a private tramway from the goods yard until 1955. This site was actually quite large and replaced a smaller works that was situated in the center of the  town. The coal was still delivered to the station in PO wagons right until the end of the tramway operation. House coal was usually in standard 16 tonners by then. Smaller stations bagged this, by using the drop down side door as a loading table, straight on to a flat bed lorry at this period. HC Casserley took several photographs of the gas works area. He lived just at the back of the station.

Bernard

 

[Nearholmer]

Which brings up a point about gas works: many of them weren’t adjacent to the local station, and didn’t have a siding. Even the one in the town where I grew up, which was slap bang next to the railway embankment was over a mile by road from the goods yard. They must have generated a lot of cart/lorry traffic, and created a lot of double-handling of coal, and presumably there must have been tank lorries for tar outwards too, unless it went in drums.

 

A further musing: many towns had tiny little “electric light stations” quite early, some of which must also have taken coal, although see below. These are very forgotten bits of tech that only lasted a few years until places were connected to larger generating plants, and later still to the new fangled national grid. I know “my town” had one, but it’s the only ‘utility’ that I’ve never been able to pin down the location of; I know where the combined showroom selling gas and electric appliances was c1914, and nobody could miss the gasworks, but not where the electricity generators were (possibly gas engines on the gasworks site).

 

And, water: many places had modest pumping stations, some of which had steam engines, although by the time they were being built (1880s onwards) internal combustion engines were available, so many had either gas or oil engines from the outset. The first commercial application of the  very widely used Ackroyd-Stuart engine was in a modest pumping station.

 

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by Nearholmer

[Compound2632]

45 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Which brings up a point about gas works: many of them weren’t adjacent to the local station, and didn’t have a siding.

 

It probably bears repeating that many towns had gasworks before they had the railway - as early as the 1820s in many cases. So coal was initially brought in by water, or failing that, cart.

[Dunalastair]

On 28/12/2023 at 12:54, Michael Hodgson said:

 

Gas had been used for lighting in the Victorian era, but that had died out almost entirely by the 1950s.

 

 

Exceptions that prove rules. There are still a few maverick sites in the UK using gas street lighting even today. This is Cambridge, where there are quite a few, and I seem to remember some in London - generally on private roads.

 

https://www.hiddencambridge.uk/

 

And when it comes to internal lighting, I have stayed in mountaineering club huts in the UK with no electric but bottled gas for cooking - and lighting. You have to be ever so careful not to damage the mantles when lighting the gas.

 

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by Dunalastair

[009 micro modeller]

5 hours ago, Bernard Lamb said:

Berko gas works was a long way from the station. It was served by a private tramway from the goods yard until 1955. This site was actually quite large and replaced a smaller works that was situated in the center of the  town. The coal was still delivered to the station in PO wagons right until the end of the tramway operation. House coal was usually in standard 16 tonners by then. Smaller stations bagged this, by using the drop down side door as a loading table, straight on to a flat bed lorry at this period. HC Casserley took several photographs of the gas works area. He lived just at the back of the station.

Bernard

 

Yes, I know the gasworks tramway at Berkhamsted quite well, it’s one of my local ones - see this thread: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/163553-abandoned-rails-in-the-roador-elsewhere/page/32/#comment-5041895

 

 

4 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Which brings up a point about gas works: many of them weren’t adjacent to the local station, and didn’t have a siding. Even the one in the town where I grew up, which was slap bang next to the railway embankment was over a mile by road from the goods yard. They must have generated a lot of cart/lorry traffic, and created a lot of double-handling of coal, and presumably there must have been tank lorries for tar outwards too, unless it went in drums.

Interestingly in the case of Berkhamsted, despite being near the canal I understand the railway (plus tramway for the final bit) was always the primary route for coal coming in (the gasworks opened in I think 1906 or thereabouts, replacing the old one which didn’t have a tramway, or a direct rail or canal link). I think the main issue with the ‘new’ site was the difference in levels of coal had been directly tipped from standard gauge wagons, as well as the goods yard being on the wrong side of the WCML in relation to the gasworks site. Using the tramway for a short distance dealt with both of these. I’m not sure if there was outgoing traffic and how it was handled (I think the tramway only had incoming coal and return empties).

 

To bring it back to the original question it is probably plausible for my fictional light railway to receive fairly small consignments of coal for a small gasworks. But while (as Berkhamsted nicely illustrates) even small towns would have needed some sort of gasworks, this wouldn’t extend to, for instance, a tiny remote village with a small cluster of houses and a couple of nearby farms.

[SED Freightman]

Whilst not having a gasworks, it may be of interest to know the actual volume of traffic handled at Westerham (a typical small town) goods yard in the year from December 1958 to November 1959.  Received traffic was 173 wagons of coal and 60 wagons of mineral and merchandise traffic, whilst a total of 26 wagon loads were despatched. The coal traffic comprised 103 wagons for the South Suburban Co-op who rented wharfage space in the yard and 70 wagons for Messrs Widgewood which appear to have been unloaded and transferred by road to the nearby Westerham Brewery. The mineral and merchandise traffic is recorded as being 26 wagons of fertiliser for local farmers, 6 wagons if carboys and bottles for Westerham Brewery, 2 wagons of paper for Westerham Press, the remainder comprised wagons of steel, pipes and various other materials. With this volume of traffic it is not  hard to see why small town goods yards were actively being considered for closure.

[009 micro modeller]

12 minutes ago, SED Freightman said:

26 wagons of fertiliser for local farmers

Is this likely to be lime etc. in sheeted open wagons, or more specialist wagons?

 

Regarding the coal traffic, that makes sense for somewhere like Westerham but for a more rural and potentially much smaller location (with no gasworks and probably much reduced household coal consumption) I’m wondering if there would be much (or any) regular coal traffic?

[Bernard Lamb]

Before the tramway was built coal came in by barge, as it did to the earlier gas works in the town center.

The adjacent lock on the canal  near the newer works still has this sign. Well maintained even though redudant for over 50 years.

What I only learnt recently, while doing research for a talk on the local river system, was that the rails for the tram way were made by Krupp in Essen. Some lengths are still in situ.

Bernard 

 

[KeithMacdonald]

The Lambourne Valley Railway website has a useful page on the local coal merchant (L. J. Bodman & Sons) and loading sacks at Lambourn station.

 

https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/bodmans.html