Western Region Re-signalling Concrete Train

[Calnefoxile]

In the latest edition of Traction, there's a fascinating little article by Phil Barnes on the W.R. Re-signalling Concrete train. 

 

A friend and myself are trying to reproduce this train, however photos of it seem to be scarce and the only ones I've seen are the ones in the article. I've done numerous Flickr searches using different taglines to no avail.

 

Does anyone have any photos they'd be willing to share or can point me in the direction of any photos??

 

Or better still able to identify the actual wagons in the train??

 

Many Thanks

 

Neal.

[melmerby]

All I could find was this (from BRM):

https://www.everand.com/article/724910357/The-W-R-Re-Signalling-Scheme-Concrete-Train

Edited May 3 by melmerby

[Calnefoxile]

13 minutes ago, melmerby said:

All I could find was this (from BRM):

https://www.everand.com/article/724910357/The-W-R-Re-Signalling-Scheme-Concrete-Train

 

Yeah, that's the article from Traction that I was referring to...

 

Cheers

 

Neal.

[Wickham Green too]

How do you re-signal concrete ???!? 🙄

[guzzler17]

12 hours ago, Calnefoxile said:

Or better still able to identify the actual wagons in the train??

 Zooming into that picture I'd go for

 

BR brake

Toad

BR pipe / SR sleeper / SOV / some sort of 5 plank wagon on a 12' chassis

Plate x 2

BR brake

 

Have some WR resignalling stuff somewhere.  I'll dig it out.

[hmrspaul]

5 hours ago, guzzler17 said:

 Zooming into that picture I'd go for

 

BR pipe / SR sleeper / SOV / some sort of 5 plank wagon on a 12' chassis

 

 

 

 

Have some WR resignalling stuff somewhere.  I'll dig it out.

Looks as long as the plates and numerous vertical stanchions, so would suggest LNER or BR Tube - lots were designated as COD by the Engineers.  https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brlnertube  https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/lnertube

 

Paul

 

 

[guzzler17]

Annoyingly if you look at the Traction article text, where it starts to be greyed out, the train formation is described.  The last visible words are

 

"a former wooden bodied pipe"

 

 

[jonhall]

Neal and friends have already identified the  wagon types, I think he is looking for identities of the individual wagons, and better still additional photos of them. 

 

Jon

[NIK]

7 minutes ago, jonhall said:

Neal and friends have already identified the  wagon types, I think he is looking for identities of the individual wagons, and better still additional photos of them. 

 

Jon

Hi,

 

Neal didn't mention that the wagon types had already been identified in his posts within this topic.

 

Regards

 

Nik

[guzzler17]

1 hour ago, jonhall said:

Neal and friends have already identified the  wagon types, I think he is looking for identities of the individual wagons, and better still additional photos of them.

 

I'd be asking the photographer as they might've been local at the time.

 

Trying to positively identify a concrete covered plate wagon, even in 1982, might've been a challenge.  42 years on....

 

Personally I'd be slapping together models of the appropriate wagons and challenge anyone to prove that the numbers are incorrect.

[The Stationmaster]

Of course it depends on the period you are modelling.  I have a snatched shot of part of a WR 'resignalling train' which was headed by a bunker first 61xx and included a steam crane.

[Rivercider]

Looking at Flickr I may have found some of the wagons, in pictures taken by Jamerail (Swindon123 on RMweb),

if you click on the photo it will link to Flickr with the wagon numbers.

 

 

 

. 

 

As an aside when I worked in Westbury TOPS some years later two of the TOPS clerks told me they earned a lot of Sunday overtime unloading concrete troughing at the lineside,

 

cheers

 

Edited May 6 by Rivercider
Additional info

[Rivercider]

I used Flickr search terms such as 'Westbury re-signalling', Westbury MAS', then 'Westbury 1982' and 'Westbury 1983'.

 

I also now realise I may have taken a photo of the wagons myself.

A returning ballast drop from Woodboro departs Westbury for East Depot behind 31171. The train of plough plus 10 dogfish was a regular formation for a midweek ballast drop back then, often worked by a class 31. On the left can be seen wagons in the Nitrovit Siding which was used by the S&T dept. 23/8/83.

 

I also found this photo on Flickr by grahamwalker007 which shows another train that was used in the Westbury MAS project.

 

 

 

50011 approaching Hawkeridge Junction, note the mess coach in the train in the siding, 21/5/83,

 

cheers

[Wheatley]

I pass various bits of the Transpennine Route Update  electrification works every day on the way onto work, other colleagues, many of them much younger than me are much more closely connected with various bits of it. There is a lot of very expensive kit tied up in delivering TRU. 

 

Having just read the Traction article I shall be taking it into the office tomorrow. The fact that it was once  considered perfectly normal for part of a major MAS scheme to involve blokes trundling casually about between trains  shovelling (?) wet concrete out of open wagons will blow their minds. 

[jonhall]

3 hours ago, Rivercider said:

Looking at Flickr I may have found some of the wagons, in pictures taken by Jamerail (Swindon123 on RMweb),

if you click on the photo it will link to Flickr with the wagon numbers.

 

 

 

We thought the plate might be a candidate as well when we were talking about them on Friday, but I couldn't find my way back to those photos yesterday. 

 

https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brplate/e3e6721e2

and

https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brplate/ea4b2b15

 

both have the same S&T new works Chippenham branding as well, so one of those might be the other, but I doubt we will ever know.

 

Jon

[Rivercider]

33 minutes ago, jonhall said:

 

We thought the plate might be a candidate as well when we were talking about them on Friday, but I couldn't find my way back to those photos yesterday. 

 

https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brplate/e3e6721e2

and

https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brplate/ea4b2b15

 

both have the same S&T new works Chippenham branding as well, so one of those might be the other, but I doubt we will ever know.

 

Jon

I noticed the Chippenham S&T branding on the wagons, and the 8287 pool number, and also saw that Paul Bartlett had captured a couple more wagons with the same pool number and branding. 

I wonder if the train ran in exactly the same formation each time? More likely it was the same for a few outings, then varied slightly over the weeks and months with wagons drawn from pool 8287,

 

cheers

[Rivercider]

I have asked a question about this train on the Facebook Group 'Westbury Railway, Old past and Present'.

 

Some photos have been posted, it looks like the cement covered plate wagon had been modified in some way,

possibly with  a section of side door removed or replaced, such that concrete could be poured over the side in a chute as required, there was a picture of the mod being carried out at Chippenham in September 1981.

There is also a photo taken at Somerton of a concrete mixer lorry discharging concrete onto the plate wagon somehow from the lineside at Somerton. I think Wheatley's colleagues might have heart failure at this.

Another photo, taken from the road bridge at Westbury (similar to my photo of 31171) shows that at a later date the Toad mess van was replaced by the BSK shown in the other photo.

 

cheers 

 

 

[Calnefoxile]

16 hours ago, Rivercider said:

I have asked a question about this train on the Facebook Group 'Westbury Railway, Old past and Present'.

 

Some photos have been posted, it looks like the cement covered plate wagon had been modified in some way,

possibly with  a section of side door removed or replaced, such that concrete could be poured over the side in a chute as required, there was a picture of the mod being carried out at Chippenham in September 1981.

There is also a photo taken at Somerton of a concrete mixer lorry discharging concrete onto the plate wagon somehow from the lineside at Somerton. I think Wheatley's colleagues might have heart failure at this.

Another photo, taken from the road bridge at Westbury (similar to my photo of 31171) shows that at a later date the Toad mess van was replaced by the BSK shown in the other photo.

 

cheers 

 

 

Those photos sound really interesting.

 

I looked at joining that Group but it's for Ex or Present Railwaymen, of which I am neither, is there any chance of sharing those photos please??

 

regards

 

Neal.

[Rivercider]

12 hours ago, Calnefoxile said:

Those photos sound really interesting.

 

I looked at joining that Group but it's for Ex or Present Railwaymen, of which I am neither, is there any chance of sharing those photos please??

 

regards

 

Neal.

I will ask on the Facebook page if they are happy to share,

 

cheers

[Rivercider]

 

Here are a couple of pictures of the concrete train taken by CS&TE New Works Supervisor Nic Cross.

 

 

 

The wagon being loaded with concrete at Somerton. Photo by Nic Cross. Note the Toad mess van has been replaced by the BSK.

 

 

 

 

 

Concrete being poured somewhere near Somerton. Photo by Nic Cross date unknown. 

Edited May 9 by Rivercider
Additional info & spelling

[Rivercider]

Here is another view of the plate wagons used in the concrete train, taken by CS&TE New Works Supervisor Nic Cross.

 

Another view of the Nitrovit Siding at Westbury taken from the road bridge. Taken by Nic Cross New Works Supervisor.

 

cheers

 

[Rivercider]

Here is a photo taken at Chipppenham by Kevin Weston of a plate wagon being converted by members of  Frome S&T.

Wagon conversion at Chippenham September 1981, taken by Kevin Weston.

 

cheers

[Calnefoxile]

Kevin,

 

They are fantastic photos and will help tremendously.

 

Many thanks to you and the people who have allowed you to share these photos.

 

Regards

 

Neal. 

[Michael Hodgson]

2 hours ago, Rivercider said:

 

Here are a couple of pictures of the concrete train taken by CS&TE New Works Supervisor Nic Cross.

 

 

 

The wagon being loaded with concrete at Somerton. Photo by Nic Cross. Note the Toad mess van has been replaced by the BSK.

 

 

 

 

 

Concret being poured somewhere near Somerton. Photo by Nic Cross date unknown. 

 

Must be a hot day - or maybe the Western Region just decided to issue hi-vis underpants!

[5BarVT]

On 09/05/2024 at 10:13, Michael Hodgson said:

Must be a hot day - or maybe the Western Region just decided to issue hi-vis underpants!

Standard 70s summer wear for WR track gangs.  No ‘slip slap slop’ or hats then!

Paul.