Sugar Beet,What wagons?

[Wummyock]

Reading Freight Only Vol 2 Southern and Central England at the moment.In the Norwich area section it states 23,000 tons of sugar beet are hauled to the SW and Scotland each year.Could anyone tell me if that is Beet Pulp?Also what wagons were used to cart it?Anyone know where it went to in the SW?

[RANGERS]

No idea what this traffic was but Scotland's only beet plant, at Cupar, closed around 1972. I'd guess that the traffic to Scotland was beet pulp for animal feed. Certainly Peterborough despatched this by rail in the early 80's and there were always a fair number of VVV and subsequently VAA and VBA vans in the yard there. The traffic was tripped to Eastfield yard via the Fletton curve and onwards from there. I can't be certain when this ended but I'd guess it was around 1985ish.

 

The plant closed in 1991 and the Nene Valley subsequently acquired the route for the extension into Peterborough.

 

The traffic from Norfolk would have originated at Cantley, Wissington (both still open) or Kings Lynn, which were all active into the 1990s. Nearby, Ely and Felsted closed in the early '80s and Bury St Edmunds is still operational.

[griffgriff]

Reading Freight Only Vol 2 Southern and Central England at the moment.In the Norwich area section it states 23,000 tons of sugar beet are hauled to the SW and Scotland each year.Could anyone tell me if that is Beet Pulp?Also what wagons were used to cart it?Anyone know where it went to in the SW?

 

If you are thinking 1950's East Anglia you will talking 16T steel minerals ... RCH 7 planks.... any open going spare I suppose.

 

Other periods will be similar I'm guessing.

 

Cheers

 

Griff

[Wummyock]

Cheers for the replies I half guessed it was beet pulp and vans of some sort.The book is from July 88 so I assume the authors were talking about services that were current at the time.

[AberdeenBill]

If you are thinking 1950's East Anglia you will talking 16T steel minerals ... RCH 7 planks.... any open going spare I suppose.

 

Other periods will be similar I'm guessing.

 

Cheers

 

Griff

 

 

The aluminium bodied 16-tonners (diag 1/116) were used for sugar beet traffic.

 

Bill

[Pennine MC]

The aluminium bodied 16-tonners (diag 1/116) were used for sugar beet traffic.

 

 

As Griff says, at the height of the campaign almost anything on wheels and with sides might have been used. Any particular reason you cite the 1/116s Bill, and from what source?

[DVLR Dave]

Photographic evidence indicates that seven plank wagons and steel 16T mineral wagons were used indiscriminately for this traffic to the York and Selby plants in the fifties-13T steel Highs seemed to have been used in the late sixties and early seventies-rail-borne beet traffice ceased here in 1973.

[bike2steam]

Anyone know where it went to in the SW?

 

One place was probably Tate & Lyles refinery at Avonmouth, in steam days there were many occasions where Peterborough East allocated J39's worked sugar beet trains there throughout.

[Wummyock]

Having just reread the page in the book it says "Sugar beet is a 2nd agricultural product which is transported on a seasonal basis from the British Sugar Corporation at Cantley.Up to 20 wagons a day are loaded during the autumn period,and together with the factories at Fletton and South Lynn 23000 tons of beet are carried each year to Scotland and the West Country".I guess being from sugar factories it would be beet pulp and would have been bagged.If it was in bulk would Polybulks have been used to haul it?

[Pennine MC]

I guess being from sugar factories it would be beet pulp and would have been bagged.If it was in bulk would Polybulks have been used to haul it?

 

I doubt it, I think your average beet nut is a chunky thing compared to the powders and small grains that Polybulks were intended for

[AberdeenBill]

As Griff says, at the height of the campaign almost anything on wheels and with sides might have been used. Any particular reason you cite the 1/116s Bill, and from what source?

 

 

Ian -- there is a photo somewhere -- in Transport Age? I will try to dig it out.

 

Bill

[Wummyock]

I know most beet pulp I ever handled on the farm was in bags Pennine sometimes got it in bulk by tipper lorry.Polybulks unload via bottom discharge do they?

[Pennine MC]

Ian -- there is a photo somewhere -- in Transport Age? I will try to dig it out.

 

 

 

Cheers Bill, there's not much known about the ally ones

 

I know most beet pulp I ever handled on the farm was in bags Pennine sometimes got it in bulk by tipper lorry.Polybulks unload via bottom discharge do they?

 

They do; the chutes are a fair size, I suppose it's possible but dont recall hearing about such use. That may be due to unavailability though, rather than lack of suitability - the grain traffic would have absorbed most of them, until the end of Speedlink and then the owners/leasing companies would probably have wanted rid of them

[hmrspaul]

Cheers Bill, there's not much known about the ally ones

 

 

 

They do; the chutes are a fair size, I suppose it's possible but dont recall hearing about such use. That may be due to unavailability though, rather than lack of suitability - the grain traffic would have absorbed most of them, until the end of Speedlink and then the owners/leasing companies would probably have wanted rid of them

 

When we visited the York factory they mentioned that one year they imported French Sugar in Polybulks. Polybulks could be used for coal, so no reason why they might not be used for pulp - if it would flow.

 

Becareful, a lot of photographs of the 1950s are of the unprocessed beet being brought into the factories. This short distance movement soon moved over to road transport.

 

I was also interested in the comment about aluminium mineral wagons being used for this traffic.

 

Paul Bartlett

[DVLR Dave]

There was still a fair amount of sugar beet traffic handled by rail into the 1970's-post Beeching rationalisation would have made the journey to the nearest station for the farmer a longer one, thus making the transfer to road transport direct to the factory even more economically attractive. I believe that The British Sugar Corporation abandoned receipt of beet by rail at all its factories from the end of the 1973 "campaign".

 

 

[Richard E]

 

The plant closed in 1991 and the Nene Valley subsequently acquired the route for the extension into Peterborough.

 

But the access to British Sugar was from Fletton loop which is not on the Nene Valley route into the centre of Peterborough. Fletton loop isn't used by NVR, it is still Network Rail territory but does provide a link to the main line for the NVR. The city centre extension of the NVR opened in 1986 whilst Britsh Sugar were still processing at the Peterborough site.

 

The only BS sites still open are Cantley, Newark, Bury and Wissington. Not sure if Newark has/had rail access.

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

There was still a fair amount of sugar beet traffic handled by rail into the 1970's-post Beeching rationalisation would have made the journey to the nearest station for the farmer a longer one, thus making the transfer to road transport direct to the factory even more economically attractive. I believe that The British Sugar Corporation abandoned receipt of beet by rail at all its factories from the end of the 1973 "campaign".

 

Not all - at least one site was still accepting beet by rail in 1975 and probably even later (sorry I can't be precise but I can't offhand remember how many 'beet seasons' I was involved with in the '70s - but I can be absolutely certain there were at least a couple and that the first was in 1974).

 

Just to clear up any confusion - as wummyock as noted beet pulp is normally bagged. A long time since I was involved in its transport by rail but it was, back in the 1970s, invariably loaded in vans when despatched to local goods yard for onward road haulage. It is possible that it might have gone to larger distribution centres in bulk at some time but I never came across it being transported to local yards etc like that during my involvement with freight on the Western (but that obviously doesn't rule it out from happening elsewhere).

 

Sugar beet - when lifted from the fields and brought forward for rail haulage was invariably loaded in open wagons because that was the simplest way of handling it. In earlier years it was preferably mineral wagons and not goods wagons as the former offered better bulk capacity and it didn't matter so much about them getting dirty but at the peak of the season there always seemed to be a wagon shortage so any open might be pressed into service.

[Mark Saunders]

I think the last Sugerbeet pulp traffic was EWS East Anglia to Mossend in sheeted Russell containers on FPA's?

 

Mark Saunders

[PhilJ W]

Some of the pulp was pressed into blocks rather like oversize paving slabs and placed on pallets. There was also the by products of sugar processing, the fine tilth that came from washing the beet was much sought after by gardeners and was bagged up for companies such as Fisons. The vegetable matter was made into cattle feed. Some of this was transported by rail but by the late 80's had almost all gone over to road.

[The Stationmaster]

 

There was also the by products of sugar processing, the fine tilth that came from washing the beet was much sought after by gardeners and was bagged up for companies such as Fisons.

 

'Sugar beet soil' is still available, at c.£20 per tonne.

[Fat Controller]

I think the last Sugerbeet pulp traffic was EWS East Anglia to Mossend in sheeted Russell containers on FPA's?

 

Mark Saunders

Wasn't that beetroot for pickling for Baxters, rather than sugar-beet pulp?

[DVLR Dave]

Re the final date-I have seen 1973 quoted in print as being the final season-the same source states that it was a countrywide decision by BSC, certainly York and Selby ceased in 1973 (end of 1972-3 campaign). Quote: "Dunnington is the main centre on the railway for sugar beet loading and the 1972‑73 season (a light one) is to be the last for the crop, as the British Sugar Corporation Ltd has decided not to accept any further rail borne beet as part of a national policy" . My link. Perhaps the decision was actually made on a regional basis, or was due to BSC not wishing to invest in renewal of rail facilities at some sites when traffic levels were falling. Did the use of high pressure water jets to clean the beet in the wagon have a bearing on the type of wagon used?

[DaveB]

My father was for many years (1951 - 1976) the Yard Foreman of the Beet factory at Bury St Edmunds, and living in a factory house next door, the rail yards were my childhood playground! The wagons I remember were usually wooden, although steel came later. The yard was quite extensive, with 3 locos ( two steam 0-4-0 tanks (Inveresk and Spalding by name), and latterly a diesel (an R & H shunter named 'Hercules). Beet wagons were taken from the reception sidings to the wash out bays, where they were cleared of beet by the high pressure hoses, the water carrying the beet via underground channels into the factory for processing.

Dried pulp, a by product after the extraction of the juice was bagged and stored for shipment in vans. There was also wet pulp,shredded beet which was transported directly to the farms by lorry.

I used to travel around the siding s on the factory locos, and sometimes from the factory to the main line station on the footplate of the BR 0-6-0 that had collected empty wagons or delivered full loads.

Other material used in the process of sugar extraction was limestone, and wagon loads of coke for the boilers.

All in all this might make an interesting theme for a layout - but I've gone over to the other side of the pond!!

 

Dave

[Fat Controller]

I should imagine the traffic in beet for initial processing tapered out as wayside sidings in agricultural areas fell out of use- this has been the case in much of Europe as well, including the former Eastern Bloc states. I have the feeling that only Switzerland has rail-borne beet traffic. Is it possible that there was beet traffic between refineries that outlasted the rest, as some areas might have had a surfeit of beet in comparison to others? I'm sure I remember something of this nature to the refinery near Kidderminster.

Beet pulp for agricultural feed was still being conveyed to Hexham when I used to go to the feed merchants there in the early/mid 1980s. At this time of year, there might be half a dozen or so Vanfits stood next to the old goods shed, to be unloaded when there was nothing else to be done- hardly the most economical use of stock.

[40044]

Wasn't that beetroot for pickling for Baxters, rather than sugar-beet pulp?

 

Yes. It ran Ely - Deanside via wagonload services.