James Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 As RMweb has a new section, I thought I'd share some of these photos- not all of them have been on the net before and a number would be impossible for a member of the public to take without fear of prosecution! So all the more reason to share! They were taken at Scunthorpe Steelworks between August 2009 and the end of December of the same year. They were taken as part of my work - Tata (Corus) don't allow photography generally, although a senior manager there said normally it was ok to take photos of just the railway. However, photos of the plant and processes are viewed rather differently. I have a decent number of photos of the site, but a lot of them I'm afraid I won't share as they could be senstive - nothing dodgy but the plant which appears in the background may be considered more sensitive. However they can't be so secretive as they allow the AFRPS to run tours round the site! And I can't recommend them highly enough! To start with we have Yorkshire Engine Co. Janus type loco numer 90 sitting outside the heavy engineering workshop where locos and rolling stock are maintained and where the new locomotives for Port Talbot were built. There would normally be a decent selection of locos here - some in for routine work while others awaiting full overhauls plus a few in for component recovery before scrapping. Not far from there is the 'Rail Service Centre' where long welded rails are processed ready for dispatch. The Class 20's are well known to enthusiasts and, I suspect, are the most publicised locos on the site. In addition to the twenties is an air braked Hunslet Bo-Bo. The need for air braking is due to the very steep grade from the works to the RSC - indeed this is why the twenties were hired. But to provide cover in case of failures no. 72 was modified to have air braking and also oval buffers to allow it to work the rail trains. Just below the RSC is the plate mill and no 51 could be found there everyday. Recently ex works and looking very smart here it is shunting freshly loaded internal user wagons. Mention of internal user wagons brings me to the next photo. The works has a wonderful array of internal user wagons, some conventional but some which may look a little odd to those used to mainline workings. Although the torpedo wagons ('tanks' in local speak) are the most distinctive, I think the scrap wagons are very intersing. Seeing a loco fighting with a long train of these unfitted little wagons is a real pleasure and one many people will never see sadly. Nearby one of the other of the Bo-Bo's provides a contrast with no. 72 and shows the driver riding on the front with his radio control set - seemingly driverless locos are a common feature of the works where on man performs the role of both driver and shunter. I was told this arrangement saw the number of accidents and injuries involving train crew fall dramitically. Deep within the works is VolkerRail (nee GrantRail)'s yard where a couple of ancient track machines still ply their trade. The little Plasser packer is a great little machine - it can't lift but it's very useful! A more conventional tamper is also based on the works - Very basic but with a good operator could still achive very good results! I always enjoyed working with it. Also in the yard is an ex-BR fish van which is the platelayers' tool van. It also has a generator within for running rerailing equipment. Though I have to say I didn't ever see it move. The system appears, on first glance, to be fully signalled, but these aren't signals but merely point inidicators. All control is between two controls and the drivers. Firstly there is the Mills Control (known as 'Nine Control which reflects how many areas there once were) and Hot Metal Control via the Metal Team Leader. It's not as safe as a fully signalled system as nothing can physically stop movements but speeds are low and accidents are very rare indeed. Conditions within the works can be appalling by mianline standards but are simply a side effect of the nature of the steel making process. There's a railway line somewhere beneath all of this! Similarly maintanence can be filthy work sometimes - This is an example of a new turnout we laid - Within a few weeks it will be as bad as the existing turnout above. These three photos are all around the slab bay where frshly cast slabs are loaded to onto internal user wagons for movement to the mills for further processing or BDA's for transport to other sites, such as Skiningrove. The process of casting and the oxides formed as the metal cools produces a lot of dust which, when it mixes with the rain produces a hidoeus sludge. Keeping swithces and point emchanisms working can be a real struggle. The worst is if temperatures plumet and the sludge freezes around switches! We had relaid the loop within the slab bay itself too, and we commandeered the next train to 'test' the loop. Senior Foreman Wayne Moorhouse briefs the driver before he sets back and takes the loop line - Another one as the train sets back - note the two locos on this working required because the loop was out of action while we relaid inside and commisiioned the turnout outside. Finally the train draws forward into the darkness of the building. And finally leaves with no problems! And just one more photo of my favourite, no 51, as it stands outside the plate mill awaiting its next duty. I hope these are of some interest - I think it's a fascinating place and I'd recommend anyone interested in railways in any shape or form trys on of the tours. And if anyone is interested in my own experiences of Scunthorpe Steel works, there are more items on my blog. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Mmm! Thank you so much for sharing, James. To us outsiders, Scunthorpe looks to be a truly fascinating place to work (or even go around!) but I bet it can get very hard indeed when conditions are cold, damp, etc! I certainly appreciate seeing what goes on there, it's a pity (but understandable!) that pictures from inside the building, showing the processes are off limits, never mind! Hopefully we can get to see some more pictures like these soon, those internal user wagons looks like a scratchbuilders challenge! Cheers, John E. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 It is a fascinating place to work in and around, but it is filthy. I do miss it, the lads I worked with especially, but I don't miss the dirt. Coming home incredibly filthy everyday could get to you after a while. 'll sort out a few more photos - I took a few of the internal user wagons, which would make interesting projects. I have three of the scrap wagons to finish off! When we renewed the loop in the slab bay I took a couple of photos inside but sadly I can't share. I had a senoor Corus manager standing next to me at the time so he was well aware of the photos' existance! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium t-b-g Posted January 10, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 10, 2011 A lovely insight into the railway side of what goes on there. If I was ever going to give up my pregrouping and go "modern" I think the industrial scene would offer me much inspiration. Back in the late 1970s I spent several months working at the now infamous Orgreave coke works. Back then most of the wagons were either the LMS pattern coke hoppers or 16t minerals but there were still lots of internal use wooden wagons around. We had a handful of the "Janus" locos, which were very highly regarded. There were a pair of 4 wheeled Sentinel shunters that were (at least every time I saw them) working as a pair. Lurking in a shed was a loco that I never saw move. I was told that it was a Paxman engined Bo-Bo imported from America but that the engine was awful and they struggled to get spares. At Orgreave the locos had to haul rakes of loaded 16t minerals up a fierce gradient round a very tight curve (with my office in the middle!) and the wagons were then released and allowed to run into the correct sidings by gravity, with a shunter running alongside hanging onto the handbrake lever! I only took a couple of snaps (in black and white too!) but wish that I had recorded it properly, along the lines of what you have done. Well done for taking the pictures and thanks for sharing them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 A lovely insight into the railway side of what goes on there. If I was ever going to give up my pregrouping and go "modern" I think the industrial scene would offer me much inspiration. That would be quite a change but as a pre-group modeller I can understand the appeal of both! Back in the late 1970s I spent several months working at the now infamous Orgreave coke works. Back then most of the wagons were either the LMS pattern coke hoppers or 16t minerals but there were still lots of internal use wooden wagons around. We had a handful of the "Janus" locos, which were very highly regarded. There were a pair of 4 wheeled Sentinel shunters that were (at least every time I saw them) working as a pair. Lurking in a shed was a loco that I never saw move. I was told that it was a Paxman engined Bo-Bo imported from America but that the engine was awful and they struggled to get spares. At Orgreave the locos had to haul rakes of loaded 16t minerals up a fierce gradient round a very tight curve (with my office in the middle!) and the wagons were then released and allowed to run into the correct sidings by gravity, with a shunter running alongside hanging onto the handbrake lever! I think operations like that can be so enthralling, especially if you're used to mainline operations. When I first arrived in Scunthorpe I was shocked to see some of the practices! But they weren't unsafe just not what I was used to. The older hands, Jeff and Steve, used to just reassure me when ever I mentioned any thing with "It'll be alright kid"! And it was! One abiding memory is moving a rake of scrap wagons. There had been a derailment and to leave the two derailed wagons on there own we needed to move those still on, but they were on the wrong side for a loco to reach them so we uncoupled them and moved them manually. But at the other end of the scale I've seen a derailed bogie wagon which had damaged its wheelsets removed by one of the massive container fork lifts and carried twenty feet in the air for half a mile! The Janus locos are still well regardless - hence their longevity at Scunthorpe I guess. Despite the new build locos for Port Talbot, Tata are still overhauling Janus types as no 51 shows. But elsewhere othe locos were still in a condition you may expect! I only took a couple of snaps (in black and white too!) but wish that I had recorded it properly, along the lines of what you have done. Well done for taking the pictures and thanks for sharing them. It was my pleasure I'm pleased others can enjoy them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruston Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Excellent post, James. I've done the rail tour a few times here and even got a cab ride in the AFRPS Yorkshire 0-6-0. It's an amazing place. When I first visited it was before the AFRPS and I was young and stupid. I'd walked from Scunthorpe railway station and as there was no form of gatehouse or barrier to stop me from walking into the site, I did just that. I got all the way to the old loco shed (now used by the AFRPS) before the driver of a Janus stopped and tol me that I ought to get out before security caught me. It would have been a fantastic visit but all my photos came out underexposed so I binned all but one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beagle1 Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Good day James et al, The Big Hunslets will very soon exist in 4mm scale, courtesy of some colaberation between myself, Pete Harvey, Mike Edge, and The Old Timeworkshop. Present project is Torpedo ladle bogies for my planned Scunthorpe based layout. (Yet another steelworks! but this time 2 Blast furnaces and a Coke Ovens.) Would love to see more of your photos as done the afrps tour 4 times but still some areas not covered, and the reinforced anti-photography order deters many furture visits All I need to do now is get some modelling done instead of pipe dreams Fred Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
m0rris Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Very interesting photos and plenty of inspiration for my planned steelworks layout . Those Yorkshire diesels must be getting on a bit! m0rris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted January 11, 2011 Author Share Posted January 11, 2011 Excellent post, James. I've done the rail tour a few times here and even got a cab ride in the AFRPS Yorkshire 0-6-0. It's an amazing place. When I first visited it was before the AFRPS and I was young and stupid. I'd walked from Scunthorpe railway station and as there was no form of gatehouse or barrier to stop me from walking into the site, I did just that. I got all the way to the old loco shed (now used by the AFRPS) before the driver of a Janus stopped and tol me that I ought to get out before security caught me. It would have been a fantastic visit but all my photos came out underexposed so I binned all but one. That's still the case now - Dawes Lane is still a public right of way and cuts right through the site. Lincoln Road was removed from public right of ways a few years ago but that would have allowed very easy access to the site! They can be very guarded of the site - I'm never sure exactly why but if you can get inside it really is an amazing place! The fact that the tours take place both amazes me and makes me feel the world can still be a great place! And you have mail Would love to see more of your photos as done the afrps tour 4 times but still some areas not covered, and the reinforced anti-photography order deters many furture visits I will sort that out for you! And the Hunslet looks very nice! Very interesting photos and plenty of inspiration for my planned steelworks layout . Those Yorkshire diesels must be getting on a bit! They are indeed, but they just keep going and Tata are still overhauling them! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted January 11, 2011 Author Share Posted January 11, 2011 Now, these tours - how do you get on them?! Follow this link and all will become clear! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium GraemeWatson Posted January 21, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 21, 2011 Thanks for sharing, this is great! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeh Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 I hope James doesn't mind but thought I would add some shots taken during a charter tour in April 2009. It was a Saturday in the recession so not much traffic running but there was still quite a bit of interest to see. Class 20 No. 81 on a train of rails Class 20 No,. 82 stabled between jobs Hunslet No 75 light engine move Hunslet 78 with steel blooms Stored locos outside the shed Servicable locos outside the shed Janus No.95 near Trent Yard Former freightliner flat Rake of flats Empty Ladle 41 outside theLadle Repair shops Ladle 57 outside the shops An RIV flat with scrap and a former Warflat Iron Ore Tppllers BSSC 26081 & 26056 Bogie detail from a flat wagon Yorkshire Engine 2661 with the tour brakevans Hope those are of interest Regards Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Nine of my shots at Scunny see http://andrewjohnson.fotopic.net/c1188364.html A trip organised by local car club. They dragged a DMU as a replacement for the brake vans. Very Nice James etc. Glad to see that the place name hasn't been filtered. Some forum software would think that it's obscene. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted March 12, 2011 Author Share Posted March 12, 2011 I hope James doesn't mind but thought I would add some shots taken during a charter tour in April 2009. It was a Saturday in the recession so not much traffic running but there was still quite a bit of interest to see. I didn't mind at all! I deliberately chose photos which were taken on the ground rather than on a tour as most people don't have the chance to take these. However I still have some which I can't share as they're taken within buildings and are still quite sensitve. When I first went with work to Scunny it was still quiet there, it was only in late 2009 when it began to pick up. And as traffic picked up the number of derailments went up quickly too! Former freightliner flat I'm not sure on that - the deck, relative to the headstocks looks a little high. But then some of the wagons are unrecognisable from their original form! Bogie detail from a flat wagon This, for instance, began life as a TipHook Rail scrap wagon! There are rakes of these, normally in fours, which have been cut down with the outer wagons retaining slightly higher ends. Glad to see that the place name hasn't been filtered. Some forum software would think that it's obscene. I've heard people actually say that filters on web searches may have slightly damaged Scunthorpes economy slighty a few years back! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 The UIC-registered flat carrying scrap looks as though it's one of the small fleet that BR built for trial purposes (I think they carried the TOPS codes BGA, BHA and BIA). They came in three different lengths, and some of each type were fitted with 'fabric' hoods (like the Tiphook and SNCF wagons). All were designed so that they could carry either coils or long items. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
br2975 Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 Is the very first open wagon featured one of the former BTP (British Titan Products) wagons used for the occasional ilmenite traffic from Immingham more than a few years ago ? . Brian R Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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