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June 2013 - new traffic from Methrose at Burngullow


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News seeping out of a new flow of freight traffic from Burngullow to Bow with Mendip Rail, covered by DBS with class 66s. The sidings have been cleared and fettled up ready for use again after Freightliner's last train some time ago. Talk of multiple weekly trains, more details when known.

 

A GOOD NEWS story for a change.

 

Please post sightings, photos and news of these new workings ONLY in this thread please.

 

Cheers

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News seeping out of a new flow of freight traffic from Burngullow to Bow with Mendip Rail, covered by DBS with class 66s. The sidings have been cleared and fettled up ready for use again after Freightliner's last train some time ago. Talk of multiple weekly trains, more details when known.

 

A GOOD NEWS story for a change.

 

Please post sightings, photos and news of these new workings ONLY in this thread please.

 

Cheers

Good news to see a new flow; but what is it? Sand from one of the china-clay spoil heaps?

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  • RMweb Gold

Definitely good news Craig, it'll be great to see a bit more rail freight down here. Do you know if this a short-term flow or likely to be something more permanent?

We currently don't know, but I'll be asking DB Schenker for more information in the week...

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First train shots taken on Mon 10th June at Burngullow & Carlyon Bay.

 

Here are some pictures of the first stone train from Burngullow taken whilst loading, and at Carlyon Bay.
 
The loco was 66162, and the consist was 18 JYA's loaded with scalpings, coarser than sand, but smaller than ballast. There shoudl be more workings to come over the next 20 weeks.

 

 

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These wagons were in Tavistock Junction Yard this afternoon. This was presumably where the train split in half to tackle the South Devon Banks. When Freightliner ran similar traffic they had to run the 2 halfs all the way from Burngullow to Hackney sidings.

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  • RMweb Gold

These wagons were in Tavistock Junction Yard this afternoon. This was presumably where the train split in half to tackle the South Devon Banks. When Freightliner ran similar traffic they had to run the 2 halfs all the way from Burngullow to Hackney sidings.

This was due to the fact that Tavistock Jct is mostly DB Schenker infrastructure (on long-term lease from NR, like most of their other sites). FLHH would have had to have paid to use this, hence their decision to take half the train only from Burngullow (although I would have supported looking at whether we could have split the train in Plymouth station and put half away in one of the old parcels docks at the London-end, or perhaps in Park Sidings).

 

Similarly, when FLHH were running their operation, they used Hackney Yard at Newton Abbot, as this is all Network Rail infrastructure, and Riverside was mostly DBS at the time (but mostly isn't now, most is now back with NR).

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  • RMweb Gold

 

Good to see more freight in the south-west, thanks to those who've posted pictures  

Does anyone know where this sand is derived from - is it remains from china clay quarrying?

 

Rich - it's a by-product from the process of china clay extraction. As I understand it, most of the 'traditional' clay tips in the mid-Cornwall area are composed of this stuff.

 

I remember having a site meeting down there back in the mid-1990s, with representatives from TransRail (became part of EWS) and ECCI (became Imerys), and we talked about how much of the stuff there was, and how much potential it had for the construction industry, but it was to be almost 10 years before anyone decided to do anything about it...

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  • RMweb Gold

Rich - it's a by-product from the process of china clay extraction. As I understand it, most of the 'traditional' clay tips in the mid-Cornwall area are composed of this stuff.

 

I remember having a site meeting down there back in the mid-1990s, with representatives from TransRail (became part of EWS) and ECCI (became Imerys), and we talked about how much of the stuff there was, and how much potential it had for the construction industry, but it was to be almost 10 years before anyone decided to do anything about it...

The '90s? - there was quite a big scheme to start moving the stuff out back in the 1980s .... and the 1970s.  So it's good to see that it might actually be starting to happen - as long as someone can work out the right mix proportions to use it in then it will have a good future and lots of those 'white cornish mountains' could vanish.

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As I understand it, during the formation of the land mass when the molten material came to the surface the more central stuff cooled slowly and became granite (Bodmin Moor etc) whilst the outer portions cooled first and therefore quicker to become a mixture of Kaolin (china clay) and Mica (sand) both of which are softer materials.

 

During the extraction process the exposed edge of the material is blasted with high pressure water wasting out, and dissolving the Kaolin which is piped away for processing whilst leaving the Mica as various grades of sand, this is then carted away and forms the " sky tips" we associate with the area. Surprisingly the famouse white mountains are not coloured by the kaolin but is an optical illusion cased by reflection from the crystalline form of the Mica particles.

 

There have over the years been many suggestions to make use of this considerabe resource but untill now the cost of carraige has been against them. It is nice to see somebody has found an economic way of using the stuff, although I expect the modern imposition of aggregate tax on using new material together with land fill tax on dumping extraction waste has gone some way to alter the calculations on pricing.

 

Wally

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The '90s? - there was quite a big scheme to start moving the stuff out back in the 1980s .... and the 1970s.  So it's good to see that it might actually be starting to happen - as long as someone can work out the right mix proportions to use it in then it will have a good future and lots of those 'white cornish mountains' could vanish.

Mike you posted this while I was putting together my piece.

 

It is worth noting that the " Cornish Mountains" have been flattened and turned into the modern style of flat benching, this was as a direct result of legislation resulting from the Aberfan disaster changing the requirement for mine waste tips.

 

There is still one traditional tip visible on the sky line behind St Austell, this required special dispensation from the legislation as it appears on the Admiralty charts as an aid to shipping and navigation point.

 

Wally

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There are two trips scheduled down this week. It should have been Sun & Fri. The Sunday night / Monday morning trip didnt appear due to crewing issues. I will try to update on here if it is skidded forward a day or two. There are overnight possessions so this may have a factor on the down working.  

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  • RMweb Gold

There will be an element of lorry transport to get the stuff to Burngullow, but not a very long one. As for shipping, well, which port would one use? Falmouth is probably too far (although a rail flow down there would be just dandy!), Par is about to become a marina, as far as I know, and Fowey seems to be dedicated to the actual clay product. Not sure how feasible it would be to adapt it for this product as well.

 

Don't forget that the initial contract is for a specified amount, which wouldn't fill up too many medium size vessels, I guess....

 

And besides, there's no way I'm going to recommend transferring any freight away from rail to some other mode...!

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