Industrial Diesel Fuelling Points

[PatB]

Not industrial but apparently the North Sunderland Railway's diesel, The Lady Armstrong, was fuelled from drums stored in the engine shed at Seahouses. Quite what sort of drums, though, I'm not sure, because I'm given to believe that that enduring design classic, the 44 gallon drum, was not developed until the early 1940s.

[highpeakman]

Don,

This photo may be of use since it appears to show what you require in the same area as your layout:

 

 

 

Wirksworth Quarry 1971 - behind the loco is what appears to be the diesel fuel tank mounted on two brick walls.  Sited presumably for convenient access by road delivery tankers, it's some distance from the locomotive shed which is behind the camera.

 

Philip

 

Philip

 

Bullseye! Thank you very much indeed for that picture.

 

It is the Middlepeak loading area at Wirksworth. I have several general photos of the same area but had not noticed this tank before - I should have paid more attention! Now, knowing where it is and the shape, I can just discern it.

 

Looking again at the photos I have, I have found a slight puzzle. One picture in Howard Sprenger's excellent book on the Wirksworth Branch is of the road crossing at Old Lane of the line from Stoneycroft quarry where it feeds into the loading area and there is an identical tank seemingly quite close to the crossing. Initially I thought it was the same tank but when I look at the relationship to the other buildings I am not quite sure although the different angle of the picture and foreshortening make it difficult to work out. It does provide a little more detail of the stone supports. On consideration it must be the same tank but I will see if I can find some other pics to prove it.

 

Your picture is, of course, the Baguley purchased from Ind Coope at Burton on Trent. It arrived at Wirksworth in 1966 and was used until the late 70s. Apparently it was too big to work through to the Stoneycroft quarry though. According to Howard Sprenger's book it was still at the site in 1989 although abandoned and overgrown.

 

Again, Thank you for finding that picture. Most appreciated.

 

Don

[highpeakman]

The Coopercraft tank would be ideal as road tanker bodies would often be used for such purposes, quite often a railway tank would be too large.

 

Thanks. I dug into the scrapbox last night and found a couple of tanks from some old Fleischmann wagons and an old Triang one. Using the picture that PGH was kind enough to contribute I will do some measurements and try to decide which is the most fitting to use. I suspect that the Fleischmann tanks may be too big. As I mentioned I do have the base Toys tanker which I suspect is slightly smaller than the Cooper Craft one at 5cms x 1.5 cms. Does anyone have the measurements of the Cooper craft tank to hand please?

 

Don

[highpeakman]

Not industrial but apparently the North Sunderland Railway's diesel, The Lady Armstrong, was fuelled from drums stored in the engine shed at Seahouses. Quite what sort of drums, though, I'm not sure, because I'm given to believe that that enduring design classic, the 44 gallon drum, was not developed until the early 1940s.

 

Thanks for the comment. My railway is based on the 60s so no problem with the type of oil drums. I did consider a hand fuelling type of operation but, as there may be a larger diesel operating (also, possibly, more than one) then it would probably require a tank supply of some description.

 

Don

[highpeakman]

The brickwork under the tank (what little of it you can see in the photo) looks fairly new, although the tank itself doesn't, so it might be an old tank resited for use of the diesel locos.  The photo was taken in August 1971 and the first diesel, Baguley 3357 shown in the photo, arrived in March 1970 according to Industrial Railway Society records.  Its interesting that you mention this loco was too big for the Stoneycroft Quarry line, no doubt because of the tunnel under the Wirksworth to Middleton Road, as a smaller Hibberd diesel (FH 1891) arrived about one month after the Baguley presumably to work that line.  A second Baguley (Bg 3227) arrived in 1975 from Tarmac's Cawdor Quarry at Matlock.

 

There were some tanks (?) mounted on a stand on the quarry side of the tunnel as shown in the photo below

 

 

but I've no idea what purpose they served.  The photo was taken in 1967 so they pre-date the diesels, wouldn't be accessible by the Baguley locos and don't look like fuel tanks anyway.  Also they appear too small for steam loco water tanks.

 

The second Baguley and the Hibberd had been abandoned by 1982 when the photo below was taken.

 

 

Hi Philip

 

Yet again, Thank you for the photos and information.

 

I had not realised that there were two Baguleys used. The 1966 date for the first was quoted in the text of Howard Sprenger's book but when I looked in the appendix listing it shows both Baguleys and the date of 1970 as you say. They were, of course, replaced by the Steelman in 1980. The book has a picture of the Baguley and Hibberd in the same position as your shot but taken in 1980 so there is no foliage.

 

The book also has a shot of the tunnel with those two tanks. I do think they are water tanks. My initial reaction was the tanks were not big enough for loco use but, of course, only small locos were used working into Stoneycroft so maybe.

 

It is so frustrating to me that while I grew up in the Derbyshire/ Nottinghamshire area I moved away when all this was happening and a developing career and family did not leave time to explore. Now I have the time it has all gone. I am not the first to say that i know.

 

Your pictures on the other thread around Buxton and Tunstead were really great and brought back many memories of visits in teen years. My layout will be an attempt to try to recapture some of that (I hope).

 

Thank you again.

 

Don

[Ruston]

The brickwork under the tank (what little of it you can see in the photo) looks fairly new, although the tank itself doesn't, so it might be an old tank resited for use of the diesel locos.  The photo was taken in August 1971 and the first diesel, Baguley 3357 shown in the photo, arrived in March 1970 according to Industrial Railway Society records.  Its interesting that you mention this loco was too big for the Stoneycroft Quarry line, no doubt because of the tunnel under the Wirksworth to Middleton Road, as a smaller Hibberd diesel (FH 1891) arrived about one month after the Baguley presumably to work that line.  A second Baguley (Bg 3227) arrived in 1975 from Tarmac's Cawdor Quarry at Matlock.

 

There were some tanks (?) mounted on a stand on the quarry side of the tunnel as shown in the photo below

 

83.19B.jpg

That scene is crying out to be modelled! Stuff like that, not just the locos, is why I love industrial railways.

[5050]

That scene is crying out to be modelled! Stuff like that, not just the locos, is why I love industrial railways.

Mmmm, now where did I put that spare baseboard................................

[highpeakman]

Don,

This photo may be of use since it appears to show what you require in the same area as your layout:

 

144.23B.jpg

 

Wirksworth Quarry 1971 - behind the loco is what appears to be the diesel fuel tank mounted on two brick walls.  Sited presumably for convenient access by road delivery tankers, it's some distance from the locomotive shed which is behind the camera.

 

Philip

 

I have just found a very clear shot of that tank in a book that had been lurking on my bookshelf all the time.

 

It is on page 6 of Roger Siviter's book "Industrial Steam in Action". Obviously I cannot show the pictures but if anyone else is interested in this particular site then I would recommend a look at this book. The book includes many excellent pictures of many coal lines as well.

 

Page 7 has a shot of the Middlepeak Quarry itself, giving a superb view of the lime kilns and loading bays which I am going to attempt to capture in some way.

 

Don

[Krusty]

I'm given to believe that that enduring design classic, the 44 gallon drum, was not developed until the early 1940s.

 

They date from earlier than that. This photo shows a recycled 44-gallon drum being used to collect milk on a farm in a magazine published in 1935. The styles of 44-gallon drum with separate H-section rolling rings were definitely in use by the 1920s.