paul-dereham Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 Many, many years ago my Granddad used to take me fishing in the Oxford canal in Banbury, close to where the mainline crossed it near to the Alcan factory, and the junction with the Oxfordshire Ironstone railway. This was probably 1966-1969. I can remember a red industrial diesel shunter working in the Alcan factory. I know the OIR were replacing their steam locos with Sentinels so can you guess where this is going? I can't find any information about these sidings or what worked them. Is there anyone out there with any info? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir douglas Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 you could try using http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html type in banbury and then choose from the date of map on the right as shown here, i typed in banbury and then i chose the 1968-1973 map, i know nothing about banbury but this could help with the track plan. Sam. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted March 4, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 4, 2014 OIC had a number of Sentinels in the early 1960s to replace the steam fleet. Due to the rapid decline of the British iron ore industry at the time when they were purchased they soon went elsewhere. The last one on site was used for track lifting around 1967, the main line connection being removed c1968. Some of the Sentinels have been preserved. The Alcan siding was gone by 1960 I think. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rope runner Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 All of the OIC Sentinels were rod-drive 0-4-0's Those with Boys names (FRANK, GRAHAM etc.) were vac-fitted, while those with girls names (BETTY, MARY etc.) were not. JEAN was the machine retained to aid track-lifting, which is preserved along with BETTY, GRAHAM and BARABEL Paul A. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul-dereham Posted March 4, 2014 Author Share Posted March 4, 2014 you could try using http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html type in banbury and then choose from the date of map on the right as shown here, i typed in banbury and then i chose the 1968-1973 map, i know nothing about banbury but this could help with the track plan. Untitled.jpg Sam. Thanks, this doesn't show it as the works was further north close to the GCR junction north of the yards but I'll try this site and see what I can find. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul-dereham Posted March 4, 2014 Author Share Posted March 4, 2014 All of the OIC Sentinels were rod-drive 0-4-0's Those with Boys names (FRANK, GRAHAM etc.) were vac-fitted, while those with girls names (BETTY, MARY etc.) were not. JEAN was the machine retained to aid track-lifting, which is preserved along with BETTY, GRAHAM and BARABEL Paul A. Thanks, there is a bit of info about the OIC railway and I have the Eric Tonks book on the Ironstone Railways of the area. Just have to wait for the rod drive version from Hornby!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul-dereham Posted March 4, 2014 Author Share Posted March 4, 2014 OIC had a number of Sentinels in the early 1960s to replace the steam fleet. Due to the rapid decline of the British iron ore industry at the time when they were purchased they soon went elsewhere. The last one on site was used for track lifting around 1967, the main line connection being removed c1968. Some of the Sentinels have been preserved. The Alcan siding was gone by 1960 I think. I was pretty sure I was watching a shunter in the works, not on the Ironstone railway. In 1960 I was only 3 so it would have been later than that. My stepdad used to work on the OIC and in fact where I lived was just one field away from the railway on the Banbury side of the "German bridge", so called because it was built by German POW's. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 I was pretty sure I was watching a shunter in the works, not on the Ironstone railway. In 1960 I was only 3 so it would have been later than that. My stepdad used to work on the OIC and in fact where I lived was just one field away from the railway on the Banbury side of the "German bridge", so called because it was built by German POW's. Looking at the one map that shows the aluminium works (the Old Maps 1955 one), it would appear that the rail connection served the northern side of the site, the opposite side to the Oxford Canal. The railway facilities shown seemed to be not much more than a long siding, running almost as far as the Southam Road; iirc, the site was a rolling/ extruding plant, rather than a smelter, so it's quite possible that the only rail traffic inbound would have been aluminium ingots from either the Scottish smelters (were any of these open during WW2?) or one of the ports. The plant seems to have been a WW2 construction; there's nothing shown on the 1935 map that I could see. What has become of the works? I'm sure that, when I worked in Banbury (1982), there was talk of it closing, or at least there having been redundancies; several of the people I worked with at Banbury Tea Warehouses had worked there at different times, and so it was discussed over mugs of tea. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul-dereham Posted March 4, 2014 Author Share Posted March 4, 2014 Looking at the one map that shows the aluminium works (the Old Maps 1955 one), it would appear that the rail connection served the northern side of the site, the opposite side to the Oxford Canal. The railway facilities shown seemed to be not much more than a long siding, running almost as far as the Southam Road; iirc, the site was a rolling/ extruding plant, rather than a smelter, so it's quite possible that the only rail traffic inbound would have been aluminium ingots from either the Scottish smelters (were any of these open during WW2?) or one of the ports. The plant seems to have been a WW2 construction; there's nothing shown on the 1935 map that I could see. What has become of the works? I'm sure that, when I worked in Banbury (1982), there was talk of it closing, or at least there having been redundancies; several of the people I worked with at Banbury Tea Warehouses had worked there at different times, and so it was discussed over mugs of tea. What you say about the sidings matches what I can recall from old OS maps that I used to have. The factory, I think was built before WWII, and in fact a dummy was built for the German bombers which did get bombed, but the real factory didn't. I understand the Alcan sold the factory a while ago but it has since closed completely and most of the buildings demolished. Funnily enough my stepdad also worked at the tea warehouse for a while but he never worked at the "Ally" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul-dereham Posted March 4, 2014 Author Share Posted March 4, 2014 What you say about the sidings matches what I can recall from old OS maps that I used to have. The factory, I think was built before WWII, and in fact a dummy was built for the German bombers which did get bombed, but the real factory didn't. I understand the Alcan sold the factory a while ago but it has since closed completely and most of the buildings demolished. Funnily enough my stepdad also worked at the tea warehouse for a while but he never worked at the "Ally" Looking at the one map that shows the aluminium works (the Old Maps 1955 one), it would appear that the rail connection served the northern side of the site, the opposite side to the Oxford Canal. The railway facilities shown seemed to be not much more than a long siding, running almost as far as the Southam Road; iirc, the site was a rolling/ extruding plant, rather than a smelter, so it's quite possible that the only rail traffic inbound would have been aluminium ingots from either the Scottish smelters (were any of these open during WW2?) or one of the ports. The plant seems to have been a WW2 construction; there's nothing shown on the 1935 map that I could see. What has become of the works? I'm sure that, when I worked in Banbury (1982), there was talk of it closing, or at least there having been redundancies; several of the people I worked with at Banbury Tea Warehouses had worked there at different times, and so it was discussed over mugs of tea. Found this on the web from a lecture on the history of the Alcan. In 1929 Alcan decided to build a sheet rolling mill in the UK. The Banbury site was chosen, the plant built and opened in 1931. At first products were for the hollowware trade in simple alloys. A small extrusion press was installed and a Powder and Paste plant. In the mid thirties the use of strong alloys for aircraft construction became important and the plant had to be adapted to make them. Banbury’s capacity was doubled in 1938 and in the early years of WWII Banbury was the largest producer of aircraft materials in the country. Alter WWII the plant was modernized and continued to produce specialty rolled products and extrusions. In 1971 rationalisation in the industry led to the closure of the sheet rolling operation, more extrusion presses were installed in the old sheet mill buildings producing extrusions largely for architectural uses. Alcan sold the works in 1996 and its operation continued under the ownership of others until the end of 2008. The buildings were demolished by the end of 2009. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ailg8048 Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 JOAN is also preserved. Joan is at the East Somerset Railway Barabel at the Nene Valley Jean, Betty and Graham are all at Rocks by Rail (formerly the Rutland Railway Museum). Picture of Joan in action attached Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul-dereham Posted March 4, 2014 Author Share Posted March 4, 2014 On the OIC steam front, Sir Thomas used to be at Quainton Road, haven't been there for donkeys years so have no idea if it's still there or whether the tubes were ever replaced to get it running. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rope runner Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Almost, but I'm afraid that's JEAN at Rocks by Rail. How do I know? I was driving the 22RB face shovel at the time! Paul A. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ailg8048 Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Arrgh typo .... I meant Jean .... I'll go hang my head in shame Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgood Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Paul from Dereham - looky here for a comprehensive travelogue of the O.I. Sentinel diesels. I can't vouch for the accuracy but it looks to be well-researched: http://www.nvr.org.uk/oxfordshire-ironstone-company Tony Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul-dereham Posted March 4, 2014 Author Share Posted March 4, 2014 Paul from Dereham - looky here for a comprehensive travelogue of the O.I. Sentinel diesels. I can't vouch for the accuracy but it looks to be well-researched: http://www.nvr.org.uk/oxfordshire-ironstone-company Tony Thanks Tony Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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