SED Freightman

Thanks for the explanation , a traffic flow that I had never previously heard of. It must be a prime contender for the shortest revenue freight flow on the SED, if not the SR. I wonder if the wagons and/or Priory Goods Shed acted as a buffer store for the material prior to delivery to Martin Walker's.

The photo certainly looks like Dover Priory, with the derailment on the sidings leading to the goods shed, I wonder what the Batchelors wagons were doing here, I would have thought three wagon loads would be a lot for local distribution. I cannot find a reference to any Metal Box factory at Ashford, the site you describe was the Batchelors Factory (now Premier Foods), they presumably received empty cans by rail from Metal Box unless there was a can manufacturing operation on site.

Ah, I see. It certainly looks like Beckenham Junction with the the three tracks in front (Platform 1 and two sidings) and the terraced houses on the other side of Rectory Road.

The water tower is marked as 'Tank' on the plan I posted on 28/4.

New Romney, RH&DR - 29/04/2011

I think you are correct regarding the run round and shunt move via platform 4 for the arriving train, this would take around 10-15 minutes from arriving in the Down Platform (No.3) and arriving in the Headshunt, assuming not only a suitable gap in Down trains, but also a gap in traffic on the Up Line for the loco to run round. Once in the Headshunt, the train could be shunted in and out of the two CCD sidings as required, possibly the first move would be to set back and attach any empties, then place them out of the way in Platform 4 before positioning the loaded wagons as required. The return train could run directly from Platform 4 to the New Beckenham Spur and back to Bricklayers Arms, alternatively it may have been possible to run directly towards Kent House if required.

The introduction of CCD's was also of benefit to the National Coal Board who were able to despatch blocks of wagons to a single location with one customer (latterly Charringtons at Beckenham Jn), rather than having to load single wagons to possibly two or three small merchants located in a traditional goods yard. Some of the larger CCD's were I think operated by subsiduaries of the NCB such as the Southern Depot Co. and Coal Mechanisation Ltd. As far as local merchants were concerned they basically had three choices if located in a railway goods yard where wagonload services were to be discontinued, a) relocate to a non railway site and receive coal by road from wherever they liked, b) stay put and receive coal by road from wherever they liked, but pay BR a fee for each ton of fuel received by road, or c) receive coal by road from the nearest CCD, which might be cheaper due to the much larger volumes moved via the CCD or they might receive a rebate per ton to cover the cost of road transport from the CCD.

Do you have a date for that little mishap, looks as though the loco has split the points.

With the demise of the C&D parcels business I transferred from the Terminals & Cartage Section on the 3rd floor overlooking the green, to the much better positioned Freight Section on the 1st floor (both in the Western Block) which overlooked the railway. As Oldddudders might just recall, the window sills were quite high and it was necessary to stand up to observe passing trains, which were generally nothing more than a distant rumble. Trains that did warrant a look were the loco off the coal train which would stop directly opposite, but below, the office, while shunting via the crossover. Also, the late running Night Ferry for which we would get a tip off from Control along with the occasional diverted or special freight, the latter generally conveying ferry vans from Dover to Willesden. Yes, happy days indeed.

Certainly no 3rd rail in the yard and probably not in the headshunt, the coal concentration depot had one siding which ran parallel to the platform 4 line, about 1/3rd of the way along it passed over the discharge hopper and then split into two short sidings, each of which would hold about 10 wagons. The may have also been a short cripple siding branching off near the yard entrance, but as yet I cannot locate a plan of the CCD (coal concentration depot). Certainly there would have been no hopper wagons (TOPS type HTV) prior to the CCD opening in 1966 and you can never have too many mineral wagons. The old goods yard would certainly provide a greater variety of wagons and traffic, but model wise would require much more space, a plan showing the pre CCD yard layout is appended below.

Although booked for a class 73, class 33's could turn up from time to time. The yard was not electrified, although the 73 was usually switched to diesel power whilst being uncoupled in the Down Platform prior to running round. Sorry, yes SLU = Standard Length Unit = 21 feet or in simple terms the length of a two axle mineral wagon. The coal depot was equipped with a discharge hopper and also lifting sections of rail to discharge mineral wagons through their end doors into the pit. Over the years, the coal traffic would have mainly arrived in 21T hoppers although even in the early 1980's there was still the odd mineral wagon.

The WTT of Mandatory Train Services, Section M (Freight), commencing 01/05/1972, shows that the only regular freight at Beckenham Jn was the daily service, detailed below, serving the coal concentration depot in the former goods yard. Any services seen passing through on the main line at this time would have probably have been diversions due to engineering work etc. or specials. 8K80 1050 (SX) Bricklayers Arms to Beckenham Junction arr.1110 - Worked by class 73, headcode 1E. 8K86 1205 (SX) Beckenham Junction to Bricklayers Arms arr.1232 - Worked by class 73, headcode 1E. The inward service (8K80) was restricted to a maximum length of 26 SLU's as it ran round in the Down Platform with the loco shunting via the mainline crossover at the Shortlands end, before hauling the train back towards New Beckenham, prior to shunting the coal depot sidings. An interesting book to look out for, if not already in your collection, is The Railways of Beckenham by Andrew Hajducki, published by The Ardgour Press, this contains photos, plans and details of goods and other traffic through the years.

In the early 1980's similar notching was found in the tunnels between Charlton and Woolwich Arsenal, thought to have been possibly caused by the raves of MGR wagons on diverted Northfleet services. This was around the time that the standard freight loading gauge had been increased from W5A to W6, net result was a general ban on W6 gauge wagons between Angerstein Jn and the north end of Plumstead Station with the exception of those specifically authorised in the Sectional Appendix, primarily aggregate wagons passing to / from Angerstein Wharf.

Interesting, I guess that within the civil engineers organisation assistance could be obtained from their own gauging section staff if necessary although our Traffic Dept inspectors certainly got involved with the more unusual movements involving bridge sections and the like. P Way depots would certainly have had staff competent in loading and securing the various types of excavators and bulldozers that appeared on ballast trains in the past, and presumably also at relaying sites when the machines were reloaded after use.

At the few container terminals I had dealings with, there were overheight detectors on the exit line, these shone an infra-red beam across the track, set at the appropriate height for containers loaded on standard flats, an alarm would be triggered if the beam was broken.

The last traditional loading gauge on the South Eastern Division was installed at Queenborough around 1980ish for checking the height of cars loaded on the top deck of Autic and Cartic wagons. As mentioned by The Stationmaster, any unusual loads sizewise would attract the attention of the Divisional or Regional Loads Inspectors, people of immense knowledge who were skilled at both securing and positioning loads to gain an extra inch or two of clearance where necessary. In more recent times all traffic is supposed to have a loading plan, which if followed correctly by the loading staff, should ensure that there are no gauge infringements and therefore no physical loading gauge is needed. On the very rare occasions that a one off oversized load requires movement these days it would still be carefully examined and measured by someone competent in loading and gauging matters, however such people must now be very few in number. One thing to consider with positioning of a loading gauge on a model is that they were (generally) installed on a section of straight and level track, with the straight section extending a wagon length either side of the gauge.

Tallington, BR, seen on 18/01/2010

Now you mention Wood Lane and Unigate, yes I am pretty sure that Wood Lane was the destination with a new siding/s to be constructed adjacent to the WLL. It sounds as though the rail proposal may have formed part of the dairy refurbishment scheme.

Thinking back a bit, in around the mid 1980's the long term freight planners at Waterloo did look at a scheme to move milk in block trains to a proposed new terminal on the West London Line (near White City ?), possibly from Chard. The proposal came to nought as BR was then unable to guarantee provision of the service which was required to operate daily, excluding Chrismas Day.

Although probably somewhat later than the photo, SR WTT Section WD, commencing 02/05/1977, shows headcode C9 as applicable to locomotive hauled trains over routes not covered by a multiple unit headcode between Clapham Junction (W) and Ramsgate via Herne Hill & Chatham. The train in the photo might perhaps have been ECS starting from Clapham Yard or Stewarts Lane.

As far as the SED were concerned, WTT Section A, commencing 03/05/1971, shows headcode H1 as being applicable to locomotive hauled trains over routes not covered by a multiple unit headcode between Clapham Junction (W) and Dover Marine via Herne Hill, Maidstone East & Sandling. Meanwhile the SR WTT of Conditional Train Services commencing 06/05/1974, shows headcode 4A to be applicable to Freight Trains and Light Locomotives between Dover Town and Hither Green Sidings via Tonbridge, between Hoo Junction and Richborough via Gillingham & Margate, and also between Lydd and Chislehurst via Ashford, Sevenoaks & Swanley.

Holt, North Norfolk Railway - 12/10/2018, formerly Upper Portland Sidings, Midland Railway.

A small yard as you describe is very unlikely to have had its own manager by the early 1980's, on the South Eastern Division I think only Bricklayers Arms and Hither Green Continental Depot had dedicated managers, all other freight depots and sidings came under the control of the local Station Manager, although at the busier locations they may have had an Assistant Station Manager or Freight Assistant with specific responsibilty for keeping an eye on things. A handful of locations employed a Freight Clerk or two (eg.Plumstead, Rochester, Ashford, Dover) who would deal with the paperwork for their own yard and other local sidings or unstaffed yards. Any railway staff dealing with loading and unloading would be in the grades of Railman or Leading Railman, they could also undertake shunting duties and may be trained (and sometimes very skilled) in the loading and securing of particular types of traffic. Any unusual loads to be handled would probably see a visit from either the Divisional Loading Inspector or Terminals Inspector to provide guidance and assistance whilst the SED also had a couple of Mobile Freight Gangs who could be called upon to assist with short term or ad-hoc movements from locations that were normally unstaffed, eg. loading nuclear flasks at Dungeness or occasional invalid carriages at Tonbridge. The term Yard Master sounds like an Americanism, so probably arrived with the advent of EWS.

OT but still interesting, particularly the TMO Crossing(s), the trains from Halling certainly had no brakevan so perhaps a WR guard was picked up to ride in the rear cab from Acton ML, I guess we are unlikely to find out at this late stage.

I suspect the trains were split outside Chinnor as I do not recall mention of the need to split at Princes Risborough and the TOPS consists show the whole train set out for Chinnor although thats not necessarily an accurate reflection of what happened in far off parts. Any idea if there would there have been a travelling shunter based at Princes Risborough or were the train crew left to fend for themselves ?