Ruston

The minutes of an AGM of the BT&S board of directors, in 1958, reveals that an increase in demand and the resulting extra rail traffic had put a strain on the elderly steam locomotives. With the current high cost of coal it was decided that quotes be obtained from various manufacturers for a heavy oil locomotive and that, after a visit from a representative from Ruston & Hornsby, an example of the class 48DS was ordered. The photo shows the loco just after delivery by road.

Staying with the scrapyard theme but with a couple of live working locos... Crossley Evans yard in Shipley. I have previously posted a picture of the pair of 88DS Rustons that were (maybe still are?) parked at the end of a siding there but here are the working locos from the early to mid 90s. Hunslet 0-4-0DH Prince of Wales (HE 7159), ex Esholt sewage works IIRC and Sentinel S10118, ex Kellingley colliery. This set of pics should be useful for anyone modelling a relatively modern scrap yard. The Sentinel hauling a Standard Rail POA wagon out of the baled scrap bay... And then propelling it to join the rest of the train on the departure line. The blue things behind the orange digger at top left of the picture are the inverted frames of Foster Yeoman bogie wagons that have had their hoppers cut off. Looking back toward the bridge that straddles the site and from where the previous pictures were taken. The baled scrap loading bay with two NCK Rapier cranes with electro-magnets. Another view of the same but taken on a day when both locos were not in use. The Hunslet shunting a Sheerness Steel PXA bogie wagon. Note also a BR HBA hopper wagon in scrap carrying use.

If it's the same one listed in "7EL" then it's 2641 of 1957.

If you insist Yet more dead 'uns. (I'll do some live ones next, I promise) AB585 again. Some six months later and dismantling has begun. Not the gas axe at this stage so I guess the engine was removed and sold on for further use. And just look at those wagons that are here for cutting! Especially that insulated van. If only I'd paid more attention to the wagons. But then I wasn't so interested in wagons back then. March 89. This general view shows locomotives from no fewer than 8 different manufacturers. The large 0-6-0DE is a class 11 (or was it 12?) BR number 12099, ex BCOE Bowers Row. March 95. L-R Hudswell Clarke D810, EEV (English Electric Vulcan Foundry) D1195 and EEV D1194. The latter two being ex- Seaham Harbour Dock Co. A better view of D810, taken a few years earlier in 1992. Note the pile of air brake hoses that have been removed from coaches recieved for scrapping.

Bored yet? Here are a few more dead 'uns. TH176v ex-Gedling Colliery, Jan. 89. TH170v from a colliery in the northeast. Unfortunately I didn't write anything on the slide. Nov. 90. Interesting coach though... RH425478, a 165DE. IIRC this one came from a Blue Circle Cement works but I can't remember which one. Jan. 89. And a pair that escaped Booth's. HE6684 and TH294v are seen here parked out of use on the end of a siding at the then recently closed Royston colliery (a drift mine IIRC) in November 88. Both moved to the preservation scheme that used to be at Meadowhall, next to the old Yorkshire Engine Co. works but are now at the National Coalmining Museum for England at Caphouse Colliery though I doubt they'll ever turn a wheel again. I remember that my brother and I walked for miles to see these and were just a bit disappointed that they were finished with. We'd already been to Grimethorpe colliery and not managed to see anything so we walked to Royston to see the coke oven loco in action and then up the road to here. Happy days.

A few more... Hudswell Clarke 0-4-0DH, w/n D1387. This was one of a pair from Renishaw Park Colliery. One of them moved to RMS Locotec in Dewsbury but I don't know if it saw further use. Rolls Royce 10233. Jan. 89. I think this one came from Manvers Main Colliery where it was numbered 70 and named Frank RR 10288. I have already shown a picture of this and here it is in action again. It had just shunted some wagons for scrapping and was about to move to the shed. Fowler 424 class 0-6-0DH, ex Teesbulk Handling Ltd. of Tees Dock, Grangetown. This one was cut up not long after the photo was taken. Thomas Hill 247v, a rebuild of Rolls Royce 10241, ex Rufford Colliery.

James - If I come across the pic with the hoppers in, I'll scan it. This lot are rather sad pics. All taken at C.F. Booth's Rotherham yard where most of the locos never turned a wheel again before joining the rest of the scrap pile. At the time the last of the collieries were closing and Booths seemed to be the ones who bought up the locos from the Yorks. Notts. and the North-eastern coalfields. Some of the locos did see use as yard shunter until they broke down and joined the others in being cut up. AB478 shunting a van that had arrived for scrapping across Millmoor Lane level crossing. March 89. And seen at rest in August of the same year after shunting the wagon (covhop?) in the foreground. AB491 from a colliery in the northeast. Sometime in 1990. Note the ex-colliery tippler wagon body in the scrap pile. And seen from the other end. AB585, also from a northeast colliery, seen in April 88 on what was one of our earliest visits to this site.

Hi James, No, I didn't take any of the wagons specifically but I may have a pic where they can be seen coupled the the Fowler's successor - a Mercedes Unimog that was fitted for road/rail. IIRC they were hoppers of about 20 tons capacity and painted mid blue in colour. I think they were very old and possibly ex-LNER. Whatever they were I'm fairly certain that they weren't the more usual 21-ton hoppers. Regarding that 48DS; I believe it was "preserved" but that term seems to mean almost anything these days and I'm not at all sure where. You see I when I stopped chasing these things I also stopped updating my IRS books. I think it went to some scheme or other that hoped to re-open an old line in the north of England, but not a major "heritage" railway. Sorry I can't be of any more help.

Another 4. Just going back to the OP, this is the Thomas Hill loco (257v) that my brother and I had a cab ride in at Croft. It is seen here with the empty wagons that it had just brought into the quarry site. Not far from Croft is another rail-linked quarry. This time we are at Bardon Hill and TH 297v, a Steelman type, is powering it's way up the gradient into the quarry site with a load of empties. And another Steelman in action, this time at British Steel's Shelton works in 1997. I got to drive this one later in the day.

That's excellent, Arthur, thanks for posting that! I've made some progress on the actual tar distilling and chemical processing part of the works. An extra storage tank, some pipework and another building. The building is supposed to be a newer, post-war addition to the works and houses the laboratory, among other things... The tanks in a frame are for storage/processing of stuff that has come from the still (corrugated abestos-clad building on the right. Don't ask me what the blue thing does because I don't know. I think the key to making a model chemical works, when you don't know exactly what should go where, is to stick enough pipes and tanks about to confuse everyone. All the tanks and buildings in these two pics are unfinished and glazing/more pipes/weathering etc. is required.The tank ends are made from pop cans and a roof will go over the frame.

June 1995. A 2ft. gauge Greenwood & Batley 5hp trammer loco leaves the adit of the Whitepeak Fluorspar Company's mine near Matlock Bath.

Welcome to the new look UK Standard Gauge Industrial Group! This group is for the discussion of all aspects of UK industrial railways - locos, rolling stock, equipment, the companies and the railway systems - model and prototype. Please keep topics relevant to the subject and have fun. B)

I'm willing to be corrected but I think we may be talking about something else here. You're talking about tar that would be put on roads whereas, as far as this layout and tar distillers are concerned, we're talking about the raw material straight from a coking plant or gasworks. Surely the two are different? Wouldn't road tar be a product of the distillation process? The left overs once all the useful stuff to make dyes, creosote and other chemicals has been distilled out of it?

Scraping the bottom of the barrel now. I'll have to see if I can find some more to scan... English Electric (EEV) D1194, ex Seaham Harbour Dock Co. At C.F. Booth's yard in March 95. TH177c, ex Stella North power station. C.F. Booth Feb. 88. I believe this was a rebuild of a Sentinel steam loco. HC D1279 (ex C.F. Booth, ex NCB Renishaw Park Colliery (I think). Seen here entering the premises of RMS Locotec at Dewsbury cement terminal on 7th December 1995. HE 7396 at Rover's Longbridge works in April 96. This loco was a one-off and not your usual Hunslet IIRC. It looks a bit taller in the bodywork for a start but I'm afraid I don't know what the technical differences were or where it originally worked.

Lovely stuff, Ian. Your second from top and the bottom one have got to be the most realistic on here. Here's some of my N gauge efforts.

It's been over 2 months since I added anything to this topic. I've done nothing to the layout since due to a lack of both time and inspiration. I couldn't think how to progress the last two sections but I've now had some ideas and a day with no work has seen me begin another building and get a foot/pipe bridge reasonably well advanced. I'm currently scavanging drinks cans to file off the end domes and keep them for further use as the ends of tanks/stills or what have you.

Here's my other one. Details same as the last one.

Here's one of mine. The wagon is Lionheart Trains and I've repainted, renumbered and weathered it just a little.

Go for it and post the builds in this section. I think we could do with a few more actual modelling topics in here.

A few more. I can't remember the name of the company that operated this pair of Barclays and there's nothing written on the slide except the works number - 674. It was in Middlesborough and the date was April 91. Both locos were ex-NCB and were still carried the livery. YE 2890 at Templeborough Steelworks, Rotherham. March 89. Although it looks like a Rolls Royce/Sentinel, this loco was numbered in the Thomas Hill list 0 228v. It was working at the Stanton foundry sometime in 1995. 48DS RH224347 was found hidden and out of use as the W.H. Davis wagon works at Langwith Junction in March 91. It was supposedly in working order and spare to the 88DS that has featured previously. Sentinel S10164 seen in August 96 at a cement terminal (Blue Circle IIRC) in Widnes.

Thanks for that. So it may still be around... Here you go. HE8805 photographed from a passing train at Aldwarke, April 88. And in action, passing a trainload of proper minis (as opposed to the BMW effort - eugh!) at Rover's Longbridge plant 8 years later. And another pair of before 'n' after shots. Sentinel 10037 at Thos. Hill's Kilnhurst works in January 91. And in August 96 at Balfour Beatty's track supplies depot at Sandiacre. A rail crane also operated here and can be seen in the background.

Thanks. I also found this clip of old silent cine film. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H6HHxk0wpY

An old box camera pic that I found in the Industrial Railway Society archives. And a view from the engineering workshop, Bury, Thorn & Sons Ltd.

Here are a few more of the Hunslet (7410) that I showed previously in the shots taken at British Oak D.P. This photo was taken before those at British Oak and shows the loco in storage at British Coal's Wentworth Stores, near Barnsley. On the right is a Ruston 48DLZ 2ft. gauge flameproofed loco for underground use. Another of the loco on a train of HAA hoppers at British Oak. British Oak may well have been the last time the loco was used by the Opencast Executive and I later found it in use as the yard shunter at Booth's Rotherham yard. That wasn't the end for 7410. IIRC it was bought byRMS Locotec and was overhauled to become part of their hire fleet. Does anyone know where it is now?

Here are some of the MSC locos. I've found a few more but I've yet to scan them. HC D1191 at the Barton Dock shed in 1995. And the same loco in company with one of the RR 4wDHs in August 96. Sentinel 10144 at Ellesmere Port, also August 96. Somewhere I have a picture of another of these with an MSC brake van. Not MSC but just down the road in Stanlow, at the Shell terminal. Thomas Hill 287v.