Rivercider

Continuing on the journey to Bristol here are four pictures from 1986 the last year I regularly took railway photos. Three of the trains pictured have already been recorded on this thread, plus an engineers CWR train. Firstly the nuclear flasks from Bridgwater are seen on their way north. 47060 is passng Chelvey Batch near Nailsea and Backwell with 7M53 15.00 Bridgwater - Sellafiield, 6/11/86 Next the 14.00 Bristol East Depot - Meldon Quarry again, behind a class 45 which were quite rare west of Bristol by then 45062 passing the remains of Flax Bourton station with empty seacows for Meldon. 6/11/86 And the Bridgwater trip is returning to Severn Tunnel Junction 6C44 13.50 Bridgwater - Severn Tunnel Junction behind 47356 in Railfreight grey in Flax Bourton cutting. Behind the loco are discharged TTAs from British Cellophane at Bridgwater followed by a ferry wagon then some VEAs loaded out of the ROF at Puriton and on the rear the barrier wagon is a former BR ferry van. one of four allocated to Bridgwater for barrier use on this service, 6/11/86 Finally an empty Continuous Welded Rail train is seen, An unidentified class 47 heads a CWR trains north through the gloom of Flax Bourton cutting 6/11/86 cheers

Moving slightly off topic as these refer to the 1970s, but here are 3 pages from the local 1975 trip booklet. This will give you some idea of how the local clay working to Fowey (Carne Point) was organised. Some of our Cornish correspondents may be able to confirm but I would imagine the clay trip programme would have been broadly similar up until the withdrawal of the clayhoods and their replacement by the CDAs in the early/mid 1980s. The class 25s (trips 5 - 9) were replaced by 37s, and other type 4 locos were also involved in some of the work. Extracts from the St Blazey local trip booklet dated 7th July 1975 cheers

Brilliant! Simply pressing the 'like' button seems a bit inadequate.... cheers

I have looked through my photos and found another shot of a Speedlink service in the west, the photo is of 6C39 approaching Plymouth and traffic includes 4 PRAs of clay from Ponts Mill to Corpach and 2 clay tigers. 45127 with 6C39 the 09.15 St Blazey - Severn Tunnel Junction at Plymouth 8/3/83. Although 6C39 was not a Speedlink trunk train it was one of the principle feeder services and as such had booked connections at Severn Tunnel Junction to a number of trunk trains:- 6S78 to Mossend 6E88 to Whitemoor via Leicester and Peterborough 6E94 to Immingham via Worcester Toton Scunthorpe and Doncaster 6O50 to Dover via Acton and Hoo 6S97 to Mossend via Warrington and Carlisle 6M78 to Aintree via Halewood cheers

My guess, and as you say it was a long time ago, is that 6C39 was a lighter loaded train, possibly with traffic left off 6C43 from the previous night, remember it also called at Tavistock Junction to attach (clay from Marsh Mills etc) Exeter Riverside to attach, and later Taunton to attach (cider) 6C43 would take much of that days loadings, and also might include some Cliffe Vale traffic worked up to Exeter if 6M72 was expected to be heavy as there was a weight limit over the Cornish and South Devon banks, the clay tigers would then attach to 6M72 at Exeter later that night. 6M72 would then be made up of the rest of the Cliffe Vale clay traffic, cheers

Although the train service altered over the years, and the local trip working would be adjusted each day to cope with traffic requirements there would still be an identifiable pattern to the services as many of the locations were forwarding traffic on a regular basis. Indeed that was supposed to be one of the strengths of the Speedlink network, as most terminals were served on a regular basis it should be relatively straightforward for a regular forwarder (say) ECC at Goonbarrow to send a trial wagon load to a regular receiver (say) Mossend Freight Depot as there was already a set of connecting services in place, no additional trains or trips would need to be arranged. I have a copy of the List of Trains run in connection with Speedlink dated 17th May 1982, this just precedes (I think) the introduction of the clay tigers on the St Blazey - Cliffe Vale service but I can work out the identity of some of the Speedlink arrivals and departures you mention. 6B42 23.45 Severn Tunnel Junction - St Blazey due 05.52 6B39 05.50 Severn Tunnel Junction - St Blazey due 13.30 (this later became an extension of 6V93 09.05 Mossend - Severn Tunnel Junction and went through to St Bz) 6V70 09.xx Cliffe Vale - St Blazey due 6C39 09.05 St Blazey - Severn Tunnel Junction 6C43 15.15 St Blazey - Severn Tunnel Junction 6M72 22.00 St Blazey - Cliffe Vale To feed in and out of these services there would have been regular Speedlink trips to and from Burngullow/Drinnick Mill/Goonbarrow and other locations as well as the St Blazey yard pilot making visits to Par Harbour and Pontsmill . There are a few photos on my Flickr site of the trips ('1980s W.R. Cornwall' album) , but as I did not possess a local trip working booklet sorry I can not identify any headcodes or booked times, cheers

As there are no yards to visit on the way to Bristol I will include a couple of views of trains passing through the area. Two class 47 hauled workings are heading west, one at Bleadon, the other at Uphill Junction. In my notes this is 6B46 Severn Tunnel - Bridgwater which should have been an airbraked working this is pretty late in the day for a vacuum braked service, and was during the vacuum / air transition. An unidentified class 47 is passing under Devils Bridge at Bleadon near the site of Bleadon and Uphill Station, the bridge is a grade II listed structure and is said to be the highest brick span on the Bristol and Exeter route, 15/6/82 6B39 the Speedlink feeder service from Severn Tunnel Junction to St Blazey is seen again passing Uphill Junction behind another unidentified class 47 with a healthy load. There are empty clay wagons, vans, and possibly some SPAs that will be loaded with steel plate for Barnstaple, 15/6/82 cheers

Thanks. Regarding the 31s, they were already at Bath Road in 1974/5 when I started taking a serious interest, they had arrived from the E.R. to replace diesel hydraulic class 22s and Hymeks. There has been an earlier thread on RMWeb, the early arrivals were in 1971 and 1972 cheers

As well as revenue earning traffic Bridgwater yard also saw some use by the civil engineers as occasionally engineering trains were outstabled there ready for weekend engineering work, the RSD (Return Salvage Depot?) sidings to the west of the station were usually used for stabling. On one of my visits to Bridgwater as well as 31128 on the trip from Kingsland Road an additional engine had been requested by the engineers to shunt traffic ready for weekend work. Bath Roads 31422 heads west through the platform at Bridgwater with some grampus of blanketing sand, 1/5/81. Departing from Bridgwater towards Bristol the British Cellophane Works is soon reached on the east side of the line. It was accessed by a ground frame from the down main line which lead to a set of four exchange sidings. For many years until 1994 former BR class 03 D2133 worked here to take tanks of caustic soda to the discharge point at the rear of the works site. The caustic soda originally arrived as a weekly block train load from either ICI at Runcorn or BP at Baglan Bay, though the traffic later passed via Speedlink and arrived on the daily trip. Once a month or so a loaded tank car of toluene arrived from Terneuzen in Holland then returning discharged. Later in the 1980s discharge pipes were installed to unload train loads of heating oil, this came from various locations depending on price and included Thameshaven and Llandarcy if I recall. In the 1980s there was a short lived trial of imported woodpulp in 80 tonne ferry wagons, as these were also required to be unloaded at the rear of the site a coupling bar (?) was required to enable the vans to negotiate the sharp curves. When the plant closed in 1994 the loco D2133 was retired to the West Somerset Railway. Just south of Highbridge was the ground frame at Huntspill also on the down main which gave access to the Royal Ordnance Factory at Puriton via a set of 3 exchange sidings. The BR loco would exchange traffic around mid morning on weekdays with the ROF. The ROF had a pair of Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 shunters for this work, on closure of the ROF these locos also ended up on the West Somerset Railway. Once past Huntspill there were no yards or private sidings in use for freight traffic until reaching the southern outskirts of Bristol, cheers

The most common arrangement would have been for the yard to be shunted by up train but there will be plenty of locations where there are exceptions to the rule. If traffic over the route was heavier at one end than the other for example there may have been two freight trains each way a day. One freight in each direction running over the whole route with another working terminating short and returning the way it had come. Eggesford on the North Devon line at one time had such a working up from the Exeter end, while Topsham on the Exmouth branch also had one that terminated and returned to Exeter. Christow on the Teign Valley route was another example. cheers

When I worked at Swindon WR HQ there was some friendly ribbing of a couple of people from Oxford suggesting that it was in the middle of nowhere, it is not the west country, the south or the south east. I think the local bus company had been 'Oxford South Midlands' cheers

I think the civil engineers had a major presence at Chaddeston Sidings in the 1970s and early 1980s, was there a spoil tip there? cheers

Before we leave Bridgwater here are some photos of the nuclear flask working. From about 1981 the nuclear flask traffic had its own dedicated service from Sellafield 7V52 17.22 MWO Sellafield - Bridgwater which called at Crewe and Gloucester to detach flasks. 7M53 15.05 TTHO Bridgwater - Sellafield was the return working calling at Gloucester and Crewe to attach. Here are three photos showing 7V52 arriving at Bridgwater and berthing the discharged flasks for unloading. 7V52 has just arrived at Bridgwater behind 47202 and crossed onto the up main, it will come to a stand in the platform, there was a ground frame at the end of the platform to control access into the yard, 9/8/83 47202 propels the flask wagons into the compound to be unloaded. To the left the BR ferry wagons are in use based at Bridgwater for use on Speedlink services to and from Severn Tunnel Junction as barriers for the explosives traffic from the ROF. They are standing on the remains of a siding that formerly lead to Bridgwater Docks with a connection via sidings into the S&D Bridgwater branch, 9/8/83 A view of the nuclear flask compound with the crane in action. The Scammell was one of at least a pair that were used to transport the flasks from Hinkley Point A and B Power Stations, 9/8/83 cheers

Here are a couple more photos from 1983 with wagons that had arrived on 6B46 from Severn Tunnel Junction being unloaded. An Interfrigo ferry wagon load of peaches is unloaded in the yard at Bridgwater, this view is taken looking towards the main line, 9/8/83 VGA 210547 is being loaded by M Thomas staff in the UKF siding at Bridgwater, this wagon is destined for Law Junction with traffic for Showerings 9/8/83 cheers

On a sunny summer saturday morning 50009 Conqueror awaits its next duty at Exeter St Davids stabling point, 13/8/83 cheers

Thanks Paul. I knew the ROF would sometimes pre-load wagons that were held awaiting orders, but did not realise they also had their own fleet. Our TOPS Office chief clerk Harry, who compiled the daily rolling stock returns, sometimes had problems with the ordering of empty vans. The TOPS wagon distribution system 'knew' how long on average an empty would take to reach each regular loading point, and be placed for loading. (say 2 days) There was also a daily rolling stock input made based on the following days predicted loading as requested by the ROF. (say 4 vans) This meant the empty wagon pipeline should have 8 empties (2 x 4) to fulfil loading requirements. The problem came when the ROF had loaded all the empty BR vans they had on site but because they were awaiting a destination they had not reported it to us in the TOPS Office. The system therefore thought they had sufficient empties on hand for the next days loading, when in fact they had none. Thereafter when the ROF made their daily phone call to advise of wagons labelled for release that day Harry would also get them to report any others now loaded but not yet ready to go, cheers

Thanks. According to David Larkin (Working Wagons Vol 3 1980 - 1984) the prototype VGA (210400) was built in October 1981. The Paul Bartlett wagon site says the VGAs were built in one batch from 1982 - 1983. The pool of five VGAs allocated to the traffic from ICI Wilton was set up when the VGAs were brand new and included 210401 the first of the production batch, cheers

Thanks Brian, they look like KEVs. I do not remember exactly how often the consignments of wire arrived, perhaps each month ten or a dozen wagons would arrive over two or three days, cheers

The working at Bridgwater had altered by 1981, the 08 worked trip from Taunton being replaced by 7B60 from Kingsland Road in Bristol for the residual vacuum braked traffic and 6B46 an airbraked Speedlink feeder service from Severn Tunnel Junction. The nuclear flask traffic by now had its own dedicated service departing on Monday and Wednesday evenings from Sellafield which called at Crewe and Gloucester to detach portions, then returning from Bridgwater on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Extract of Bristol area Trip Booklet dated 17th May 1982. 7B60 the 08.05 from Kingsland Road arrives at Bridgwater behind Bath Road allocated 31128. The three vanwides are probably empties for loading at the ROF at Puriton, the first two probably being vacuum braked VWVs, behind that is wire from GKN at Cardiff to be unloaded in the yard for North Somerset Wire, I am not sure of the wagon types 1/5/81 Having shunted to berth traffic in the yard 31128 has now collected four airbraked VEAs and is ready to depart on the short trip to Huntspill where they will be handed over to the ROF, the loco later returned light diesel from Huntspill, 1/5/81 6B46 the 06.30 from Severn Tunnel Junction called at Lawrence Hill or Kingsland Road to detach Bristol area traffic then ran on to Bridgwater 6B46 arrives at Bridgwater and is seen crossing over from the down main to the up main line, the loco is Bath Roads 47327. The first 5 vehicle are VGAs in a pool allocated to ICI Wilton to convey bags of adipic acid to Bridgwater, there is an Interfrigo wagon loaded with peaches for Bridgwater, then another VGA to load Showering traffic to Law Junction, and some TTAs of caustic soda for British Cellophane bring up the rear. 9/8/83 The caustic soda had previously arrived in block trains sometimes from Baglan Bay with a South Wales 37 or 47 on the front. If the traffic came from Runcorn then the loco could be something more unusual, I think a class 40 may have made it through once or twice. The adipic acid VGAs were unloaded on the UKF siding by M Thomas who did the handling of the fertilizer traffic as well as acting as agents to handle other Speedlink traffic loading or unloading. Just beyond the bridge in the distance is the British Cellophane factory accessed by a ground frame off the down main line, 9/8/83 cheers

When we have a week off me & Mrs Rivercider like to get down to Devon or Cornwall and have made a start at walking the South West Coast Path, we are only enthusiastic amateurs, being easily distracted by things like stops for coffee, and pubs...... So far we have only done some of the easily accessible bits, but what a great way to get to the pub, This on the section from Exmouth heading towards Budleigh Salterton in Glorious Devon, 15/5/2012 cheers

Hi Andy I presume you are referring to the line into the Royal Ordnance Factory at Puriton, there was a ground frame on the down side at Huntspill just west of Highbridge with a set of three exchange sidings. The line from there into the ROF climbed steeply to cross the M5 on a bridge. BR locos left the traffic in the sidings, the ROF had a loco which would bring out traffic to exchange in the sidings once a day on weekdays. I never went up to Huntspill, I do not think there was road access anywhere near it, and of course the ROF was very secure, I believe armed MOD police would ride out with their loco when bringing explosives out for BR to collect. In the picture above of Bridgwater yard 08281 has a sulphuric acid tank from ISC Chemicals at Hallen Marsh and brake van ready for the Huntspill trip which ran mid morning. The main traffic was empty vanwides in and explosives out, though sometimes explosives came in as well. Explosives were dispatched every week day apart from friday as the wagons needed to reach their destination before the weekend as they could not be left in unattended yards. Usual destinations for the vans were KIneton, Glascoed, East Riggs, and Longtown, they would send between 1 - 6 a day. The acid tank arrived about one a week and could not be conveyed on the same train as the explosives due to the dangerous goods regulations, the discharged empty tank therefore was usually sent out on fridays when there were no explosives to go. Coal was received in 16t minerals, I think from Gedling Colliery, very occasionally the coal arrived in 24t MEOs which I think was a colliery error as they were rarely seen on the Western. Coal traffic was sporadic, none for couple of weeks, then perhaps 25 or 30 wagons would turn up over the course of a week. I have more photos at Bridgwater on Flickr, including a couple of the trip going to or from Huntspill, will post a few more on this thread including later in the 1980s when the traffic was passing in airbraked VEAs, cheers

Not that common in my experience, I have one photo of a 25 on Freightliner work, at Trent Junction, it may be the same working, though my notes have it as a Dudley - Nottingham service, I may well be wrong 25051 heads past Trent Junction towards Nottingham Freightliner terminal, 15/9/80 cheers

Would the 44 have come from Etruria with steelwork from BSC Shelton? I seem to recall that was a regular out and back working that would get a 44 home each day. cheers

Taking the Bristol route at Cogload Junction we next arrive at Bridgwater. The yard at Bridgwater was awkward to work with a very short head shunt behind the up platform, I think this stemmed from the fact that a large portion of the north or Bristol end of the yard had been removed to make way for the UKF/Shellstar fertilizer depot that occupied much of the area. Bridgwater yard could be a busy place on weekdays. In the early 1980s a trip left Taunton at 06.55, worked by a class 08 conveying general traffic including discharged flask wagons from Sellafield, this train was booked to carry water containers for the signal box at Cogload Junction. Traffic included occasional wagons of scrap to be weighed on the weighbridge in the yard, also wire from GKN at Cardiff for North Somerset Wire. A Exeter Riverside - London Midland Region freight called to attach the loaded flask later each day apart from Fridays. There was also a lot of traffic for the Royal Ordnance Factory at Puriton, coal in 16t minerals, tanks of acid, explosive materials and empty vanwides for loading with explosives. The UKF/Shellstar siding received a block train from Ince and Elton once a week, and British Cellophane received block trains of caustic soda tanks, and later tanks of heating oil. To start with here are some shots from 1980 when the Taunton trip was still running hauled by a class 08, Bath Road had received two class 09s 09024 and 09025 for this work, but they had gone elsewhere by the time I was taking photos. 08281 has just arrived with the 06.55 trip from Taunton, I think the headcode was 8B04. Traffic today is a brake van, possibly as a front barrier, a discharged flask, a tank of acid for the ROF, a 16t of scrap to be weighed, and unusually a long raft of empty engineers wagons. The engineers empties were backed off and left in the RSD sidings at the west end of the station. 12/9/80 The yard looks deceptively busy, but the grey unfitted 16t minerals, from the ROF, were stored out of use, during the steel strike earlier that year coal traffic dramatically declined and to free up space in yards in the coal fields unfitted coal wagons 16t and 21t were held at various locations around the network, many never saw further use and were scrapped. (Was the RSD sidings the site of the original Bristol and Exeter Carriage and wagon works?) After detaching the engineers wagons 08281 is preparing to get the 16t mineral wagon weighed, the acid tank and brake van are now formed up ready for the trip up the main line to Huntspill ground frame to hand over the acid tank to the ROF shunt loco to take into Puriton, 12/9/80 Later that day 47335 calls with 7M22 09.05 Exeter Riverside - Bescot service, the flask wagon by now loaded with a flask of nuclear waste has been attached to the train. In the formation are 3 empty explosives vans probably from Truro, 3 clayfits, some vanfits and what look like tubes which may be empty from Taunton Fairwater. The loaded flask wagon was always shunted into the spur behind the up platform by the trip pilot 08 ready for the train engine from 7M22 to collect. 12/9/80 cheers

Now moving east from Exeter up the main line into Somerset. Before leaving Devon the paper mill at Hele and Bradninch owned by Wiggins Teape had been receiving coal in 16t minerals until the late 1970s, I am not sure if this traffic lasted into the 1980s the unloading tippler at the paper mill can still be seen from the train today, though the goods loops and sidings went when the Exeter Area resignalling scheme got this far. At Tiverton Junction was an ESSO oil terminal served from Bromford Bridge and Fawley, I photoed a train of tanks that may well have been for this depot leaving Taunton 33003 makes a spirited departure from Taunton with a train of tanks from Fawley. Viewed from Forty Steps Footbridge which has been demolished and a replacement is under construction, 24/8/81. Taunton had a number of freight locations in the 1980s, Taunton Cider, Fairwater PAD, East Yard freight depot, and Taunton Concrete Works From the west Taunton Cider was the first to be encountered, located at Norton Fitzwarren, the sidings came off the start of the West Somerset branch Taunton Cider had a road-rail Unimog for shunting. Traffic started up from here in the Speedlink era and was quite important, the Taunton 08 pilot would deliver and collect traffic, Law Junction in Scotland was one of the main forwarding locations. EDIT - I have just found a photo at Norton Fitzwarren with the Taunton Cider siding in the background. The photo was taken on a summer Saturday of a passing passenger train but behind the train vehicles can be seen stabled the CAR (air piped brake van) used for the propelling move, a Procor curtain sided van and 2 VGA vans are stabled for the weekend. 50048 Dauntless speeds west past Norton Fitwarren with a service for the west country, 23/7/83 Next, just to the west of Taunton was the engineers Fairwater PAD (Pre-Assembley Depot) where track sections would be made up ready for relaying work. Incoming traffic was rails from Workington, concrete sleepers in tube wagons from Dowmac at Quedgeley and wood sleepers from the Ditton creosoting plant. Scrap rail from recovered track sections was also sent out. The site has now been relayed and is currently being used by Freightliner Heavyhaul for their engineering train operations. 37s were very rare in this area unless on engineering trains, 37204 was one of the first 37s allocated to Bath Road and is working 8X06 a 12.00 special from Bristol East Depot with empty wagons and loaded wagons of 'out of gauge' track sections to be dismantled at Fairwater, it is just approaching the yard. On the former up relief appears to be a rake of 21t hoppers, these are probably stored out of use. 24/8/81. Taunton East Yard was the freight yard handling cement from Aberthaw, 21t hoppers of coal in the CCD and various other traffic. In the early 1980s it also acted as the local sorting sidings and the pilot worked across the main line to shunt the Concrete Works on the up side of the main line. In the late 1970s/early 1980s the weekday trip to Bridgwater worked by a class 09 or 08 from Bath Road also started from here. In this view of Taunton East single power car L103 is on driver training duty, 45012 is working 7B54 14.00 Bristol East Depot - Meldon Quarry and the yard pilot is 08955. Presflos from Aberthaw and one of their lorries can be seen in the yard. On the very left of shot are the sidings outside the concrete works. 9/7/85 cheers