I like looking taking a look at specific areas, especially freight-wise, and Teeside is fascinating, if nowadays in decline.
For a really good background look at Teeside freight locations (back in EWS days) I strongly recommend the
poolieboy07 channel on youtube. The quantity of videos is overwhelming but if you click on the "playlists" tab there are separate playlists for Billingham/Norton, Thornaby/Tees, Ferryhill, Thompsons scrapyard & Stockton, and the Seal Sands Branch - the latter is particularly fascinating as it includes views of internal movements in ICI Billingham along with views of the HCN (Hydrocyanic acid) tanks.
For some freight cab rides in the Teeside area from a similar era, there are several on the
KennyQ08 channel including Redcar, Tees Dock and the Stillington branch.
For a general guide to the port infrastructure and how it relates to rail traffic in the area, the "Tees and Hartlepool Port Handbook 2017/18" is an interesting PDF document from PD Ports:
https://www.pdports.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Tees-and-Hartlepool-2017.pdf
(When I'm referring to Quail maps below I mean the Trackmaps series, for any younger readers).
1) I honestly can't think what the last regular freight was into Hartlepool Docks. A lovely 1989 OPC Book "Rail Freight Today" by C.R. Anthony & B. Rogers mentions the "Linkflow" private siding in the docks occasionally handling imported steel 'forwarded as required.' Linkflow is also mentioned as handling Reed Paper "much of which goes to Carlisle." I think the Reed Paper factory is still open, now trading as Saica Pack, and produces corrugated cardboard and related packaging. Looks like it's not actually located in the docks but close enough for it to have been a convenient loading point in Speedlink days. I assume there has been occasional traffic from the docks since Speedlink ended, but I can't think what or when. Hartlepool Docks is owned by PD Ports and their website mentions that "Hartlepool offers rail access." Probably falls into the "not in use but could be reactivated if required" bracket. I think PD Ports see rail access as an asset that might be potentially useful for future contracts. The "Invest in Hartlepool" website to this day proudly boasts that "British Rail also operate regular speedlink freight services to Harwich, Southampton, Stranraer and Warrington. Space is bookable on air braked rolling stock for next day delivery." If only!
A bit further north, I found this video of a scrap train from Sunderland South Dock in 2016 -
Video: South Dock Freight 2016
Channel: 54A
Another more recent video shows the track recording unit visiting the branch.
Some good historical pictures in this RMWeb thread:
https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/i...-dock-branch-to-reopen-2015/?findpost=1609701
Seaham appears to be taking a trainload of cement about once a week from Tunstead at the moment, and has previously had trains from Oxwellmains. One of the KennyQ08 cab rides goes right down into the cement terminal. I have a vague idea that there was a trial of steel coil from Seaham a few years back, although I could be confusing it with somewhere else...
2) Seaton on Tees - still in use for Flask trains, already mentioned.
3) Hartlepool Pipe Mill. The pipe mill receives regular trainloads of steel coil, on open coil carriers, from Port Talbot (I believe this goes into the area marked "20 inch pipe mill" on a quail map). The pipe mill dispatches the big diameter pipes up to Georgemas (also to Leith in the past). Not sure when these last ran; I think this flow depends on individual contracts rather than being continuous. Smaller diameter pipes also used to be sent up to Laurencekirk (and later Raiths Farm at Aberdeen) but I don't think these have run for a few years.
I'm slightly baffled by the "Graythorp scrapyard" on that map. Able UK appear to be located adjacent to the Seaton on Tees branch and had a planning application in 2007 for "Installation of a railway track. This would branch off from the power station line and would further branch into two routes either side of the dock". From google satellite imagery there is no evidence of a scrapyard near the sidings for the pipe mill, and no evidence of any sidings being constructed as per the planning application. Might be some kind of planning saga with the plans changing, or perhaps this is fantasy railfreight planning syndrome - locals might know more.
4) There are two terminals at Redcar, shown on a quail map as "Redcar Mineral Terminal" and "Redcar Ore Terminal" (the whole complex is known as Redcar Bulk Terminal). A quail map shows a junction off the main line at Redcar Ore Terminal Junction, the branch then splitting shortly afterwards at Tod Point Junction into the two terminals. To the left (mineral terminal) the track gives the appearance of being disused on google maps. To the right, the track looks in better condition and leads beneath the massive overhead bunkers and conveyors which can be seen in this view of a jumbo train leaving the terminal for Scunthorpe last year loaded with either coal or coke (?).
https://www.railfreight.com/railfre...ing-forecast-tidal-wave-of-trains-for-redcar/
A promotional video on youtube shows the dock area and has some interesting glimpses of the rail facilities -
Video Title - RedcarBulkTerminal.
Channel - Redcarbulk
The sight of a Freightliner coal train dropping coal into a hopper is confusing me, but pausing the video at 1.12 shows a GBRF coal train under a massive overhead bunker / conveyor system. On google maps, the track running down the side of the bunker runs beyond this point to a roadway next to stockpiles of coal and aggregates. This must be the siding pictured in this article, which shows a DRS 66 with a rake of sidetippers loaded with ballast:
https://www.railfreight.com/uk/2019...ling-bulk-to-regenerate-the-north-of-england/
These trains are mentioned in previous posts as running to Doncaster this week. Last year they were running to Carlisle-
Video: DRS Class 66302 with ballast wagons pass Darlington on Redcar B.S.C Ore to Carlisle 20/04/20
Channel: Darlington Railways
Historically, I think the mineral terminal was where minerals such as the lime from Thrislington / Hardendale was offloaded for use in the steelworks. The ore terminal had a connection into the steelworks internal railway as well as the link to the main line. The power station coal traffic obviously dwindled with the rundown of coal, but in EWS days Redcar also used to send out coal in MEAs to cement works at Penyffordd, Ketton, Clitheroe, and Rugby yard (for New Bilton). Coke from Redcar to Scunthorpe ran for a long time in HEA wagons, but I believe it switched to HTAs (?) and has also run to Port Talbot in these wagons. There's also a Facebook post from GBRF in summer 2019 referring to a short term contract moving coke nuts from Redcar to Scunthorpe in box wagons -
https://www.facebook.com/GBRailfreight/posts/2302547669828160
There have been "jumbo" trains of double-headed 66s hauling HKAs from Redcar to Scunthorpe, but I'm not 100% sure if this was coal or coke.
Video Title: Jumbo Coal Train with DB Cargo 66044 and 66136.
Channel - stephensrailways
To confuse things further, in 2019 a new flow started from Redcar to Scunthorpe conveying some kind of substitute mineral product similar to PFA (pulverised fuel ash) for use in the manufacture of GGBS (Ground Granulated Blast-furnace Slag - a cement additive / partial substitute) in a plant at Scunthorpe. I think this was to replace material normally obtained from coal-fired power stations. This was conveyed in open boxes (MBAs, MEAs and SSAs) but I don't think this has run for a while. There's a video here where you can see a small dust cloud being created by something which is clearly light-coloured, unlike coke:
Video: DB 66192 works 6D15 Redcar BSC Ore Terminal to Scunthorpe Trent Sidings @ Sherburn-in-Elmet | 1/9/19
Channel: 317 Dan
5) "Redcar Corus" on the map was the Redcar blast furnaces which had an internal "hot metal railway" connecting them to the steelmaking plant next to the rolling mills at Lackenby, already mentioned. I don't think this line was used by any locos or wagons coming from the main line network, I think it was purely an internal system.
6) Seal Sands / Port Clarence / Haverton Hill. I don't think there are any current flows on the branch. The most recent traffic was probably the GBRF petroleum flow in the distinctive "Greenergy" tanks from Port Clarence to Cardiff Docks which I believe ended early in 2019.
There's a nice video on youtube showing the loading process:
Video: Loading a train
Channel: Greenergy International
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F_iwssLL-Q
There appear to have been four terminals at Seal Sands. Right at the very end of the branch is Simon Storage North. The last traffic out of here that I can remember was caustic soda in tank wagons for Dalry, tripped to Tees yard and then moved by Enterprise (I believe this switched origin to Runcorn Folly Lane in 2002). There were also some fuel oil trains running from here in the early 2000s, I remember seeing one running to West Burton with a class 56 and 2-axle tanks. I suspect Simon Storage might also have dispatched odd wagons to Sellafield - maybe sulphuric acid - but I could be confusing this with similar flows from Sandbach and Middlesbrough Goods.
Simon Storage South is shown on quail maps as a polypropelene terminal (its the one on your map opposite BASF) - the siding still appears to exist but I've no knowledge of when it was last in active use; I suspect it's not been active since British Rail days.
BASF at Seal Sands despatched Hydrocyanic acid to Haverton Hill. From youtube it appears trains arriving here diverged from the branch, immediately crossed a road on an open crossing, ran into a run-round loop labelled as "Monsanto sidings" on older quail maps, ran round, drew forward into a headshunt not shown on the quail map, then backed into the BASF sidings themselves. The track in this area appears to have been lifted according to google maps, but you can see the outline of the lifted sidings.
Video - 56131 hcn tanks seal sands 28 12 00
Channel - poolieboy07
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVMqDuPxvpA
For a blast from the past, below is a link to a picture of the first recorded working from Seal Sands in 1970 - presumably from the Monsanto sidings mentioned above, next to BASF.
https://picturestocktonarchive.com/2013/12/13/first-timetabled-train-seal-sands-c1970/
If you skip to 9min in this video you get a window view on the branch past Port Clarence:
Video: The Durham Coast Railtour..37415 and 37428..12/08/2000
Channel: Nick Parry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eze8ghJ28MM
A line from the Greenergy terminal joins from the right. There is a run round loop here, which would be where the Greenergy trains ran round to propel into the terminal. The line into "Port Clarence Sidings" is about to join from the left just before the end of the sequence. These sidings were used for tank wagon repairs during the EWS era. I believe the actual refinery (owned by Petroplus) ceased production in 2012 (presumably the tank trains stopped at the same time?), and the later Greenergy traffic was from a storage terminal on the site.
At Haverton Hill (ICI Billingham), I think the last chemicals traffic was the HCN train from Seal Sands. Paul Shannon's "EWS" book says the last chemicals workings at Haverton Hill ceased in 2002. Apparently the last carbon dioxide rail traffic in the UK was from Haverton Hill to Willesden, ceasing in 1998. Haverton Hill sidings (or at least parts of the rail system there) remained open; on the poolieboy07 channel there is footage of DRS using the location in 2005 (presumably for wagon repairs) - see all the videos from Belasis Lane. There have been some other odd bits and pieces on the branch - on the same poolieboy07 channel there is footage of freightliner 66s on trains of contaminated ballast at Port Clarence - but apart from the petroleum traffic from Port Clarence, the line hasn't seen much use in recent years.
7) I'd never heard of TRIP, but it appears to be an extension of the AV Dawson facility more commonly referred to by the railway as "Middlesbrough Goods." There are some pictures here, including the resident class 08 shunter (you can click on the cycling pictures halfway down the page to see slightly bigger versions):
https://www.portofmiddlesbrough.com/rail-freight/
This article in the Northern Echo has a bit more info (lots of ads, best viewed with an ad blocker)!
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/b...n-moving-tar-tanks-port-talbot-port-clarence/
It refers to a contract to receive "tar tanks" from Port Talbot, which are ISO tank containers loaded on FKA intermodal flats. I assume the contents are some residue of the steelmaking process, possibly coal tar, which has industrial uses. This runs as a block train overnight from South Wales and is fairly distinct compared to the average intermodal train as it consists only of 20ft ISO tank containers.
So TRIP at Middlesbrough goods is active, but I don't think the actual wharf itself right by the river is currently in use (judging from Google maps).
There is a modern steel warehouse which receives regular trainloads of steel coil (in covered wagons) from Port Talbot and Llanwern (same train calls at both). Cobra / Aryton is the long established terminal for the Boulby traffic and there appear to be a couple of trains running per day.
There are also gypsum trains loaded at Middlesbrough goods. On the website already linked is a picture of some GBRF box wagons being loaded, probably with gypsum. There are paths to/from Hotchley Hill, but I don't know how recently those have run. On google maps you can see blue gypsum containers on flat wagons in the terminal (along with the tar tanks mentioned above). There are currently regular gypsum trains from Middlesbrough to Kirkby Thore (Newbiggin) using MBA box wagons.
Middlesbrough Goods was also used as the loading point for tanks of nitric acid to Sellafield (maybe a couple of tanks at a time, not a full trainload), but I don't think this has run since last year.
8) Tees Dock and Teesport are the same place (I think the port is named Teesport and Tees Dock is more of a railway name)
Wilton freightliner terminal was replaced by Teesport intermodal terminal in 2014, already mentioned.
Freightliner run a daily service to and from Felixstowe. DB run trains to both Mossend and Grangemouth. GBRF are running a service to and from Doncaster Iport, and DRS have a triangular Daventry - Iport - Tees Dock - Daventry service for Tesco.
There is also the Cleveland Potash terminal which can receive 2 or 3 trains daily from Boulby.
If you look on google maps satellite imagery you can see a potash train at Tees Dock, more potash wagons being unloaded in the terminal (is that an internal shunting loco?), and a Freightliner intermodal train on the container loading pad, plus more intermodal wagons stabled in sidings nearby, beside which there appear to be 2 or 3 shunt locos stabled/ stored (?).
Tees Dock also sometimes receives trainloads of steel slab from Scunthorpe for export - these presumably run as required to connect with loadings of specific ships. When Redcar was producing steel, slabs were also exported through Tees Dock. In latter days some of these ran on main line trains (reversing at Grangetown I think), although there was also access from the internal steelworks railway onto Tees Dock. Another flow that used to run in EWS days was containerised chemicals to Workington.
Wilton: The "coal terminal" shown at Wilton would have been the power station for the ICI works which used to receive trainloads of coal in HAAs. Siding looks intact on google maps but I don't know if the power station is still there. "Wilton FLT" is now the Suez terminal for containerised household waste from Knowsley, as already mentioned. The other sidings here at Wilton appear to be disused and there hasn't been any chemicals traffic out of Wilton for many years, perhaps since British Rail days.
Lackenby: Although steelmaking has ceased at Redcar, Teeside Beam Mill still produces steel sections using steel slab from Scunthorpe. Slab trains on the Scunthorpe - Tees - Lackenby route (2 trains a day usually) also convey slab for Dalzell and Skinningrove which is detached at Tees, as suggested in another post.
In general, steel traffic heading for Teeside is either slab from Scunthorpe (to Lackenby / Dalzell / Skinningrove / Tees Dock), Coil on open wagons from Port Talbot to Hartlepool, or coil in covered wagons from Port Talbot & Llanwern to Middlesbrough goods.
Sorry for the rambling nostalgia and some repetiton of points already mentioned, but I hope some of those links are useful. If anyone can clarify some of the above where my memory is hazy or my knowledge is fuzzy, it would be appreciated!
