I’m pretty sure it has to run round or reverse twice to get in and out of the bulk terminal, there’s a fairly generous time for it to get from there to the waste plant. The waste plant entrance is also in the up direction, so once it’s entered the siding it then has to reverse into the plant, this might be a propelling move.
Yes... I was thinking about that after I'd posted about there being no direct access from Severnside into the Bulk Handling Terminal for 6A03 - the same also applies heading into Severnside for 6C03! Thankfully the moves have been observed with some good drone shots on flickr by robmcrorie and Andy Hoare. The caption to this shot of the Bulk Handling Terminal helps clarify that 6C03 runs round here, runs forward onto the Filton branch and then propels onto the Severn Beach line:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robmcrorie/54384438383/ (Photo: robmcrorie)
That picture is taken looking towards Severnside, with these photos giving slightly different angles on the run round move:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robmcrorie/54369485088/ (Photo: robmcrorie)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/andy_hoare/54419127745/ (Photo: Andy Hoare)
Avonmouth Bennetts siding is visible on the left of this shot, along with the silos of the cement terminal.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/andy_hoare/54372222354/ (Photo: Andy Hoare)
From the run round loop at Severnside, the train is propelled into the terminal and split across two sidings for unloading and reloading of containers, as seen here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/andy_hoare/54417390175/ (Photo: Andy Hoare)
Severnside waste terminal sidings with the "Energy from Waste" incinerator behind:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/andy_hoare/54374203983/ (Photo: Andy Hoare)
Once reloading with empty containers is completed, the train can reform, run round, and 6A03 normally departs via Clifton Down. I found a few pictures of 6C03 running top & tail in previous years, and a couple of them from 2020 mention possessions at Clifton as the reason:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/153712773@N08/49753508548/ (Photo: Steven Clements)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/brian_dentons_linesidephotos-europe/50151467858/ (Photo: Brian Denton)
I'm fairly sure that this train is currently only top & tailed if engineering work requires it - the question is if 6A03 has to run via Filton, what stops it doing a propelling move onto the Filton branch to access the Bulk Handling Terminal to run round there as per the outward 6C03?
The whole situation is becoming a major farce now - I still don't understand why Tata thought it was a good idea to spend a huge amount of money to create a fleet of bodged up wagon conversions rather than allowing DB to run the Portbury trains using purpose built, tried and tested steel carriers, as they do from Newport/Cardiff.
I think DB were just on a short-term contract while the three-year contract was sorted out. Workings were always STP and at times a bit ad-hoc.
It may not be GBRF’s fault, it depends on who procured the wagons, and whether a specification was given that a supplier has failed to meet. Does anyone know any more details on this?
I mentioned in a previous post that the wagons might be hired directly to Tata, but it's equally possible that the contract is set up so that the haulier supplies the wagons, in which case the KEAs might be on hire from VTG to GBRF. I can't find any press releases that make it clear one way or the other. Either way, I suspect there's a bit of contractual wrangling going on! It's interesting that the KEA wagons did leave loaded in the end (post #1829 above); we'll see what happens with these trains next week.
I read somewhere that Tata have a general policy of spreading risk when it comes to suppliers, so it's understandable that they want alternative options instead of a single haulier owning all the slab wagons and providing all the services for a critical materials flow (for the coil traffic many of the wagons are hired from third parties like VTG or Touax, making it easier for other companies to bid against DB during contract renewal). There is some recent history of wagon conversions on steel traffic, such as the
JSA covered coil carriers converted from iron ore tipplers, which have since been converted again to either open coil carriers or box wagons. Having said that, cut-down KEA box wagons don't seem an obvious choice for slab traffic.
While on the topic of Tata wagons, this recent video on the Tata Steel UK channel has some interesting snippets of information on the scrap traffic that will be required when the electric arc furnace goes into production around 2027:
Tata Steel UK | SteelCast S3 E36: Step inside Port Talbot's £1.25 billion megaproject
The video starts in Margam yard; 66158 nearest the camera (seen departing at 3:25) is most likely on the 6B48 afternoon working to Trostre, which usually has import coils on it from Cardiff or Newport Docks - note the shipping labels on them. A figure of 70,000 tons of scrap per week is mentioned - if that amount arrives by rail, and there were ~1500 tons of scrap on each train, that would amount to something like 7 trains a day, six days a week. Those would replace a similar number of import steel services (slab and coil), but the scrap would be travelling from further afield.
At 6:06 the video moves across to the Peafield (or P. Field as shown on Trackmaps) siding, located between the main area of internal sidings to the south of the steelworks and Port Talbot Grange sidings. Import or Export slab traffic by rail was previously loaded or unloaded from the area of hardstanding to the left, but as mentioned in a previous post, the unloading of import slab now appears to have relocated elsewhere within the works. Trains accessed the Peafield siding with main line traction, but the slab trains now seem to be hauled by Tata internal locos to a different siding accessed from the other end of the works.
As discussed in the video, this Peafield siding will become the offloading point and sorting area for scrap traffic arriving by rail. Scrap traffic is traditionally conveyed in box wagons, but the video talks about the use of "Rotainers" - rotable containers. This is a brand name for a company providing various types of container designed for bulk handling, which can be lifted (e.g. by crane or reach stacker) using a special attachment which rotates the container to empty it, as seen here on the company's YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaxS0JVRlBx9E9ti9Omk47w/videos
The rotainer website -
https://www.rotainer.com/ - lists a "Scraptainer" which the accompanying picture shows to be a toughened 20ft high cube designed specifically for scrap - the idea of "replaceable wear plates" sounds good considering how much of a battering scrap wagons get in typical use. Maybe we'll see something like this being used (a version which wasn't a high cube would be more suitable for UK routes). Tata have previously used containers for their Hardendale lime and the "tar tanks" to Middlesbrough, so they have some experience of using containers for bulk flows.
Later in the Tata video, there's a conveyor leading to an overhead bunker visible when the camera pans round at 13:53 - I think this is where coal trains for Llanwern were loaded in the Grange Sidings "back in the day" (with iron ore coming from Port Talbot docks down a separate branch joining the main line west of Margam Yard). After the blast furnaces shut last year there were some coke trains from Port Talbot Grange Sidings to Scunthorpe to clear stocks. It's possible these were loaded using this overhead bunker, assuming it's still functional, or they might have been loaded by shovel nearby. The smaller shed next to the overhead bunker is where coal from Cwmbargoed was discharged. Scrap from Trostre was previously unloaded from SSA wagons nearby within the Grange sidings, and processed slag (for use as aggregate) was also loaded into bogie hoppers here for despatch by Freightliner to various Tarmac terminals such as Hayes or Radlett.
60046 has worked the first Penmaenmawr - Willesden for DCR today. Complete with headboard and load 24. I'd be interested to know where it goes after Willesden but at a cursory glance it did'nt look like ballast.
The headboard was "Y Chwarelwr Penmaenmawr" which is supposed to translate as "The Penmaenmawr Quarryman", as far as I'm aware the load, variously described as stone, aggregate & granite, is destined for Quainton Railhead and HS2
Yes, the wagons went forward on 6M30 to Quainton this morning. The material does look a bit finer than railway ballast from what I can see in these photos of 6M22 from Penmaenmawr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/whosoever2/54475545096/ (Photo: Nigel Capelle)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stationger43041/54475469206/ (Photo: Geraint Jones)
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