Industrial Steam in the 80s

montyburns56 · 3 Nov 2019

I started a thread on the RMweb forum of pictures of industrial steam still in use in the 70s, but what surprised me was how many places were still using it into the early 80s as well. I've managed to compile a list of approximate dates of when they stopped being used, but I was wondering if anyone else has proof of later dates of it's usage or of any other locations not listed.

Bickershaw Colliery 1983
Marine Colliery, Ebbw Vale 1985
Wheldale Colliery 1982
Kearsley Power Station 1982 (Fireless loco)
Agecroft Power Station 1981
Falmouth Docks 1986
R.B.Tennent Steelworks 1984
Boots, Beeston 1980 (fireless loco)
Glaxo, Ulverston 1991 (fireless loco)
Bold Colliery 1983
Bedlay Colliery 1981
Shipley Scrap Yard 1983
Castle Donnington Power Station 198?

RailUK Forums

Cowley · 4 Nov 2019

montyburns56 said:
I started a thread on the RMweb forum of pictures of industrial steam still in use in the 70s, but what surprised me was how many places were still using it into the early 80s as well. I've managed to compile a list of approximate dates of when they stopped being used, but I was wondering if anyone else has proof of later dates of it's usage or of any other locations not listed.

Bickershaw Colliery 1983
Marine Colliery, Ebbw Vale 1985
Wheldale Colliery 1982
Kearsley Power Station 1982 (Fireless loco)
Agecroft Power Station 1981
Falmouth Docks 1986
R.B.Tennent Steelworks 1984
Boots, Beeston 1980 (fireless loco)
Glaxo, Ulverston 1991 (fireless loco)
Bold Colliery 1983
Bedlay Colliery 1981
Shipley Scrap Yard 1983
Castle Donnington Power Station 198?

Falmouth Docks has always fascinated me. I just wish I’d seen them still at work there.

Shimbleshanks · 4 Nov 2019

As a teenager I remember going to see the steam locos at Bersham Colliery near Wrexham in the mid to late 1970s. They may have hung on into the 1980s but I'm not sure.

alistairlees · 4 Nov 2019

Steam at Shipley may have lasted a little longer than 1983. I went past this twice daily on the bus to and from school and remember frequently seeing steam in operation. Probably no later than 1984 or 1985 though. Unfortunately I never took any photographs.

randyrippley · 4 Nov 2019

Heysham nuclear power station had at least two fireless locos until 1991, possibly later though in the latter years they were kept as backups to the diesels

sprinterguy · 5 Nov 2019

South Hetton Colliery was the last place to operate steam in daily commercial use in North East England: This ceased in 1976 so the region is otherwise out of the running in this particular discussion.

I believe that Castle Donington Power Station was the last industrial operator of steam in the UK, though it's less clear as to when they stopped operating steam commercially: The locos were in steam for an Industrial Railway Society visit in 1988, and No.1 was certainly still operational in 1990, but reportedly the locos had been superseded by diesels in day to day use by the time they featured in the BBC TV series "The Train Now Departing" in 1988:
https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/robert-stephenson-hawthorn-works-no-7817-no-1-0-4-0st/

lyndhurst25 · 5 Nov 2019

Mountain Ash Colliery? There's a picture of a steam loco operating there in September 1979 on Flickr, so steam may have continued into the 1980s.

341o2 · 5 Nov 2019

One line that literally just made it into the 80's was the Graig Merthyr colliery system, the mine and railway to it closed June 1978, but the section between "the dump" and the exchange yard with BR saw occasional use for another 18 months

https://www.heritagerailway.co.uk/2...raig-merthyr-sadder-with-other-tales-to-tell/

montyburns56 · 5 Nov 2019

sprinterguy said:
South Hetton Colliery was the last place to operate steam in daily commercial use in North East England: This ceased in 1976 so the region is otherwise out of the running in this particular discussion.

I believe that Castle Donington Power Station was the last industrial operator of steam in the UK, though it's less clear as to when they stopped operating steam commercially: The locos were in steam for an Industrial Railway Society visit in 1988, and No.1 was certainly still operational in 1990, but reportedly the locos had been superseded by diesels in day to day use by the time they featured in the BBC TV series "The Train Now Departing" in 1988:
https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/robert-stephenson-hawthorn-works-no-7817-no-1-0-4-0st/

Thanks, I wasn't aware of South Hetton Colliery. I'm aware of the CDPS, but I've never been able to find pictures of steam in the 80s although as you say there is the footage from TTNP.

montyburns56 · 5 Nov 2019

341o2 said:
One line that literally just made it into the 80's was the Graig Merthyr colliery system, the mine and railway to it closed June 1978, but the section between "the dump" and the exchange yard with BR saw occasional use for another 18 months

https://www.heritagerailway.co.uk/2...raig-merthyr-sadder-with-other-tales-to-tell/

Thanks, there is a photo that says that steam was still in use until Jan 1980.

montyburns56 · 5 Nov 2019

lyndhurst25 said:
Mountain Ash Colliery? There's a picture of a steam loco operating there in September 1979 on Flickr, so steam may have continued into the 1980s.

There's plenty of pics of Mountain Ash, but I haven't been able to find any of steam in use in the 80s.

341o2 · 5 Nov 2019

montyburns56 said:
Thanks, there is a photo that says that steam was still in use until Jan 1980.

Steam worked to the end - Dai James sidled up, and softly spoke these now oft-quoted words of wisdom in his soft Welsh burr voice: “We did have a diesel here once, but it just wasn’t the same…”

martinsh · 5 Nov 2019

An addition to your list is Smithy Wood Coking Plant, near Chapeltown (South Yorkshire). This certainly still had steam in later 1979, I believe it lasted until about 1981.

xotGD · 5 Nov 2019

The last working industrial steam loco in north east England was No. 77 at Norwood Coke Works. I'm not sure if it made it into the 80s before withdrawal.

Malcmal · 6 Nov 2019

Class J94 number 68078 was still hanging around Widdrington opencast until at least 1987 and I remember seeing it myself even in store there. Does anyone know when it last ran in steam?

sprinterguy · 6 Nov 2019

xotGD said:
The last working industrial steam loco in north east England was No. 77 at Norwood Coke Works. I'm not sure if it made it into the 80s before withdrawal.

Yeah, while South Hetton Colliery holds the distinction of last daily commercial steam operation in the North East, I did wonder what the last location in the region to lose steam completely was: Some locos hung on as spare motive power at locations such as Seaham's Vane Tempest colliery (and Widdrington it would seem from the comment above) that might have seen them into the start of the eighties, but I don't know whether they ever saw use during that time or remained stored in a shed.

sprinterguy · 6 Nov 2019

I'd like to add that Cadley Hill Colliery near Swadlincote in Derbyshire had working steam until early 1982. In fact I believe by the late seventies it was the last fully steam worked colliery in Britain (In North East England, the Backworth Colliery Railway north of the Tyne was entirely steam worked until closure in December 1975). Unsurprisingly, the last five locos withdrawn at Cadley Hill in 1982 have all been preserved.

Lancaster Power Station operated two Andrew Barclay fireless steam locos until it's closure in 1981, which both then moved to Heysham power station to shunt nuclear flask wagons until 1991, by which time they were both spare to two battery electric locos.

341o2 · 6 Nov 2019

Cowley said:
Falmouth Docks has always fascinated me. I just wish I’d seen them still at work there.

In the final years, there was only one servicible steam loco - no3, and the fact that it had been recently overhauled was partly why it lasted so long. Every now and then it would be "Let's fire it up and give it a run, which continued until August 1986, when it was officially withdrawn.
In the early 70's following a Railway Magazine article, plus a family holiday in Cornwall resulted in visits to Par and Falmouth docks. I was only allowed as far as the engine shed, in fact, I believe that myself and another enthusiast were offered a ride in the loco cab back to the main gates rather than having us wandering unsupervised throught the docks.

Fleetwood Boy · 6 Nov 2019

I’ve always been intrigued by some of the locations which used steam locos. Obvious for a colliery or a coal fuelled power station. But what was the motivation at other locations? Steam locomotives at a nuclear power station is down right weird.

Bevan Price · 6 Nov 2019

Fleetwood Boy said:
I’ve always been intrigued by some of the locations which used steam locos. Obvious for a colliery or a coal fuelled power station. But what was the motivation at other locations? Steam locomotives at a nuclear power station is down right weird.

Possibly because they still had steam locos in good condition, and the amount of work did not justify the cost of buying a replacement diesel loco.?

Fireless · 6 Nov 2019

Fleetwood Boy said:
I’ve always been intrigued by some of the locations which used steam locos. Obvious for a colliery or a coal fuelled power station. But what was the motivation at other locations? Steam locomotives at a nuclear power station is down right weird.

Economy.
A nuclear power station produces steam on a scale where a fireless locomotive can be charged for pretty much free (there might even be waste steam available at a suitable pressure) and fireless locomotives are pretty simple and robust technology.

380101 · 14 Nov 2019

Shell bitumen refinery in Ardrossan used a Barclay 0-4-0 Fireless daily up until 1986 when it was donated to the Ayrshire Railway Preservation Group and is still in operational order and the only Fireless steam loco operational in the UK.

341o2 · 15 Nov 2019

Fireless said:
Economy.
A nuclear power station produces steam on a scale where a fireless locomotive can be charged for pretty much free (there might even be waste steam available at a suitable pressure) and fireless locomotives are pretty simple and robust technology.

Fireless locomotives can work in situations where there is a fire hazard created by sparks from a conventional locomotives. Bowater's paper mills Sittingbourne had one such loco in the days of commercial operation

33017 · 16 Nov 2019

I can remember seeing steam working at Brynlliw Colliery and there are photo's online of one loco working there in July 1980.

montyburns56 · 16 Nov 2019

martinsh said:
An addition to your list is Smithy Wood Coking Plant, near Chapeltown (South Yorkshire). This certainly still had steam in later 1979, I believe it lasted until about 1981.

Cheers and there's lots of wonderful pictures on Flickr to prove it...

81-1160A by Christopher Yapp, on Flickr

montyburns56 · 16 Nov 2019

xotGD said:
The last working industrial steam loco in north east England was No. 77 at Norwood Coke Works. I'm not sure if it made it into the 80s before withdrawal.

Thanks. I've found some pictures of it 78 when it was in a ridiculously clean ex-works condition

https://flic.kr/p/ytXzbU

montyburns56 · 16 Nov 2019

Malcmal said:
Class J94 number 68078 was still hanging around Widdrington opencast until at least 1987 and I remember seeing it myself even in store there. Does anyone know when it last ran in steam?

I've looked on the net and I can only find pictures of it still in use in the early 70s.

montyburns56 · 16 Nov 2019

sprinterguy said:
I'd like to add that Cadley Hill Colliery near Swadlincote in Derbyshire had working steam until early 1982. In fact I believe by the late seventies it was the last fully steam worked colliery in Britain (In North East England, the Backworth Colliery Railway north of the Tyne was entirely steam worked until closure in December 1975). Unsurprisingly, the last five locos withdrawn at Cadley Hill in 1982 have all been preserved.

Thanks and according to this picture one of the locos at Cadley Hill was still on site in a well maintained condition in 1987. I suspect that it wasn't in regular use though.

BLS Cadley Hill Colliery visit 17 July 1987 (3) by 40065, on Flickr

montyburns56 · 16 Nov 2019

380101 said:
Shell bitumen refinery in Ardrossan used a Barclay 0-4-0 Fireless daily up until 1986 when it was donated to the Ayrshire Railway Preservation Group and is still in operational order and the only Fireless steam loco operational in the UK.

Thanks and there's a pic here of it in 1982

https://flic.kr/p/dguQjs

montyburns56 · 16 Nov 2019

33017 said:
I can remember seeing steam working at Brynlliw Colliery and there are photo's online of one loco working there in July 1980.

Thanks, there's an album of it use in 1980 here.

https://www.philt.org.uk/Industrial/NCB/i-Hm4SVTZ

Industrial Steam in the 80s

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