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Industrial Steam in the 80s

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Arglwydd Golau

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Unless my memory is playing tricks, I seem to recall noticing a fireless loco adjacent to the Wolverhampton - Stafford line in the early 1980's...perhaps someone might have the precise location?
 
Martello

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Acton Lane Power Station, near Willsden Jc, had a final enthusiasts' open day in 1981. There were two 0-4-0STs, LITTLE BARFORD (Barclay 2069/1939) and BIRKENHEAD (RSH 7386/1948). I don't know how much use they had in the last year or so but they had been kept busy in the winter in the 1970s.
 

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Bevan Price

Bevan Price

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Arglwydd Golau said:
Unless my memory is playing tricks, I seem to recall noticing a fireless loco adjacent to the Wolverhampton - Stafford line in the early 1980's...perhaps someone might have the precise location?
Click to expand...

There was a chemicals factory at Four Oaks, and also, at one time, there was a station located next to the road underbridge.
 
martinsh

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Arglwydd Golau said:
Unless my memory is playing tricks, I seem to recall noticing a fireless loco adjacent to the Wolverhampton - Stafford line in the early 1980's...perhaps someone might have the precise location?
Click to expand...

Bevan Price said:
There was a chemicals factory at Four Oaks, and also, at one time, there was a station located next to the road underbridge.
Click to expand...
Just to clarify, the place concerned is Four Ashes not Four Oaks (which is near Sutton Coldfield). And yes, there was a fireless loco there for many years, though it never seemed to be in use.
 
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Shimbleshanks

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martinsh said:
Just to clarify, the place concerned is Four Ashes not Four Oaks (which is near Sutton Coldfield). And yes, there was a fireless loco there for many years, though it never seemed to be in use.
Click to expand...
I saw it from a passing train in the early 1980s and it did seem to be in steam, if I recall correctly.
 
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Arglwydd Golau

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martinsh said:
Just to clarify, the place concerned is Four Ashes not Four Oaks (which is near Sutton Coldfield). And yes, there was a fireless loco there for many years, though it never seemed to be in use.
Click to expand...

Ah thank you, I had a quick look on the map a little earlier and saw 'Four Ashes' and wondered whether Bevan price had made a mistake. I'm pretty certain I saw it in steam too, very close to the main line.
 
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randyrippley

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martinsh said:
Just to clarify, the place concerned is Four Ashes not Four Oaks (which is near Sutton Coldfield). And yes, there was a fireless loco there for many years, though it never seemed to be in use.
Click to expand...

I think the location will be the old Croda Synthetic Chemicals plant, now owned by the USA company Schenectady International.
There's mention of the location, discussion of removing the track for reuse, and a couple of photos of the loco on this blog site
https://chasewaterstuff.wordpress.com/tag/croda-chemicals/
 
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Arglwydd Golau

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randyrippley said:
I think the location will be the old Croda Synthetic Chemicals plant, now owned by the USA company Schenectady International.
There's mention of the location, discussion of removing the track for reuse, and a couple of photos of the loco on this blog site
https://chasewaterstuff.wordpress.com/tag/croda-chemicals/
Click to expand...

Yes, that's the one! Good to know that my memory wasn't playing tricks! The loco in front of the industrial complex is exactly how I remember it. The report also confirms that the loco was in steam in February 1981 at the time of the BLS visit.
 
Bevan Price

Bevan Price

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Arglwydd Golau said:
Ah thank you, I had a quick look on the map a little earlier and saw 'Four Ashes' and wondered whether Bevan price had made a mistake. I'm pretty certain I saw it in steam too, very close to the main line.
Click to expand...

Yes - sorry - I should have typed Four Ashes, not Four Oaks - must have been starting to fall asleep after 23:00 at night.
The Industrial Railway Society Handbook for South Staffordshire notes that the site opened in 1952 for Midland Tar Distillers, with several name changes it became Croda Synthetic Chemicals Ltd by 1976. The sole loco was the Barclay fireless, built in 1927, previously with Reckitt & Coleman at Norwich, and said to have seen occasional use at Four Ashes until 1991. It was sold in 1992 to Telford Horsehay Steam Trust.
 
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Arglwydd Golau

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Many thanks Bevan Price for that information, it saves me having to do a search, I'm glad it was saved. It must have been the last industrial loco in use if it occasionally worked until 1991. When this thread started I looked through my father's notes but could find no mention of it...very strange, as he would often make a long detour in the hope of finding an industrial loco, I'm sure that I would have informed him of the location.
 
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