Dockside Railways

[kermit]

Is there any location left in the UK where a train can still gain direct access to a harbourside, and material can be moved by crane from boat to train and vice versa?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Southampton eastern docks I think - isn't this how the 395s were delivered?

 

[gazthomas]

I'm not sure how tight your definition is as there are direct links with various ports Newport, Felixstowe and Southampton spring to mind. The latter even has charter trains meeting up with cruise ships. Class 66's were definitely lowered onto tracks from ship when they arrived at Newport from North America. I'm sure containers don't go straight from train to ship and vice versa but I'm happy to be corrected!

 

[D365]

Doesn't meet your query exactly but Weymouth Harbour Tramway, formerly used for boat trains with a 33/1 loco push-pulling Mk1 vehicles.

[youtube]x6XEVvVRB_4[/youtube]

- Note: Track still in place but hasn't been used since 1999, and even then only for special tours as in the video. Purchased by Weymouth Council recently with a view to ripping it up.

 

[TukayAway]

Is Boston Docks still rail served?

 

[Scotty]

Is Boston Docks still rail served?

Yes, albeit infrequently.

 

[kermit]

Great video DAB - but that was 20 years ago!!

 

[Ploughman]

Goole Docks might fit the bill

http://www.mikemccormac.com/picture-gallery/railways/uk-heritage-railways/goole-docks.html

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/579218

 

[swt_passenger]

Southampton eastern docks I think - isn't this how the 395s were delivered?

IIRC they were put on rail 'somewhere near' the import berth, but came off the vessel on road wheels as RO-RO traffic:

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/last-class-395-docks-in-southampton.html

... so they weren't really an example of craneage direct from ship to rail as requested in the original post.

 

[coupwotcoup]

Doesn't meet your query exactly but Weymouth Harbour Tramway, formerly used for boat trains with a 33/1 loco push-pulling a slam-door EMU.

[youtube]x6XEVvVRB_4[/youtube]

That brought back memories of when I lived in Guernsey back
in the 70s and my infrequent returns to the mainland....

What bit of 'Keep Clear of the Trains' did those drivers not get?

 

[sbt]

Don't forget Marchwood Military Port (near Southampton):

http://www.ports.org.uk/port.asp?id=130

 

[kermit]

Don't forget Marchwood Military Port (near Southampton):

http://www.ports.org.uk/port.asp?id=130

Thanks - just looked at that on Google Earth, very neat, very impressive, and just what I was meaning! Shame Aberdeen doesn't look like that any more.

 

[W-on-Sea]

Google satellite view of Tilbury docks shows one part of the railway line into the docks running alongside the dockside for a short stretch, but (if my interpretation of the map is correct....) seems to suggest that containers are taken to land before being put onto trains.

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=ti...5858,0.016512&gl=uk&hq=tilbury+docks&t=h&z=18

 

[steamybrian]

Felixstowe

 

[John Webb]

Doesn't meet your query exactly but Weymouth Harbour Tramway, formerly used for boat trains with a 33/1 loco push-pulling a slam-door EMU.

The stock is actually Mk1 loco-hauled coaches, not an EMU - note the large 3-digit set numbers each end of the train and the lack of pick-up gear on the bogies.

 

[sbt]

Google satellite view of Tilbury docks shows one part of the railway line into the docks running alongside the dockside for a short stretch, but (if my interpretation of the map is correct....) seems to suggest that containers are taken to land before being put onto trains.

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=ti...5858,0.016512&gl=uk&hq=tilbury+docks&t=h&z=18

Standard practice. Containers are not stacked on ships according to the trains they will leave on. Factors such as the requirement for power for the Refrigerated containers, cargo compatibility (don't stack container A on container B where the contents, if mixed, will produce something nasty), loaded weight (if you stack all the heavy ones on top the ship could roll over) and dimensions (20 and 40 ft long are standard, but there are half height and 9ft, as against 8ft, high ones and 45ft and 53ft versions) all have an influence on where the boxes go.

Mix that all in with voyages that aren't between two points, so you have containers staying on board for the next port, or the port after that, and you get a situation where the make-up of the trains leaving the port isn't even on the radar when the ships are loaded and unloaded. Particularly as a very high proportion of the boxes will leave by road anyway and how and when the box will leave may not be known until after it's on the dockside.

Its easier to marshal the boxes directly onto the wagons using the Reach Stackers than load the wagons and then marshal the loaded wagons. The huge container parks are the modern day versions of the old marshalling yards that you used to see around ports.

Marchwood has a lot of rail yard as a high proportion of its traffic consists of vehicles that require specialist securing, loading and unloading arrangements. Containers are carried but they are usually simply stacked in the vehicle lanes of the RORO's and RFA's rather than carried in the container cells or stacks of specialist container ships.

 

[ainsworth74]

The stock is actually Mk1 loco-hauled coaches, not an EMU - note the large 3-digit set numbers each end of the train and the lack of pick-up gear on the bogies.

It's not an EMU but it also, I believe, isn't quite just Mk1s either. My understanding is that they are 4-TC units.

 

[Ediswan]

Doesn't meet your query exactly but Weymouth Harbour Tramway, formerly used for boat trains with a 33/1 loco push-pulling Mk1 vehicles.(

As a small person, I recall being on trains using that tramway, to get to Guernsey. This was early in the diesel era. At an unexpected stop the message was "the engine caught fire, we are awaiting a replacement". The reaction from the adults was "do we have time to use the station buffet?". BR answer, yes.

More connected to the original topic, any cars going to the islands were loaded into the hold of ferry by crane. Slow. Probably expensive.

--
Alan

 

[Jonny]

Much as it pains me to say this, but Sunderland port still has a physical connection,albeit disused, to NwR rails, to the dockside - along with dockside cranes.

 

[cuccir]

Still goes on at the Ramsden Dock terminal at Barrow-in-Furness, as shown on this map. Largely (only?) used for transporting nuclear-related things between Barrow and Sellafield.

Edit - if you hover over Barrow on the map on this page here it brings up a nice picture of this in action!

 

[TorqueOfTheDevil]

Class 66's were definitely lowered onto tracks from ship when they arrived at Newport from North America

So were the Class 70s...or most of them at least!

 

[petersi]

Much as it pains me to say this, but Sunderland port still has a physical connection,albeit disused, to NwR rails, to the dockside - along with dockside cranes.

Their website suggests that it still open for use.

http://www.portofsunderland.org.uk/rail_connection.php

So does the web site for Port of Kings Lyn and that has a pub built across it so is unlikely ever to be used

 

[Mutant Lemming]

The main Mersey Docks have exisiting rail links with potential links to the rest.

http://www.peelports.co.uk/assets/masterplan/Plans.pdf

 

[John55]

The main Mersey Docks have exisiting rail links with potential links to the rest.

http://www.peelports.co.uk/assets/masterplan/Plans.pdf

As another poster mentioned earlier cargo is generally unloaded and put into intermediate storage before loading onto trains (or the other way around). All the operational facilities at Liverpool work like this so no direct ship/rail craneage involved.

 

[Eagle]

Poole port still has an active freight connection, though of late it only seems to be used by about one stone train a week, usually from Whatley quarry.

 

[Tiny Tim]

I think the Bristol Harbour Railway is still connected to the Portishead Branch at Ashton Gate.

 

[Ploughman]

Further to my comment about Goole earlier.
Here is a film taken in 2003

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqulJRuK7yw

 

[Mutant Lemming]

As another poster mentioned earlier cargo is generally unloaded and put into intermediate storage before loading onto trains (or the other way around). All the operational facilities at Liverpool work like this so no direct ship/rail craneage involved.

I should have read it all a bit more thoroughly.

Am wondering if there is scope for one of the preserved railways to recreate a dockside scenario ?

 

[John55]

I should have read it all a bit more thoroughly.

Am wondering if there is scope for one of the preserved railways to recreate a dockside scenario ?

Try the Bristol Harbour museum.

 

[gazthomas]

I should have read it all a bit more thoroughly.

Am wondering if there is scope for one of the preserved railways to recreate a dockside scenario ?

The Bo'ness and Kinneil has a disused harbour right next door.