Heritage Railways and Mainline Freight

[Euan123]

Currently doing some research for work and need some example's of where Heritage Railways manage the occasional egress of a freight service.

Some I have so far are GCRN, Wensleydale and Ribble.

Any further examples would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[pdeaves]

The Bodmin & Wenford Railway used to carry outbound freight for Fitzgerald lighting.
The West Somerset Railway used to carry inbound aggregates for some sea defence work.

 

[Euan123]

The Bodmin & Wenford Railway used to carry outbound freight for Fitzgerald lighting.
The West Somerset Railway used to carry inbound aggregates for some sea defence work.

Thanks! I did wonder about the WSR!

 

[323 Class]

East Lancs Railway ELR have a line link to both the mainline at Castleton (nr Rochdale) and Metrolink tram system at Bury.
It has been known for locos to come from east Lancs and appear on the Metrolink system as well as Mainline locos during engineering work.

 

[DarloRich]

The West Somerset Railway used to carry inbound aggregates for some sea defence work.

surely that is different to the type of service the OP means. Does he not mean a ( semi) regular freight services like those on the Ribble railway? If not, every time a heritage railway receives a ballast working from the big railway will lend up on here.

 

[pdeaves]

surely that is different to the type of service the OP means. Does he not mean a ( semi) regular freight services like those on the Ribble railway? If not, every time a heritage railway receives a ballast working from the big railway will lend up on here.

The difference is that the sea defence work was commercial traffic, not stuff for the railway's own use.

 

[DarloRich]

The difference is that the sea defence work was commercial traffic, not stuff for the railway's own use.

ok, but still a one off.

 

[Cowley]

ok, but still a one off.

It was an ongoing flow for quite a few months from what I remember.
There was a lot of stone transported in the end basically to keep heavy lorries off the local roads.

 

[DarloRich]

It was an ongoing flow for quite a few months from what I remember.
There was a lot of stone transported in the end basically to keep heavy lorries off the local roads.

fair enough.

 

[Malcmal]

Thanks! I did wonder about the WSR!

An excellent write-up can be found here with photos and dates etc.

https://www.tauntontrains.co.uk/oldsite/ROLLING_STONE.htm

 

[mailbyrail]

I remember something in Rail News not long after the start of the Nene Valley Railway about through commercial traffic of fibreglass insulation running onto the railway from BR using Vanfits. Sorry I can't be more precise than 'mid 1970's'.

Don't know if the Derwent Valley Light Railway counts as it ran a heritage steam railway passenger service on its private freight tracks which carried through freight from BR.

Another unusual case was the standard gauge track running along the narrow gauge Ravenglass & Eskdale to a quarry close to Muncaster Mill with stone traffic hauled by BR

 

[Steptoe]

Some years ago the Mid-Norfolk Railway carried MOD traffic (armoured vehicles on Warflats) to/from Dereham Station onto the main line at Wymondham.

 

[gazthomas]

Some years ago the Mid-Norfolk Railway carried MOD traffic (armoured vehicles on Warflats) to/from Dereham Station onto the main line at Wymondham.

And now they're storing new trains

 

[AnthonyRail]

It was an ongoing flow for quite a few months from what I remember.
There was a lot of stone transported in the end basically to keep heavy lorries off the local roads.

Prob the reason the track is as it now

 

[Ploughman]

Another One off trial was the running of 2 scrap steel trains on the NYMR.
Carrying crushed cars loaded at Pickering and hauled by 2 x 66's T+T

 

[duffield]

ok, but still a one off.

Might not have this right but I believe the WSR still gets regular loads of old NR ballast for disposal (not for use by the WSR) at Norton Fitzwarren, only using a small part of the line but none the less regular commercial freight.
Hopefully a WSR person can confirm if this is still running and if the details are correct.

 

[DarloRich]

Might not have this right but I believe the WSR still gets regular loads of old NR ballast for disposal (not for use by the WSR) at Norton Fitzwarren, only using a small part of the line but none the less regular commercial freight.
Hopefully a WSR person can confirm if this is still running and if the details are correct.

I believe they do which is much more in keeping with the spirit of the op

 

[EvanDMU]

The Weardale Railway - County Durham ran a daily coal train for a period of around 18 months from Wolsingham depot, via Darlington and then mainly to Ratcliffe Power Station. This was worked by a Colas 66 and a rake of wagons which were outstationed on the railway for the duration of the flow.

 

[broadgage]

Might not have this right but I believe the WSR still gets regular loads of old NR ballast for disposal (not for use by the WSR) at Norton Fitzwarren, only using a small part of the line but none the less regular commercial freight.
Hopefully a WSR person can confirm if this is still running and if the details are correct.

IIRC, the old ballast sent to the WSR was for re-use, not as ballast but as bulk material for building the embankments that form the triangle at Norton Fitzwarren.

 

[Up Main]

Currently doing some research for work and need some example's of where Heritage Railways manage the occasional egress of a freight service.

Some I have so far are GCRN, Wensleydale and Ribble.

Any further examples would be appreciated.

Thanks

Must be one of the longest surviving freight operations in the UK still serving its primary purposes. Mainline freight at the GCRN with GB Railfreight 66728 heading the DSG train at Rushcliffe Halt for unloading at the British Gypsum works Hotchley Hill (East Leake) for plasterboard manufacture on 5th June 2019. Pictures by Norman Pannell.

 

[Cowley]

Must be one of the longest surviving freight operations in the UK still serving its primary purposes. Mainline freight at the GCRN with GB Railfreight 66728 heading the DSG train at Rushcliffe Halt for unloading at the British Gypsum works Hotchley Hill (East Leake) for plasterboard manufacture on 5th June 2019. Pictures by Norman Pannell.

View attachment 64101 View attachment 64102

Without wanting to stray off topic too much, how good does that station look these days?
Great job everyone involved. Looks brilliant.

 

[tiptoptaff]

The WSR stone trains ran twice, once in the late 90s and again several years later.

The ballast recycling at Norton Fitzwarren is undertaken by a private company who lease the land from the WSR. It only runs when the High Output Ballast team is in the West Country.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Does the Embsay Railway near Skipton also have a freight or Quarry Connection?

 

[pdeaves]

Does the Embsay Railway near Skipton also have a freight or Quarry Connection?

No, the Embsay railway is not (quite) connected to the main line.

 

[randyrippley]

does the Swanage line still carry oil traffic from Wych Farm?

 

[30740]

does the Swanage line still carry oil traffic from Wych Farm?

The Swanage Railway never operated any trains from Furzebrook (the railhead for Wytch Farm). The trains were always operated by a mainline FOC on NR metals. The last one ran some years ago, maybe 10-ish years. The depot has been completely gutted so there is no chance of them resuming. Which is unfortunate, because it was the cost of maintaining the Wareham - Furzebrook line that was the death-knell of the trains. Yet here we are, with the line still open. Also I think that you will find that they were *gas* trains not oil. The oil trains stopped a loooooong time ago when they built a pipeline from Wytch Farm to Fawley refinery.

 

[Colin Morgan]

The Swanage Railway never operated any trains from Furzebrook (the railhead for Wytch Farm). The trains were always operated by a mainline FOC on NR metals. The last one ran some years ago, maybe 10-ish years. The depot has been completely gutted so there is no chance of them resuming. Which is unfortunate, because it was the cost of maintaining the Wareham - Furzebrook line that was the death-knell of the trains. Yet here we are, with the line still open. Also I think that you will find that they were *gas* trains not oil. The oil trains stopped a loooooong time ago when they built a pipeline from Wytch Farm to Fawley refinery.

When the planning permission to continue extracting oil from the Wytch Farm field was renewed in 2016, one of the conditions was that the sidings at Furzebrook would be retained for rail use with an agreement that Perenco - the site owners, would lease the land to Dorset Council who would sub lease the site to Swanage Railway for rolling stock storage.
Completing the legal procedures to put this agreement into place has been a protracted process and is still "only a few months" away.
Just across the branch line track from the oil terminal is the track access into the ball clay processing plant from which ball clay was transported for decades up to 1996. When Swanage Railway totally refurbished that section of the track in 2014/5 the connection into the works was also renewed. When you travel from Wareham to Norden it is possible to see Mogul 31625 stored awaiting restoration in an open sided shed on the siding.
There a few people, including me, that hope that one day some of the ball clay leaving the site could again be carried by rail. In the short term there are more pressing issues for Swanage Railway to concentrate on. Interestingly the most likely traffic that could transfer is that going to Poole Harbour for loading onto a boat to Spain using the Hamworthy branch which is mothballed out of use at present. This is a strong link to the origin of railways in Purbeck which began with the narrow gauge lines across the heath land for transhipment across the Harbour to be loaded on larger vessels.

 

[Up Main]

Without wanting to stray off topic too much, how good does that station look these days?
Great job everyone involved. Looks brilliant.

GCRN -Tuesday 2nd July 2019. Middlesbrough to British Gypsum Hotchley Hill working, sees 66727 just north of HH box, edging its train forward for the next wagon load of containers to be lifted off way back and out of sight, at Rushcliffe Halt. Daily Monday to Friday workings currently.

The winter cut back of overgrowth by the fence line is now growing rapidly, and the field is almost ready for haymaking. Nice telegraph pole too!

 

[Cowley]

GCRN -Tuesday 2nd July 2019. Middlesbrough to British Gypsum Hotchley Hill working, sees 66727 just north of HH box, edging its train forward for the next wagon load of containers to be lifted off way back and out of sight, at Rushcliffe Halt. Daily Monday to Friday workings currently.

The winter cut back of overgrowth by the fence line is now growing rapidly, and the field is almost ready for haymaking. Nice telegraph pole too!

That telegraph pole is a thing of beauty!

 

[plarailfan]

The Middleton railway (Leeds) did used to have an arrangement for wagon loads of scrap metal. I think that dried up in the 1970's.
I once read somewhere on t'internet, that the Middleton railway shunt loco, was not available and the BR driver took the class 31 and train along the branch into the scrap yard, which subsequently, earned him a severe "roasting"
The East Lancs ballast trains over, part of the Manchester tram system, is on you tube, here, and there's some fantastic "37" thrash

and here are some "66's" at Bury on the same work

There's a "59" on the ski jump and even an 0-6-0 Sentinel steam loco was under the wires on a ballast job, which may have been filmed around the same time as the "37's" ? sad to say, I can't find it at the mo !