Are the transfesa services not currently operating then? If they stop then I wonder if it could mean the ford traffic from Dagenham would revert to the "classic" route (through south london) to Dollands Moor. Am I right to think that's what uses the wagons branded as "channel tunnel express" (or used to) which are normal UK loading gauge.
The HS1 Transfesa services are still operating, but they only serve Dagenham now. Since Barking intermodal terminal closed, the import service (trains run as two separate portions on HS1 due to weight limits) usually runs from Dollands Moor to Ripple Lane Exchange on Monday morning (as 6L25 & 6L27) and then the export runs on a Friday evening back to Dollands Moor (as 6O20 & 6O28). These used to run 2 or 3 times a week but now reduced to a weekly service.
The 92s off 6L25 and 6L27 work light engine back to Dollands on Monday (0O27) and arrive light engine on Friday as 0L22 to work 6O20 and 6O28.
Rare shot of 6O28 in Ripple Lane Exchange Sidings:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/35502189@N03/52757833990/
A few years back, there was a brief period where one of the portions ran via HS1, with the taller swapbodies and containers, and the other ran on the classic route on its traditional (pre-HS1) 7O81 headcode with the familiar lower height "channel tunnel express" swapbodies. This picture is from 2019 showing 7O81 passing West Hampstead:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rob50037/49573880582/
This wouldn't be a viable option now as Transfesa are using a lot more newer "high cube" swapbodies and containers on the Fords traffic, and there are often only a handful of the older type on a train.
This picture of 6O20 is fairly typical:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/193160736@N05/52991232009/
The 7O81 path survives in the working timetable though!
The Transfesa wagons have a relatively high deck, so any 9 foot 6 boxes on the classic lines to Dollands Moor need to be on megafrets such as IKAs, as seen in this shot of the "China Train" trial from Barking -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/151904976@N08/35368616636/
AFAIK the coke trains from Immingham and Cardiff to Port Talbot are only temporary, to cover for unloading issues from ships at Port Talbot… Port
Ah, that wouldn't surprise me. There were a few coke trains from Newport Docks to Port Talbot a couple of years ago but those fizzled out after a few runs. I assumed they were supplementing the coke produced on site with smaller quantities of a different grade or size, but it makes sense for the bulk of coal or coke imports to be coming through Port Talbot docks normally.
Was coal 'coked' on-site at P'Talbot?
6V66's origin appears to be split in the near term future between Immingham and Scunthorpe
As far as I know, the Morfa coke ovens at Port Talbot are still operational. A Financial Times article from Jan 19th refers to closure of the blast furnaces and coke ovens "over the next 18 months."
Tata said it expected the electric arc furnace to be operational by 2027. In the near-term, the company plans to import semi-finished steel from its bases in the Netherlands and India.
https://www.ft.com/content/421f4cf7-9174-4623-a822-77344e561b61
This Tata newsletter from 2021 has a picture of the Morfa coke ovens and mentions they produce 800,000 tons of coke per year:
https://www.tatasteeleurope.com/sites/default/files/Steel Matters Issue 8 (Feb 2021).pdf
Google says a ton of coke takes about 1.5 tons of coking coal to produce, so the works would be using roughly 1.2m tons per year. Each train from Cwmbargoed was carrying roughly 1500 tons, maybe 5 times a week on average, so with a rough bit of maths, it appears that more than two-thirds of the coal used was already being imported through the dock at Port Talbot.
Considering that most of the raw materials (iron ore and coal) arrive via ship, the closure of the blast furnaces won't necessarily have a huge impact on rail freight, but it's hard to predict and depends on the overall volume of coils being produced compared to current levels. One railfreight casualty of the blast furnaces closing will be the lime traffic from Hardendale, another will be the "tar tanks" to Middlesbrough. The largely self-contained "hot metal" part of the internal rail system would also cease operations. There is more detail on the steelworks processes and internal rail system in this thread for anyone who hasn't already seen it:
https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...reight-flows-and-internal-rail-system.257742/
Looking at Google Maps, apart from a small inner dock, the "dock" used by Tata at Port Talbot is more of a jetty connected by conveyor to stocking areas at the Sinter Plant and Coke ovens. This means that during the transition phase (between closure of the blast furnaces and commissioning of the new electric arc furnaces) imported slab will probably be railed via Newport or Cardiff Docks for rolling into coils at Llanwern and Port Talbot. Llanwern doesn't currently roll slab (they process coils arriving from Port Talbot) but they have the capacity to do it. If that processing line is reopened, one possible effect could be a reduction of Port Talbot - Llanwern interworks traffic, balanced by the need for a large volume of new slab movements. On the other hand, the current high volumes of coil railed to Newport Docks for export may drop; unless there is a need to import slab, roll it and send it to Europe (which is possible depending on the balance of production capacity at different Tata plants). There were trains of export slab in 2023 (via Newport and Cardiff Docks) but they tended to run daily for a while and then stop again, and no slab trains have run so far this year.
The 6V66 paths from Scunthorpe are probably a hangover in the WTT from when there were slab trains from Scunthorpe to Margam.
I dug up a selection of 6V66 photos with a variety of traffic using the same path over recent years:
6V66 Scunthorpe - Margam slab
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dbs60100/49350942836/
6V66 Redcar - Margam (coke)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/37001/6320222502/
6V66 Redcar - Margam (iron ore - I think they were clearing stocks after Redcar blast furnaces had closed)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/42802953@N03/33819627136/
6V66 Scunthorpe - Birdport slab
https://www.flickr.com/photos/70710639@N05/49490997208/
Speaking of coke ovens, I think the coke ovens at Scunthorpe may have already closed:
https://britishsteel.co.uk/news/bri...cted-by-closure-of-its-scunthorpe-coke-ovens/
If that's correct, then the current "Scunny Coal" operation (from Immingham Bulk Terminal to Scunthorpe Coal Handling Plant) is presumably delivering imported coke?
I think there is only usually one coal / coke train a day now to Scunthorpe, which is a far cry from the days of 56s and 3 sets of HAAs in continuous operation, back when the Locomaster
"Black and Blue" cab ride was filmed.