Rail Freight Flows and News UK

[Freightmaster]

Some DB cargo route learners running on the Portbury branch this week - may be something new on the horizon there?

Yes - a (short term) flow of imported steel for Port Talbot.



MARK

 

[JKF]

Yes - a (short term) flow of imported steel for Port Talbot.



MARK

Interesting, thanks. We had something similar a few years ago, a short term contract running from Llanwern sidings (I think, presumably originating from somewhere else) taking steel slab for export. I think it ran a few times a week for about 3-4 weeks.

 

[EastWest]

Does anybody know why there has been little MOD traffic in recent weeks? I have not seen any movements to Kineton, Bicester or Longtown in RTT for some time now. There was a move out of Marchwood on Tuesday but this then went to Ditton for a working to Southampton Western Docks, which doesn’t sound like an MOD working.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Does anybody know why there has been little MOD traffic in recent weeks? I have not seen any movements to Kineton, Bicester or Longtown in RTT for some time now. There was a move out of Marchwood on Tuesday but this then went to Ditton for a working to Southampton Western Docks, which doesn’t sound like an MOD working.

Yes - other than the SWR 701 drags, I also thought it's a bit quiet on the Fawley branch recently.
Yesterday had So'ton W. D. to Marchwood - photo attached - which might have been the balancing path to Tuesday's.
I last saw a loaded service leave the MoD site on 3rd April - photo attached - bound for Tilbury (London Gateway) Dock.

 

[EastWest]

Thankyou - yes, I did get the impression that the Tuesday move was empty flats being taken from Marchwood to Eastleigh and then on to Ditton, then loaded to Southampton Docks and the empties back to Marchwood. It does rather seem that the MOD have given up on using rail at the moment and I was wondering why this should be and if it is temporary?

 

[nineteenninety]

I understand it's only June so we're a few months away from the RHTT season, but do we know if there's been any changes for the circuits this year? Or are we expecting near enough the same as last year bar DRS on the East Yorkshire circuits.

 

[JKF]

Yes - a (short term) flow of imported steel for Port Talbot.



MARK

This is now on RTT from Monday, but no idea if it will run from Day 1, the route learners are also still on for next week and ran I think three times last week.

Realtime Trains | 6Z50 0920 Margam T.C. to Portbury Automotive Terml | 17/06/2024

Real-time train running information for 6Z50 0920 departure from Margam T.C. to Portbury Automotive Terml on 17/06/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Edited to add this is now running today, DB red 66134 reported to be on it.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Jun 2024 ==


Updated 19/6:

A short term flow of Steel traffic from Portbury started this week, operated by DB cargo, taking imported slab to Margam, as mentioned in my earlier posting.

On Monday 66134 ran into the dock with empty stock, arriving an hour early. This then was waiting to depart the docks at the stop board at 15:44 (due out around 5pm), but didn’t depart. At 19:05 it passed the board heading towards Pill but reversed back ten minutes later. Clearly some sort of issue, and later that night the service was cancelled and train sat at the dock overnight.

On Tuesday morning 66121 ran into the dock ostensibly on a route learning working from Westbury (which had been running over the last couple of weeks related to this flow, and even ran on Monday). The onward path of this working to Swindon was cancelled and 121 was attached to the front of the loaded steel train and ran with 134 as a VST working to Margam at 11:20, spending 6hrs parked up at Alexandra Dock Jn before working on to Margam where it arrived at the time the scheduled service for that day would have arrived. Obviously the actual working planned for Tuesday didn’t run due to the stock being stranded at Portbury!

Today (Wednesday) the service ran again, but with two locos on the front, 66007 and 66053. This ran to time on the inbound service, the return is currently 6 down but has a planned stop in Pilning loop which will allow for recovery.

I will watch keenly to see if this continues to be double-headed. Service is only booked in for this week, but maybe they will add more paths next week if needed, especially as they’re down one trip this week.

Update 20/6: Still double-headed today, 66119 & 66129 on it. Inbound empties ran approx to timetable (9 min late), departure hasn’t shown up yet so running late on the return.

 

[Sun Chariot]

It does rather seem that the MOD have given up on using rail at the moment and I was wondering why this should be and if it is temporary?

(Edit) Weds 26th June, 6Z01 12:18 from Marchwood (MoD) to Carlisle; did not run

 

[Adrian Barr]

The coal trains are not running at the moment due to no product at Immingham. Trains are expected to be running again shortly.
Coal trains will continue until the blast furnaces close, the furnaces need a small amount of coal as part of the steel making process.

That makes sense, I forgot that some pulverized coal is injected directly into the blast furnace.

In "The last Coal Train" thread I found a post from Frodingham last year mentioning that the coke ovens had closed and imported coke was being moved by road. So it looks like the coke ovens closed mid-2023 at which point the number of coal trains reduced, with some coal still being required for the blast furnace. I think the coke trains are running on a trial basis at the moment, but will hopefully continue and run in conjunction with the coal workings when those restart. I believe the coke discharge point was installed somewhere near the curve known as "The Angle" shown on the map for this Branch Line Society Trip Report, not far from the site of the old Dawes Lane Coke Ovens: https://www.branchline.uk/pastevent-alt.php?eventid=137

****

In addition to the Portbury slab trains previously mentioned in this thread, there were a couple of interesting workings of imported coil for Tata last week from Middlesbrough Goods to Corby. These ran overnight as 6Z94 01:19 from Tees to Corby on Tuesday 18th and Friday 21st June, using wagons which had arrived empty into Middlesbrough Goods on 6E47 from Margam (same workings ran earlier in June too). The empty wagons then returned from Corby to Margam on the usual 6V92 path. The usual coil trains from Margam to Corby have continued running on other days. (There were some trial Middlesbrough - Corby movements earlier in the year, but these ran loaded via South Wales rather than direct from Teesside).

The steel usually handled at Middlesbrough Goods is cold-rolled automotive steel arriving from South Wales into the AV Dawson warehouse for road distribution (mainly for Nissan at Sunderland I believe). The imported hot-rolled-coil for Corby is presumably coming through their "Rail linked quayside offering rail access to Port of Middlesbrough’s deepwater berths." - https://portofmiddlesbrough.co.uk/rail-freight/
This BLS report from a 2018 visit features a map and photos of the AV Dawson site, with a "North Sea Supply Base Wharf" shown next to the River Tees. The steel for Corby may have been loaded here.

Imports of steel for Tata can be expected to increase over the next few months, from their Dutch site at Ijmuiden (near Rotterdam) and also from India. A short YouTube video by Tata "Key Milestones in the transformation of Port Talbot Steelmaking" gives the following key dates, with the site being reliant on imported steel for more than 3 years between the closure of the two blast furnaces and the opening of the Electic Arc Furnace:

>Closure of Blast Furnace 5 by end of June 2024
>Closure of Blast Furnace 4 and wind down of remaining "heavy end" by end of September 2024
>Electric Arc Furnace start-up phase late 2027-2028

The new Electric Arc Furnace is planned to be built on part of the existing BOS plant, so that molten steel can be fed directly to the adjacent continous casters and rolling mills.
The Tata Steel UK YouTube channel posts occasional updates and interviews explaining developments at the steelworks: https://www.youtube.com/@TataSteelUK

######################

Added 05/07/24:

A while back in this thread there was mention of Grain - Sinfin aviation fuel workings. A couple of weeks back I was surprised to notice there had been an overnight Grain - Prestwick working.

6E68 18:32 Grain - Doncaster Down Decoy ran on Friday 21st June (via Kew, Acton Wells, Midland Main Line, Barrow Hill and Swinton)
It continued as 6S68 04:17 SO Down Decoy - Prestwick (via York, Darlington, Hexham, Dumfries)
And returned as 6O68 SUN 20:12 Prestwick - Grain (via Dumfries, Carlisle, West Coast Main Line, Kensington Olympia)

6O68 was captured early morning on the WCML: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jwht/53813642096/

Apparently the working started in April, as seen in this night shot with 66793: https://www.flickr.com/photos/153305438@N06/53716976315/

Aviation fuel trains are still running to Prestwick from Grangemouth (6R46 / 6N47 return ran yesterday for example).

 

[RetroCrowe]

Last night, 66605 operated the 6V51 Tunstead to Park Royal - a move that, as far as I'm aware, hasn't operated since 2020?

Realtime Trains | 6V51 2228 Tunstead Sdgs to Park Royal Marcon | 15/07/2024

Real-time train running information for 6V51 2228 departure from Tunstead Sdgs to Park Royal Marcon on 15/07/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[Freightmaster]

Last night, 66605 operated the 6V51 Tunstead to Park Royal - a move that, as far as I'm aware, hasn't operated since 2020?

That train runs at least twice a month - before today the last run was on Friday July 5th:

Realtime Trains | 6V51 2218 Tunstead Sdgs to Park Royal Marcon | 04/07/2024

Real-time train running information for 6V51 2218 departure from Tunstead Sdgs to Park Royal Marcon on 04/07/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

MARK

 

[BRX]

There have been a lot of what look like route-learning runs (DRS 68s running light engine) to Dungeness in the past few weeks. Does anyone know why this is? The traffic from the power station is a lot less frequent than it was ten years ago, but I am wondering if it is going to increase again?

 

[Gaz67]

In-between days at Fairford I decided to spend the day at Cardiff to see what the steel flows were like. Not too shabby, 6 workings in cluster of 3 within an hour and then a gap, not bad for a Saturday. Nice to overtake a freight on the 4 track section. Reckon the Dutch steelworkers are happy with the decision to close the blast furnaces. Hope the pollution remembers not to blow our way. Pics and vid attached.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Jul 2024 ==

Spent a couple of days at Westbury (Thurs, yesterday) mainly to phot the 59s, bit slow as a lot avoids but plenty of shunting across the 2 sides going on. Managed 4 59s yesterday, 101 green and 3 x 2s in orange. Anyway a couple of questions, what is the current livery status of all sub classes of 59s ?and what goes on at Westbury Tarmac?. I presume it's the former cement works but any other info will be appreciated.

 

[Sun Chariot]

what is the current livery status of all sub classes of 59s ? what goes on at Westbury Tarmac?

The roadstone aggregates to Crawley and to Chichester stone terminals, are usually pathed from Westbury Tarmac. Crawley's service (invariably 59 hauled) runs MoWeThFr. Chichester's service runs only as required. It's out today (59204) and was also running last Wednesday (59004) but it hadn't run the previous three weeks.

59 liveries:
59/0: Apart from 003 (GBRf), the 4 others are still Aggregate Industries blue / silver / green.
59/1: 101 is in 'Heidelberg Materials' green. 102 and 104 now wear F/L orange / black. 103 (when I last saw it) still Hanson blue / grey.
59/2: 201 to 206 all wear F/L orange / black.

 

[Gaz67]

The roadstone aggregates to Crawley and to Chichester stone terminals, are usually pathed from Westbury Tarmac. Crawley's service (invariably 59 hauled) runs MoWeThFr. Chichester's service runs only as required. It's out today (59204) and was also running last Wednesday (59004) but it hadn't run the previous three weeks.

59 liveries:
59/0: Apart from 003 (GBRf), the 4 others are still Aggregate Industries blue / silver / green.
59/1: 101 is in 'Heidelberg Materials' green. 102 and 104 now wear F/L orange / black. 103 (when I last saw it) still Hanson blue / grey.
59/2: 201 to 206 all wear F/L orange / black.

Thanks for that, the trains onto the Southern ran round in the station area last time I visited. 103 is still blue, I just missed it yesterday dragging a couple of 66s according to a chap on the station. passed a green 59/0 on the empties from Oxford as I was on the train to Swindon. Presume the plan is for them all to go Orange, shame as I like the old green and blue liveries. Presume the new green livery on 101 is a 1 off?

 

[Sun Chariot]

This November sees the fortieth anniversary of when 59001-004 were ordered. Their in-service "40th birthday" will be in 2026. 59005 came along a bit later (35 years in service as of a few weeks ago). So I wonder whether we'll see the 59/0's retired rather than repainted.

 

[Gaz67]

This November sees the fortieth anniversary of when 59001-004 were ordered. Their in-service "40th birthday" will be in 2026. 59005 came along a bit later (35 years in service as of a few weeks ago). So I wonder whether we'll see the 59/0's retired rather than repainted.

Hard to believe they are that old, the Orange ones look like they have just been delivered.

 

[geordieblue]

Apparently the Transfesa traffic for Ford in Barking (containers running on HS1) is to cease - not sure whether this is down to access charges or Ford’s own requirements.

In more positive news the Trostre-Middlesbrough flow ran last week for the first time in several months.

 

[Freightmaster]

In more positive news the Trostre-Middlesbrough flow ran last week for the first time in several months.

...and there is a similar train from Trostre to Immingham booked to run later today:

Realtime Trains | 6Z20 1321 Trostre Works to Immingham Sorting Sidings | 23/07/2024

Real-time train running information for 6Z20 1321 departure from Trostre Works to Immingham Sorting Sidings on 23/07/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

MARK

 

[BRX]

Apparently the Transfesa traffic for Ford in Barking (containers running on HS1) is to cease - not sure whether this is down to access charges or Ford’s own requirements.

Am I right in thinking this carried a mixture of stuff for Ford plus other things (supermarket goods)?

The Transfesa "Channel Tunnel express" wagons used to use the "classic" route through south london but got switched to using HS1. Once it started running on HS1 I know that other wagon types started to be used (due to the larger loading gauge) but I'm not sure if they were still for Ford or whether these were carrying other goods too.

 

[atillathehunn]

I saw the Transfesa train - along with the water train and the aluminium train - at Coquelles on Tuesday.

Apparently perhaps for the last time?

 

[Adrian Barr]

Am I right in thinking this carried a mixture of stuff for Ford plus other things (supermarket goods)?

Yes, there was some general intermodal traffic using the Transfesa service to Spain in addition to the main traffic of automotive components for Ford. From the UK, a common load was empty pallets going back to Spain, and also I believe those green plastic trays that supermarkets use for fruit & veg. There were also small but regular volumes of household products (mundane stuff like washing-up liquid). I'm not sure about the traffic from Spain, the press releases often touted it as being used for imports of fruit and veg but I would have expected that traffic to use temperature-controlled reefer containers, which I don't think have been a regular sight on these trains in the recent past.

Until the end of last year, the Ford traffic was loaded in Dagenham and the other general intermodal traffic was tripped across from Ripple Lane Exchange Sidings to Barking (the old Ripple Lane Freightliner terminal) to be unloaded and reloaded there. The Barking container terminal closed last December, and after that all traffic (both Ford and other general intermodal traffic) was loaded at Dagenham.
See this post for a general outline of Barking operations as they were in 2023 - https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/rail-freight-flows-and-news-uk.195217/page-41#post-6606127

There's a nice video of the final train running as 6O28 on YouTube (title is "Trains in South Kent - 22/7/2024 FEAT : The LAST HS1 Freight service + NEWLY Regeared 66654"). It ran much earlier in the day than usual at a time more suitable for capturing on video. Unusual to see a pair of 92s on it (one was dead in train). They had worked the usual early Monday morning Transfesa services 6L25 and 6L27 from Dollands Moor to Ripple Lane Exchange sidings (which run as separate trains due to the weight limit on HS1) and would normally return light engine, with Friday being the usual day for the export train. Since the wagons on 6O28 were not the same ones that arrived earlier in the morning (the wagons are sent into the depths of Fords internal rail system so there is none of the quick "strip and reload" that you find at most intermodal terminals), this means there are Transfesa wagons at Dagenham which will probably need to go back to Spain at some point. A quirk of the 2-axle wagons used on this service is that they are only rated on the classic lines at 45mph loaded and 35mph empty (the "blue train" used to run class 7 pre-HS1) so they will most likely return to Spain empty via HS1 at some point.

I've not heard anything specific about why the service is ending, the only thing I can find online is a tweet from Richard Clinnick stating that the last Transfesa service on HS1 had run. I did, however, find this interesting Network Rail document from last year with a title that now looks rather ironic: International Rail Freight - Opportunities for Growth

I decided to spend the day at Cardiff to see what the steel flows were like. Not too shabby, 6 workings in cluster of 3 within an hour and then a gap, not bad for a Saturday.

That label on the coil is interesting to see, with "made in Holland" (presumably Ijmuiden) and Llanelli (Trostre) as the destination. That must have been on 6B10 Newport Docks to Margam seen in the photo on the right; the traffic went forward to Trostre as 6B45. 22260 will be the weight of the coil in kilos; at 22 tons you don't want to drop it on your foot!

what goes on at Westbury Tarmac?

Sun Chariot already explained the main use, for running round and recessing of Mendip stone trains. A couple of nice shots of the sidings in use:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/93293618@N05/53850564621/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/trainsetc/53123795199/

On YouTube there's a drone video from 2019 with the dubious title "Westbury Cement works - a place to climb?" which shows the overall track layout. By that time the main part of the original cement works was demolished, leaving silos for the storage and dispatch of cement arriving by rail - the rail unloading facilities can be seen along with the silos. The same area of the sidings was originally used for loading cement, as seen here in 2008 when the works was still dispatching its own cement and receiving coal by rail: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74165767@N05/43738941290/

When the cement works closed in 2009 it became a cement distribution terminal, with Freightliner bringing in cement from Earles and later Tunstead. I think the Moorswater trains continued to run from Westbury until 2012, but the loaded wagons presumably originated at Earles. Then from 2016 to 2020 Westbury was receiving cement from Aberthaw instead, hauled by Colas. After that, the cement trains went back to Freightliner haulage from Tunstead, but apparently have been very infrequent runners (the most recent photo I can find was from September last year). WTT headcodes are 6V36 / 6M36. Seen here in 2022: https://www.flickr.com/photos/191180665@N08/52080552914/

There was also a temporary flow of spoil which was loaded in those sidings and sent to Appleford in October and November last year, as seen here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/153712773@N08/53306392502/

########################

I don't think this has been mentioned already : DB started running a new intermodal service between Southampton Maritime and East Midlands Gateway earlier this month, 4O55 21:55 EMG - Soton and 4M54 09:30 return, running via Oxford / Landor Street / Stenson Jn. It's slightly unusual since it runs into Freightliner's Maritime terminal, when DB (and also GBRF) normally serve the Solent Stevedores terminal down the branch into the western docks - it's a fairly small terminal so perhaps there was no convenient loading "slot" for it there.

On the negative side, 4L08 Wakefield - London Gateway and 4E08 return stopped running a couple of months back.

I also saw a snippet of news from the Rail Freight Group saying that GBRF are now running two daily services from Felixstowe to Ditton, with the first starting in October last year. Looks like those are 4M35 and 4M61 from Felixstowe and 4L35 / 4L62 return. To be honest it's hard to keep up with all the intermodal trains that are running. Imagine if channel tunnel intermodal had taken off in the way that other intermodal traffic has in the past few years...

 

[geordieblue]

As usual thanks for the comprehensive post.

 

[JKF]

Does anyone know if the Portbury intermodal (plonkliner) service will ever resume? It’s still on the timetable (and not so long ago midweek paths were added) but I think the last one ran around Christmas time, and they’d become very infrequent before then.

The short-term steel import traffic from Portbury had now finished - there was one final service on 24th as a replacement for the ‘missed’ service on the first/second day when a single regular 66 couldn’t manage the load and stopped overnight in the port until another loco could be attached the next morning. As ever this last service was worked by heavy haul 66651, which worked every service after the first week.

 

[BRX]

I've not heard anything specific about why the service is ending, the only thing I can find online is a tweet from Richard Clinnick stating that the last Transfesa service on HS1 had run.

According to the equivalent thread over on wnxx, it's because Ford are reducing production in Valencia & Dagenham.
I guess the other traffic only makes sense economically if it's piggybacked onto a running-anyway Ford service.

 

[Freightmaster]

The short-term steel import traffic from Portbury had now finished...

I'm told that there is another boatload of steel due to land at Portbury
in a few weeks time.



MARK

 

[Meerkat]

Did the DP ports intermodal service between Southampton and London Gateway start, and continue? If so which route does it take? Thanks

 

[Freightmaster]

Did the DP ports intermodal service between Southampton and London Gateway start, and continue?

It's been running once a week (on a Saturday) for a year or so now.

If so which route does it take? Thanks

Basingstoke, Reading, Slough. Acton, GOBLIN



MARK

 

[high camera]

With the railway bridge being replaced over the M62 at Heywood, Greater Manchester soon, what are the planned diversion routes for the Drax bio, binliners and stone trains please ?

 

[Freightmaster]

With the railway bridge being replaced over the M62 at Heywood, Greater Manchester soon, what are the planned diversion routes for the Drax bio, binliners and stone trains please ?

Stalybridge, Diggle and Huddersfield.

Amended schedules are already in RTT:

Realtime Trains | Departures from Huddersfield all day on 10/09/2024

Train information at Huddersfield all day on 10/09/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

MARK