Over Size Loads !!!

[Mollington St]

Just thought i would share this cover from 1953 LMR Magazine .

No CGI or anything

Details state - Charlton to Angerstein Wharf , no bridges ??

I have just unearthed a box of LMR Magazines 1950s/60s , so if anyone has any gaps that need filling , i will see if i can help out

 

[John Webb]

....Details state - Charlton to Angerstein Wharf , no bridges ??......

The goods yard at Charlton Station was between two road bridges over the railway so could not have been used. Neither could have they loaded it at the sleeper and signal works that existed then in the 'V' between the Greenwich and Blackheath lines and was connected to and by the Angerstein Wharf branch, as this passed under the Greenwich Line. Could they have used the connection with the London Trams Depot to bring it into that by road, load it on the wagon and move it to the wharf - about a quarter of a mile?
Bit odd being reported in the LMR magazine as most distinctly that load was in Southern Region territory!

 

[Rescars]

What a spectacular load! Aside from that, isn't it a bit surprising that the cover of an LMR publication should feature what looks to be an ex-SECR loco?

 

[krus_aragon]

On a similar vein, an only-barely in-gauge transformer was transported by rail to its destination near Blaenau Ffestiniog in the 1960s, with a British Transport film documenting the whole procedure.

 

[Taunton]

Details state - Charlton to Angerstein Wharf , no bridges ??

Unfortunately that short freight line does have a bridge, it forks to the south of the Greenwich line, then turns and goes under it. by a bridge that a Class 66 (or a C Class) just manages to fit under. Can't see that load getting under it.

 

[John Webb]

What a spectacular load! Aside from that, isn't it a bit surprising that the cover of an LMR publication should feature what looks to be an ex-SECR loco?

It's almost certainly a Wainwright class C loco - in my early years living in the Woolwich/Plumstead area they seemed to do most of the goods haulage.

Unfortunately that short freight line does have a bridge, it forks to the south of the Greenwich line, then turns and goes under it. by a bridge that a Class 66 (or a C Class) just manages to fit under. Can't see that load getting under it.

I mentioned this bridge in my post #2 above and concluded they might have put the load on at the former tram works. Stones, who made boilers and the like, had a factory to the east off Woolwich Road and may have been the source of this large load. (They were in the area now marked on maps as Stone Lake industrial and retail parks.)

 

[WesternLancer]

On a similar vein, an only-barely in-gauge transformer was transported by rail to its destination near Blaenau Ffestiniog in the 1960s, with a British Transport film documenting the whole procedure.

Another great BTF film - thanks for the link!

 

[Gloster]

I have been trying to work out which wagon was used but can’t come up with a definite answer. I think it is most likely to be either the 100 ton BR Diagram 2/150 Girder Wagon Set (‘Conger’) or its LMS 70 ton predecessor.

What a spectacular load! Aside from that, isn't it a bit surprising that the cover of an LMR publication should feature what looks to be an ex-SECR loco?

The movement was entirely on the SR and the photo was probably taken by its PR department.

 

[Ploughman]

Is the Conger still in existance?

 

[Gloster]

Is the Conger still in existance?

I don’t think so, although I cant be definite: it was, I believe, unbraked. It may be that that it was Diagram 2/151.

 

[stuving]

Have a look at a large scale map from the 1950s.

Stone Foundries still exists, but is well to the east of the railways serving Angerstein's and Christie's Wharves (the foundry itself is on the map). More relevant I think are the two big engineering works east of the tram works and west of the greyhound track. I'm not sure whose they were - G A Harvey and Rye-Arc are candidates; both had addresses in Woolwich Road and employed boilermakers (platers) in the 1950s/60s.

Both of those works had connections into the railway network serving the two wharves, the tram works, the gas works, etc. Indeed, a business making such large steel boilers and the like couldn't have operated on this site without direct access to the river (and on to the sea). But Angerstein's Wharf does not appear to have had a quay close to deep water or heavy cranes, so you do wonder quite how the loading was performed.

 

[norbitonflyer]

Bit odd being reported in the LMR magazine as most distinctly that load was in Southern Region territory!

It would have been of interest to railmen throughout BR.
And it may be that the magazine had different editions for each region, but some content common to all editions (just as, for instance, the BBC News has a slot for local news)

 

[John Webb]

Have a look at a large scale map from the 1950s.

Stone Foundries still exists, but is well to the east of the railways serving Angerstein's and Christie's Wharves (the foundry itself is on the map). More relevant I think are the two big engineering works east of the tram works and west of the greyhound track. I'm not sure whose they were - G A Harvey and Rye-Arc are candidates; both had addresses in Woolwich Road and employed boilermakers (platers) in the 1950s/60s.

Both of those works had connections into the railway network serving the two wharves, the tram works, the gas works, etc. Indeed, a business making such large steel boilers and the like couldn't have operated on this site without direct access to the river (and on to the sea). But Angerstein's Wharf does not appear to have had a quay close to deep water or heavy cranes, so you do wonder quite how the loading was performed.

I never thought to look at the NLS site! Thanks for the link. It was indeed G A Harvey - I'd forgotten all about them despite passing them on the way to school most days for some years. The book "Charing Cross to Dartford" (Middleton Press, 1990) has a 1916 map in, which seems to be before the links to Harvey's and others were put in. Angerstein's wharf is on a stretch of the Thames with significant tidal ranges and there would be no problem getting a fair-sized boat alongside the wharf where the presence of a 'Travelling Crane' is marked. We don't know the capacity of the wharf crane, but it was always possible for riverside companies to hire one of the Port of London's floating cranes from the Royal Docks nearby for exceptional lifts in and out of ships.

 

[Ploughman]

Some examples of various outsize wagons can be seen here. https://www.railwaywondersoftheworld.com/takes-all.html