Rail Freight Flows and News UK

[littledude]

How do you get from Tilbury to NLL (and vice versa) between the hours of ~0600 and ~2345 given the traffic levels on the GEML at Forest Gate Junction mean pathing is impossible?

[Hint: Goblin electrification was needed for Crossrail off peak service levels in order to divert all ex Tilbury area (including HS1) electric freight of the NLL on to Goblin]

Plenty of daytime trains to/from Tilbury and London Gateway operate via Stratford…

Realtime Trains | 4E62 1049 London Gateway Frghtliner to Doncaster Ept (F'liners) | 10/10/2024

Real-time train running information for 4E62 1049 departure from London Gateway Frghtliner to Doncaster Ept (F'liners) on 10/10/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Realtime Trains | 4L98 0652 Masborough N&W Gbrf to London Gateway Gbrf | 10/10/2024

Real-time train running information for 4L98 0652 departure from Masborough N&W Gbrf to London Gateway Gbrf on 10/10/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Realtime Trains | 4E39 1242 Tilbury Container Srvs Gb to Wakefield Europort Gbrf | 10/10/2024

Real-time train running information for 4E39 1242 departure from Tilbury Container Srvs Gb to Wakefield Europort Gbrf on 10/10/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Realtime Trains | 4E97 1932 London Gateway Gbrf to Masborough N&W Gbrf | 10/10/2024

Real-time train running information for 4E97 1932 departure from London Gateway Gbrf to Masborough N&W Gbrf on 10/10/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[hwl]

Plenty of daytime trains to/from Tilbury and London Gateway operate via Stratford…

Realtime Trains | 4E62 1049 London Gateway Frghtliner to Doncaster Ept (F'liners) | 10/10/2024

Real-time train running information for 4E62 1049 departure from London Gateway Frghtliner to Doncaster Ept (F'liners) on 10/10/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Realtime Trains | 4L98 0652 Masborough N&W Gbrf to London Gateway Gbrf | 10/10/2024

Real-time train running information for 4L98 0652 departure from Masborough N&W Gbrf to London Gateway Gbrf on 10/10/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Realtime Trains | 4E39 1242 Tilbury Container Srvs Gb to Wakefield Europort Gbrf | 10/10/2024

Real-time train running information for 4E39 1242 departure from Tilbury Container Srvs Gb to Wakefield Europort Gbrf on 10/10/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Realtime Trains | 4E97 1932 London Gateway Gbrf to Masborough N&W Gbrf | 10/10/2024

Real-time train running information for 4E97 1932 departure from London Gateway Gbrf to Masborough N&W Gbrf on 10/10/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

All those services are ECML ones which can't be reached via Goblin so there is no choice on routing.

WCML (**the subject of discussion**) and MML can be reached via Goblin so they all go that way in daytime which conserves the limited crossing access at Forest Gate for those that have no option and also maximises capacity to/from Felixstowe.

 

[SteveHFC]

Message deleted

 

[Malaxa]

All those services are ECML ones which can't be reached via Goblin so there is no choice on routing.

WCML (**the subject of discussion**) and MML can be reached via Goblin so they all go that way in daytime which conserves the limited crossing access at Forest Gate for those that have no option and also maximises capacity to/from Felixstowe.

I think the subject under discussion was a Felixstowe to Ditton train restored to the "Suffragette Line" which doesn't interfere with the Elizabeth Line. When the "Suffragette Line" was under reconstruction in the latter part of the 2010s, all the daytime cement and car traffic from Barking went through Stratford station although London Gateway port was not fully on steam at that point.

 

[Gaz67]

I see the gypsum is running via Tyne Valley today with Freightliner , if anybody knows the wagons being used I would be interested to know, thanks.

 

[Freightmaster]

I see the gypsum is running via Tyne Valley today with Freightliner , if anybody knows the wagons being used I would be interested to know

Ex-GBRf bogie boxes:

66605 Hartburn Junction, Stockton on Tees. 10.10.2024.

6Z98: the 10.52, Freightliner empty GBRf box wagons from British Gypsum at Newbiggin / Kirkby Thore to South Bank, Tees Dock, via Carlisle Yard and the Tyne Valley. This is perhaps the first working of the empty box wagons, yesterdays attempt was cancelled, since Freightliner took over this...

www.flickr.com

MARK

 

[Oxfordblues]

So the end then for the MEAs? The last of the 4-wheel mineral wagons which proliferated since the railways began. I can't think of any other flows.

 

[Gaz67]

So the end then for the MEAs? The last of the 4-wheel mineral wagons which proliferated since the railways began. I can't think of any other flows.

Yes good point, that leaves the Alcan , various cement flows and possibly the SSAs in S Wales left of what I consider the classic ( 80/90s),non infrastructure 4 wheel wagons. Happy to be corrected.

 

[BRX]

Do IZA Cargowaggons count?

 

[geordieblue]

Do IZA Cargowaggons count?

Are there any of the single versions left? They did run on the Ford Bridgend-Dagenham flow until that stopped a few years ago but I have a feeling that particular variant was scrapped.

 

[BRX]

Are there any of the single versions left? They did run on the Ford Bridgend-Dagenham flow until that stopped a few years ago but I have a feeling that particular variant was scrapped.

I see them on the Ditton/Dollands Moor train I think.

 

[littledude]

I see them on the Ditton/Dollands Moor train I think.

The vans on the Ditton Novelis traffic are bogied

The water train to Daventry uses pairs of 4 wheel vans

 

[55002]

Very interesting chat with the boss of Freightliner

 

[Snow1964]

Article in World Cargo News that more containers are being shifted by rail to Southampton

The Solent Rail Terminal has recorded more than 55,000 containers handled since opening. The terminal, part of the Port of Southampton complex on the south coast of England, recently underwent a multi-million-pound upgrade. The container handling figure is for the six months since that project was completed.

Terminal operator Solent Stevedores has seen a significant increase in containers entering and leaving the port via rail. The operator compared traffic year on year. They say the figures include a modal shift to rail, which has taken approximately 16,000 lorries off the road in the last six months. That performance has been improved by a scheme managed by the port’s owners, DP World, to encourage hauliers to opt for rail forwarding.

Busy integrated facility​

The rail freight terminal underwent a significant upgrade in partnership with port management Associated British Ports (ABP) that was completed in March this year. “The project was driven by a need to encourage cargo off the road and onto rail, contributing towards improving the local air quality and the Department for Transport’s target to be Net Zero by 2050,” said Solent Stevedores in a company statement.

The newly expanded 18-acre (7.25ha) site is linked to the existing intermodal rail site. It provides laden and empty container handling, storage, maintenance and repair in a single-site boundary. The onsite maintenance and repair facility has been busy. In the same period, engineers completed over 8,000 repairs to dry and reefer containers.

Rail connections across the UK​

In preparation for the development of the intermodal terminal at Southampton, the UK government’s infrastructure agency, Network Rail, undertook an extensive programme of capacity enhancements to the railway infrastructure on the approaches to the port. Rail freight operators in the UK have been quick to respond. Several new intermodal flows have been introduced at the port, taking container traffic to hubs in the UK, including Cardiff, Birmingham and London Gateway.

Southampton modal shift program helps boost container moves by rail ‣ WorldCargo News

More containers are moving through Southampton’s Solent Rail Terminal, the integrated handling and maintenance facility at the South of England port, owned by DP World.

www.worldcargonews.com

 

[Adrian Barr]

So the end then for the MEAs? The last of the 4-wheel mineral wagons which proliferated since the railways began. I can't think of any other flows.

Could well be... this was the last set of MEAs still in use (which previously worked the slag flow from Cardiff Tidal to Rotherham before being transferred onto the gypsum traffic). Their last working was 6E97 empties from Newbiggin on 3rd October - they are currently sat in Tees Yard with a somewhat doubtful future, unless they escape the axe again and migrate to some other flow.
Nice shot of the final 6E97 at Appleby: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulberry59/54038803237/

A second rake of MEAs has been stored since last year at Tees, last used on the Redcar to Oxwellmains trial coal flow that stopped running in September last year. Before that, the set was used on the somewhat sporadic GGBS flow (imported ground granulated blast furnace slag) from Redcar to Scunthorpe for LKAB minerals, supplementing locally sourced GGBS produced at the steelworks.

Yes good point, that leaves the Alcan , various cement flows and possibly the SSAs in S Wales left of what I consider the classic ( 80/90s),non infrastructure 4 wheel wagons. Happy to be corrected.

You could add the VGA wagons used on the Cardiff Tidal to Burton flow of wire rod to that list, which are still in use. Also the Plasmor PNAs.

There have been a few casualties since I posted on your thread last year about 2-axle wagons, mainly the china clay CDAs, but also the SSAs which quietly fled South Wales in the summer on a one-way vacation to Kingsbury. One of the workings took a dozen SSAs from Margam to Kingsbury as a 6M22 on 24th July and there must have been one or two others - can't find photographs due to running very early in the morning, but this drone shot of Kingsbury in August shows 10 SSAs visible in the scrapyard: https://www.flickr.com/photos/robmcrorie/53914564844/
I think their last loaded scrap workings from Trostre to Port Talbot were in June. A few JNAs (TIPH 98xx series) migrated onto the scrap traffic from Trostre, but with the scrap being used in the now-closed BOS plant the traffic has dried up for now (I don't think it has run since the end of July).

Mud trains to Forders

I thought Forders had been capped by Crossrail dug clay and was now closed! Happy to see more freight on the Vale!

Indeed... look out for a 6M77 04:24 from Acton (with commercial spoil from Neasden) returning as 6M75 11:20 to Neasden starting on Monday morning. I was surprised to hear about Forders Sidings coming back into use.

A planning document I found mentions the traffic - extremely dry reading but it talks briefly about wagons being offloaded on lines 1 and 2 for onward movement by road to "separately permitted waste activities."

The existing railway infrastructure will be retained and continue to be used for the import by rail of non-hazardous excavation, construction and demolition waste, for onward transfer via road in Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) to separately permitted waste activities.

 

[Gaz67]

Could well be... this was the last set of MEAs still in use (which previously worked the slag flow from Cardiff Tidal to Rotherham before being transferred onto the gypsum traffic). Their last working was 6E97 empties from Newbiggin on 3rd October - they are currently sat in Tees Yard with a somewhat doubtful future, unless they escape the axe again and migrate to some other flow.
Nice shot of the final 6E97 at Appleby: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulberry59/54038803237/

A second rake of MEAs has been stored since last year at Tees, last used on the Redcar to Oxwellmains trial coal flow that stopped running in September last year. Before that, the set was used on the somewhat sporadic GGBS flow (imported ground granulated blast furnace slag) from Redcar to Scunthorpe for LKAB minerals, supplementing locally sourced GGBS produced at the steelworks.



You could add the VGA wagons used on the Cardiff Tidal to Burton flow of wire rod to that list, which are still in use. Also the Plasmor PNAs.

There have been a few casualties since I posted on your thread last year about 2-axle wagons, mainly the china clay CDAs, but also the SSAs which quietly fled South Wales in the summer on a one-way vacation to Kingsbury. One of the workings took a dozen SSAs from Margam to Kingsbury as a 6M22 on 24th July and there must have been one or two others - can't find photographs due to running very early in the morning, but this drone shot of Kingsbury in August shows 10 SSAs visible in the scrapyard: https://www.flickr.com/photos/robmcrorie/53914564844/
I think their last loaded scrap workings from Trostre to Port Talbot were in June. A few JNAs (TIPH 98xx series) migrated onto the scrap traffic from Trostre, but with the scrap being used in the now-closed BOS plant the traffic has dried up for now (I don't think it has run since the end of July).



Indeed... look out for a 6M77 04:24 from Acton (with commercial spoil from Neasden) returning as 6M75 11:20 to Neasden starting on Monday morning. I was surprised to hear about Forders Sidings coming back into use.

A planning document I found mentions the traffic - extremely dry reading but it talks briefly about wagons being offloaded on lines 1 and 2 for onward movement by road to "separately permitted waste activities."

Could well be... this was the last set of MEAs still in use (which previously worked the slag flow from Cardiff Tidal to Rotherham before being transferred onto the gypsum traffic). Their last working was 6E97 empties from Newbiggin on 3rd October - they are currently sat in Tees Yard with a somewhat doubtful future, unless they escape the axe again and migrate to some other flow.
Nice shot of the final 6E97 at Appleby: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulberry59/54038803237/

A second rake of MEAs has been stored since last year at Tees, last used on the Redcar to Oxwellmains trial coal flow that stopped running in September last year. Before that, the set was used on the somewhat sporadic GGBS flow (imported ground granulated blast furnace slag) from Redcar to Scunthorpe for LKAB minerals, supplementing locally sourced GGBS produced at the steelworks.



You could add the VGA wagons used on the Cardiff Tidal to Burton flow of wire rod to that list, which are still in use. Also the Plasmor PNAs.

There have been a few casualties since I posted on your thread last year about 2-axle wagons, mainly the china clay CDAs, but also the SSAs which quietly fled South Wales in the summer on a one-way vacation to Kingsbury. One of the workings took a dozen SSAs from Margam to Kingsbury as a 6M22 on 24th July and there must have been one or two others - can't find photographs due to running very early in the morning, but this drone shot of Kingsbury in August shows 10 SSAs visible in the scrapyard: https://www.flickr.com/photos/robmcrorie/53914564844/
I think their last loaded scrap workings from Trostre to Port Talbot were in June. A few JNAs (TIPH 98xx series) migrated onto the scrap traffic from Trostre, but with the scrap being used in the now-closed BOS plant the traffic has dried up for now (I don't think it has run since the end of July).



Indeed... look out for a 6M77 04:24 from Acton (with commercial spoil from Neasden) returning as 6M75 11:20 to Neasden starting on Monday morning. I was surprised to hear about Forders Sidings coming back into use.

A planning document I found mentions the traffic - extremely dry reading but it talks briefly about wagons being offloaded on lines 1 and 2 for onward movement by road to "separately permitted waste activities."

I suppose for completeness on the 4 wheelers we should include the VGAs on the very occasional MOD traffic , usually glimpsed in Carlisle Yard from passing trains, bizarrely some still carrying Lovatt Springs advertising. They pop up occasionally on Les Gilpins coverage of the Carlisle railway scene. Shame about the SSAs, the last ones I saw were in Ribblehead Quarry, 2 loaded with stone, possibly a trial , do they still tail load on the Corby trains ?.

 

[Adrian Barr]

do they still tail load on the Corby trains ?.

That's not happened for a while now. The caption to this 2022 photo of 66136 with SSAs at Corby suggests the scrap was related to a "major refurbishment" of the works:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/andy_hoare/52031960402/

There was a project to combine several warehouses into one big one (mentioned on Tata UK's YouTube channel), and the scrap in the foreground of that pic looks like it could be old stock being sent for recycling.
This 2022 drone shot shows construction work in progress in the background: https://www.flickr.com/photos/robmcrorie/52038095660/

Having said that, Corby did send out weekly scrap trains to Aldwarke many years ago, and the works would presumably generate a certain amount of scrap from normal production (off-cuts e.t.c.)

Two shots from the glory days of the SSAs:
56033 arrives at Corby from Aldwarke in 2000: https://www.flickr.com/photos/187414118@N06/50025606231/
56095 departs Corby with scrap for Aldwarke in 2002: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tunnel_one/15657673209/

 

[geordieblue]

New flow from Purfleet to Colnbrook started on Friday - recycled tarmac chippings apparently, operated by DC Rail. I’m not sure if it’ll run again - there’s no more paths showing in RTT for next week - but they may be uploaded late. Details in this LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dami...8-K1YP?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Oct 2024 ==

It also seems a flow has started from Longport to Tyne Yard - recycled ballast? This last ran back in 2022 I think but I wonder if it qualifies as ‘new’ traffic in terms of track access charges - which are currently waived for the first six months of a new flow. Picture here: https://flic.kr/p/2qn4SNi

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

... and one more bit of good news: the first 'proper' MoD trains in months have run in the last couple of days, from Kineton to Carlisle (see here:

).

 

[Sun Chariot]

... and one more bit of good news: the first 'proper' MoD trains in months have run in the last couple of days, from Kineton to Carlisle

Thanks for sharing your video. I saw Monday's working on RTT but I couldn't get over to Marchwood to photograph it. Weather down here was abysmal, too...

 

[geordieblue]

Thanks for sharing your video.

Not mine! All credit to the YouTube channel.

 

[Rail Ranger]

A path is now in the system for the new Llandudno Junction to Earles Sidings flow of slate waste. To be operated by Freightliner when it starts: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:H11399/2024-10-29/detailed

 

[Killingworth]

A path is now in the system for the new Llandudno Junction to Earles Sidings flow of slate waste. To be operated by Freightliner when it starts: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:H11399/2024-10-29/detailed

This is to replace the loads of power station ash that are currently being used to mix with the limestone for cement. They're almost all gone, or possibly have all gone.

 

[AndrewE]

This is to replace the loads of power station ash that are currently being used to mix with the limestone for cement. They're almost all gone, or possibly have all gone.

That's good news, but what a shame it can't be got out of Blaenau by rail. A hybrid battery loco would be able to recharge on the way down the valley too!

 

[geordieblue]

There’s a path in RTT tonight between Dollands Moor and Ripple Lane - described as Channel Tunnel intermodal. I don’t think any of these trains have run since the Transfesa one stopped a few months ago, will be interesting to see what runs: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:H19457/2024-10-31/detailed

 

[Class15]

There’s a path in RTT tonight between Dollands Moor and Ripple Lane - described as Channel Tunnel intermodal. I don’t think any of these trains have run since the Transfesa one stopped a few months ago, will be interesting to see what runs: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:H19457/2024-10-31/detailed

Cancelled.

 

[Meerkat]

That's good news, but what a shame it can't be got out of Blaenau by rail. A hybrid battery loco would be able to recharge on the way down the valley too!

IIRC the slate waste isn't coming from Blaenau??

 

[Oxfordblues]

That's good news, but what a shame it can't be got out of Blaenau by rail. A hybrid battery loco would be able to recharge on the way down the valley too!

The slate comes mainly from the Penrhyn Quarry at Bethesda and also the Ffestiniog (ex-Oakeley) and Cwt-y-Bugail quarries near Blaenau Ffestiniog. Loading to rail at Blaenau would require relaying of most of the branch and strengthening of a few bridges.

 

[AndrewE]

The slate comes mainly from the Penrhyn Quarry at Bethesda and also the Ffestiniog (ex-Oakeley) and Cwt-y-Bugail quarries near Blaenau Ffestiniog. Loading to rail at Blaenau would require relaying of most of the branch and strengthening of a few bridges.

Maybe (if the flow has a secure future) upgrading the branch would be a worthwhile investment, plus a new conveyor belt to reduce road traffic in the national park. For Bethesda, maybe reduce road haulage by re-purposing the ballast loading facility at Penmaenmawr?
n.b. speculation continued on new thread https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/n-wales-slate-waste-export-by-rail.276419/

 

[Penmorfa]

Maybe (if the flow has a secure future) upgrading the branch would be a worthwhile investment, plus a new conveyor belt to reduce road traffic in the national park. For Bethesda, maybe reduce road haulage by re-purposing the ballast loading facility at Penmaenmawr?
n.b. speculation continued on new thread https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/n-wales-slate-waste-export-by-rail.276419/

There's a couple of hundred million tons of slate waste at Penrhyn Quarry to use up first. Very little comes from the quarries around Blaenau.

The terminal at Llandudno Jct was specifically built to handle slate chippings. It would be impossible for lorries to access Penmaenmawr terminal unless they accessed the granite quarry conveyor belt high above the town. This would also incur a charge from the quarry owners - Heidelberg Materials.

 

[66701GBRF]

Due to taking work off of a competitor, GB's 4L66/4M66 Daventry/Felixstowe service returns next week. It will run to Daventry Monday, Wednesday and Friday and will run to Iport Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

4L43/4E43 will run to Daventry Tuesday and Thursday and to Iport Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Why the need to have two trains alternate like that is anyone's guess.