Corby Freight Branch

[montyburns56]

I've just been looking at the Corby Freight Branch both on Google Maps and Quail Maps and I'm wondering how much usage has it seen in recent years? I believe that Tata Steel still get regular trains, dispatching tube?? steel I presume, but there is also a former scrap yard??, a Wincanton warehouse and some kind of car unloading terminal. Does anyone know when these facilities were actually being used?

 

[DarloRich]

is not it only Steel traffic now? Is there still a daily train to/from Margam?

 

[Legolash2o]

Going by the latest CIF record, you can calculate the amount of trains going through each point in the area.

TIPLOC, Name, Count
CORBY, Corby, 21267
CORBBSC, Corby B.S.C, 60
CORBAUT, Corby Hub, 0 (not used)
CORBRRL, Corby North Run-Round Loop, 3276
CORBGFC, Corby BSC Auto Terminal, 0 (not used)

Below is a link showing that a freight train is passing through Corby: http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced/COR?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt

 

[richieb1971]

There are videos on youtube of the car train that used to go to Corby. I think it was the French manufacturers that used it like Renault and Citroen.

I found the video -

It hasn't ran for more than a decade. I believe it only ran for a limited time. They cancelled it due to the slow facilities at Corby unloading the cars and putting them on lorries.

 

[03_179]

Isn't there a passenger train that goes along the line once a week ?

 

[richieb1971]

A few ECS EMT trains run the Harringworth viaduct portion of the line on weekends I believe. The Corby part of the track has passenger trains terminate at Corby and don't go north on weekdays. The only things that go north are freight trains apart from the aforementioned ECS EMT weekend diagrams. Which incidentally is on the video above. Its just that its an ECS that allows passengers and train spotters that want to travel across the viaduct.

Oakham is on the spur that connects Leicester and Peterborough and runs trains multiple times daily.

 

[muddythefish]

There are videos on youtube of the car train that used to go to Corby. I think it was the French manufacturers that used it like Renault and Citroen.

I found the video -

It hasn't ran for more than a decade. I believe it only ran for a limited time. They cancelled it due to the slow facilities at Corby unloading the cars and putting them on lorries.

Used to see that train many times going through Bedford. Huge train, very long. An indictment of the industry that the traffic was lost to rail.

There's been huge investment in warehousing and logistics in Corby in recent years. The old Eurohub sign was taken down recently - does rail always give up ?

 

[Tomnick]

Assuming the original query refers to the two branches diverging south of Corby station, rather than Corby - Manton, and all with the disclaimer that it's been nearly three years since I had any involvement with any of it...

There's paths in the system for two round trips from Margam each day (steel coils to Corby). The morning arrival at Corby ran pretty much daily; the mid-afternoon arrival much less frequently (to suit demand presumably).

The automotive branch was blocked by fencing, a very short distance onto the branch. I discovered this shortly after I very nearly used said branch to hide an errant tamper, early one morning.

The sidings between those two branches and the single line (as was) towards Kettering were physically disconnected.

The sidings north of Corby station were regularly used as required to recess London services in the evening when turnaround times increased to ~40 minutes, as well as a booked move in the morning for the Kettering - Corby shuttle to hide before forming the 0926 to Derby.

 

[montyburns56]

Assuming the original query refers to the two branches diverging south of Corby station, rather than Corby - Manton, and all with the disclaimer that it's been nearly three years since I had any involvement with any of it...

There's paths in the system for two round trips from Margam each day (steel coils to Corby). The morning arrival at Corby ran pretty much daily; the mid-afternoon arrival much less frequently (to suit demand presumably).

The automotive branch was blocked by fencing, a very short distance onto the branch. I discovered this shortly after I very nearly used said branch to hide an errant tamper, early one morning.

The sidings between those two branches and the single line (as was) towards Kettering were physically disconnected.

The sidings north of Corby station were regularly used as required to recess London services in the evening when turnaround times increased to ~40 minutes, as well as a booked move in the morning for the Kettering - Corby shuttle to hide before forming the 0926 to Derby.

Yeah thanks, it's the freight branches that I was interested in. One closer examination of Google Maps it does look like the sidings to Wincanton depot are physically disconnected.

Thanks the video rich, it seems that the French car trains started in 1996, so at least they lasted about 10 years.

It does seem ironic that on a line that was singled, that a large portion of the freight branch is double track! I guess that implies that it was pretty busy decades ago. In fact it might be a good place to set up a preserved railway!

 

[Tomnick]

It does seem ironic that on a line that was singled, that a large portion of the freight branch is double track! I guess that implies that it was pretty busy decades ago. In fact it might be a good place to set up a preserved railway!

It’s not - they’re two independent single lines, presumably to avoid having any signalling equipment away from the junction itself (although the BSC single line was subsequently provided with axle counters and signalled as a TCB single line, with a signal at the outlet from what’s left of the works complex).

 

[PHILIPE]

A few ECS EMT trains run the Harringworth viaduct portion of the line on weekends I believe. The Corby part of the track has passenger trains terminate at Corby and don't go north on weekdays. The only things that go north are freight trains apart from the aforementioned ECS EMT weekend diagrams. Which incidentally is on the video above. Its just that its an ECS that allows passengers and train spotters that want to travel across the viaduct.

Oakham is on the spur that connects Leicester and Peterborough and runs trains multiple times daily.

A few ECS EMT trains run the Harringworth viaduct portion of the line on weekends I believe. The Corby part of the track has passenger trains terminate at Corby and don't go north on weekdays. The only things that go north are freight trains apart from the aforementioned ECS EMT weekend diagrams. Which incidentally is on the video above. Its just that its an ECS that allows passengers and train spotters that want to travel across the viaduct.

Oakham is on the spur that connects Leicester and Peterborough and runs trains multiple times daily.

There are passenger trains running in service across Harringworth viaduct.. Recent discussion on these:-

://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/1628-derby-kettering.170205/#post-3653225

 

[montyburns56]

It’s not - they’re two independent single lines, presumably to avoid having any signalling equipment away from the junction itself (although the BSC single line was subsequently provided with axle counters and signalled as a TCB single line, with a signal at the outlet from what’s left of the works complex).

I know that they are strictly not an up and down line, but seems like a strange luxury on a freight line. Although having subsequently found these videos of the car trains being shunted at Corby and having seen the convoluted way in which it was done, now I can understand perhaps why they kept two separate lines.

 

[furnessvale]

Used to see that train many times going through Bedford. Huge train, very long. An indictment of the industry that the traffic was lost to rail.

There's been huge investment in warehousing and logistics in Corby in recent years. The old Eurohub sign was taken down recently - does rail always give up ?

Or perhaps an indictment of successive governments who annually increase subsidy to road haulage by freezing HGV fuel duty and VED rates year after year, while simultanaeously increasing railfreight access charges by inflation EVERY year.

 

[muddythefish]

Or perhaps an indictment of successive governments who annually increase subsidy to road haulage by freezing HGV fuel duty and VED rates year after year, while simultanaeously increasing railfreight access charges by inflation EVERY year.

.... and then announcing another £30bn to be spent on roads.