Dow-mac

[CarltonA]

I still see DOW-MAC sleepers on the network. In 1973 I lived opposite their works in Eaglescliffe between the junction and Allens West. The sleepers would be loaded onto low sided wagons which were shunted using an old tractor. The trains would be collected a couple of times a week usually by a class 31. Allens West station was unusual in that it did not belong to BR but the MOD and had no facilities other than two large asbestos shelters. Apparently it was built to service the WD scrapping facility nearby where aircraft were flown in to be broken up. I remember a seriously long rail strike around that time which made things rather quiet as I had the Yarm line behind the house and the Darlington line in front. The sleeper factory has long gone I believe.

 

[yorksrob]

The name always intrigued me as a child waiting for trains at Ashford in the 80's. Is there still a DOW-MAC churning out sleepers somewhere or has the company succumbed ?

 

[CarltonA]

Doing some basic research I have found DOW-MAC mentioned as early as 1944 but not after the mid eighties. Any sleeper experts out there?

 

[142094]

Funnily enough there is an old semaphore signal just behind the Middlesbrough-bound platform, which I've always wonder why it was there.

 

[High Dyke]

Doing some basic research I have found DOW-MAC mentioned as early as 1944 but not after the mid eighties. Any sleeper experts out there?

Not an expert. However Dow-Mac underwent changes of ownership. Costain were involved and finally they passed into Tarmac ownership (someone may prove me wrong now). Dow-Mac built a concrete plant at Tallington nr Stamford, Lincolnshire in 1943-44. Familiar to travellers on the ECML. This produced concrete sleepers as well as other concrete products. Its closure was announced in 2011.

http://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/tarmac-begins-closure-programme

A trip working from Peterborough New England to Tallington sometimes produced the sight of an 08 vying for passage alongside HST's, and occasionally into the 91 era.

 

[CarltonA]

I'd guessed that Costain had taken over Dow-Mac as their sleepers are identical and use the same lettering type. The Eaglescliffe site has been built over with housing since closure. There is some mystery over the old scrapping site which was rail served. The MOD depot closed and was turned into industrial units, but the "airfield" part is still fenced off and it is rumoured that many tons of aircraft parts were buried there between 1945-7.