Georgemas Junction Container Terminal

[Glenmutchkin]

Apologies if this has been asked before. I am working on my tablet and every time I start to input a search the box disappears.

On a Club55 trip from the Central Belt to Wick today we passed (twice) the newly built container terminal here. There was a rake of empty flatbeds behind a DB Schenker Class 66 waiting to head south and a few more empty flats in a siding but no containers, either on wagons or on the ground. Is the terminal in use? If so why no containers visible?

 

[najaB]

Is the terminal in use? If so why no containers visible?

My understanding is that it is in use, but the main 'cargo' being transported comes ready packed in special containers, doesn't stick around long in the terminal, and often doesn't show up in online data feeds.

 

[Glenmutchkin]

My understanding is that it is in use, but the main 'cargo' being transported comes ready packed in special containers, doesn't stick around long in the terminal, and often doesn't show up in online data feeds.

Sounds a bit sinister. Are we talking about something to do with Dounreay? If the answer means that you will have to kill me I am happy for you to keep it to yourself.

 

[najaB]

If the answer means that you will have to kill me I am happy for you to keep it to yourself.

Don't worry, you are safe - but yes, my understanding is that Dounreay traffic basically paid for the terminal. The pipe trains and any intermodal freight is a bonus.

 

[Glenmutchkin]

Thank you.

 

[Freightmaster]

There was a rake of empty flatbeds behind a DB Schenker Class 66 waiting to head south and a few more empty flats in a siding but no containers, either on wagons or on the ground....

The train of flats you saw today were not container flats,
but steel carrying flat wagons, used to convey pipes from
Hartlepool to Georgemas Junction, which explains why you
didn't see any containers!

But I understand that there is a plan to start a container
service from Aberdeen to Georgemas in the near future,
conveying general supplies for the North Sea oilfield.


MARK

 

[najaB]

But I understand that there is a plan to start a container service from Aberdeen to Georgemas in the near future,
conveying general supplies for the North Sea oilfield.

It's a shame that Morrison's isn't as rail friendly as Safeway was.

 

[Jonny]

It's a shame that Morrison's isn't as rail friendly as Safeway was.

In fairness though, their most northerly branch is Alness; they have nothing that could run to Georgemas.

 

[najaB]

In fairness though, their most northerly branch is Alness; they have nothing that could run to Georgemas.

True, I was thinking back to the days when Safeway used to run freight up to Wick.

 

[Trucker Glen]

The new railhead at Georgemas was built about two years ago specifically for nuclear flasks, when material was starting to be removed from Dounreay.

The Subsea 7 pipes are unloaded in the yard on the other side of the A9.

There are some photos of the flask terminal here.

 

[Glenmutchkin]

Thanks for the answers. All of the flats were gone this morning and there is a stack of pipes on the opposite side of the Wick line to the Container yard.