Holyhead Aluminium Trains?

[Proposedlines]

I saw something on realtime trains saying that there is a train going to Holyhead Aluminium but it was always Run As Required and never ran the last Holyhead Aluminium Train was in the 1980s and closed due to Beeching Axes

 

[littledude]

The final aluminium train out of Holyhead was October 2009, hauled by a pair of class 37s. It wasn’t in the 1980s.

 

[Proposedlines]

The final aluminium train out of Holyhead was October 2009, hauled by a pair of class 37s. It wasn’t in the 1980s.

Oh...

 

[dosxuk]

I saw something on realtime trains saying that there is a train going to Holyhead Aluminium but it was always Run As Required and never ran

"Holyhead [Anglesey] Aluminium" is the name of a location, and doesn't have anything to do with what the train is carrying, and doesn't even need to be related to what is at that location anymore.

As the aluminium site is undergoing redevelopment currently, there could be trains heading up there to bring in / remove materials, or just to check out the infrastructure. With the plant closed and demolished, it's very unlikely it's going to be carrying a load of aluminium.

 

[Gloster]

And The Beeching Report was in March 1963 and cuts in the 1980s, or even most of those in the 1970s, are regarded as post-Beeching. Not that most people associate Beeching with anything but the withdrawal of passenger services and the closure of (passenger) lines.

 

[Adrian Barr]

The subject of WTT paths to Holyhead Aluminium came up for discussion a couple of years ago in the railfreight thread:

... apparently this is the "Anglesey Rail intermodal freight terminal (ARiFT)"
The place is mentioned in a brief news item on the Modern Railways website in 2018 - https://www.modernrailways.com/article/terminal-holyhead
Similar info in a newsletter from the Rail Freight Group - http://www.rfg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/RFG-News-Issue-131-September-2018-FINAL.pdf
Slightly longer piece here based on a press release - https://www.ibj-online.com/arift-handles-first-holyhead-rail-freight-operation/326

The 4D62 03:13 Wembley - Holyhead and 4A26 16:10 return paths in the WTT look like part of the long term planning for that place, but these kind of paths sometimes appear without necessarily coming to fruition.

An extract from those links:

The 5.5 ha rail facility (can be expanded to 10 ha) is part of the 213 acre Orthios Logistics Hub & Eco Park site which is connected to the West Coast Main Line via the North Wales Coast Line. It is also adjacent to the A55, close to Anglesey Airport and within 2 km of Holyhead Port. The terminal can handle up to six trains per day with the maximum length of 750m. It has an 700m reception siding and two 400m handling sidings with provision for extending to 950m in the future. The site provides a storage capacity of 550 TEU laden 950 TEU empty, and is perfectly placed to support international movements.

Also in that thread, BRX found a planning document which has this in it:

The most significant measure to be included in the final strategy on Anglesey is the proposal for a ‘Landbridge’ rail freight service from mainland Europe to Ireland through a Holyhead freight terminal. The aim would be to replace road journeys operating between ports in southern or eastern UK and Holyhead with an intermodal freight train. This would be the first scheme of its type in the UK.

https://infrastructure.planninginsp...le of Anglesey - Transport May 2018 Final.pdf

I don't think the 4D62 / 4A62 working timetable paths that were being discussed are still in the timetable.
Whoever chose the 4D62 headcode probably had a long memory - I found this shot of 85005 on a 4D62 Willesden - Holyhead freightliner in 1989: https://www.flickr.com/photos/79134428@N03/51505150242/

The final train of aluminium (mentioned in another post) is pictured here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/60776612@N02/53511153210/
A Humber to Holyhead train of petroleum coke (for the manufacture of graphite electrodes used in the manufacture of aluminium) also ran for many years, as seen here in 1999 behind 56043: https://www.flickr.com/photos/15977833@N07/6420511085/

 

[Cowley]

Well I guess that’s that question answered.

Thanks folks.