Rail Link at BSW Timber Fort William

[Mollington St]

Please find attached a few pictures i took this week whilst working up at Fort William
The New BSW Saw Mill complex is looking at re opening the rail access to accept logs by rail , the old track layout is still well intact from when the site ran as the Pulp Mill
It will be good to see this project completed with benefits to all , not least good to have some West Highland Freight

June 24th 2023 - North West Rail & Transport Collectors Fair - Crewe

 

[furnessvale]

Be nice to see some finished timber out as well. Some of the finished product will be heading a long way south into England.

 

[Mollington St]

Yes your right it needs to full loads in and finished loads out , i will try and keep across any updates etc

 

[Ashley Hill]

Perhaps they could make some sleepers,theres plenty of rotten ones in those photos.

 

[class ep-09]

Please find attached a few pictures i took this week whilst working up at Fort William
The New BSW Saw Mill complex is looking at re opening the rail access to accept logs by rail , the old track layout is still well intact from when the site ran as the Pulp Mill
It will be good to see this project completed with benefits to all , not least good to have some West Highland Freight

June 24th 2023 - North West Rail & Transport Collectors Fair - Crewe

Pictures from the future ?

 

[InOban]

Ferguson Transport, the local HGV operator would love to transfer some of their business onto rail, but getting viable paths has proved impossible. A train of a commercial length is too long for almost all the passing loops making the passing of passenger services very difficult. The aluminium train is allowed over 7 hours to reach Mossend ; an HGV takes half that.

Much of the timber trucked into the site is exported by sea to sawmills elsewhere

 

[furnessvale]

Ferguson Transport, the local HGV operator would love to transfer some of their business onto rail, but getting viable paths has proved impossible. A train of a commercial length is too long for almost all the passing loops making the passing of passenger services very difficult. The aluminium train is allowed over 7 hours to reach Mossend ; an HGV takes half that.

Much of the timber trucked into the site is exported by sea to sawmills elsewhere

Unless both trains are overlength, the passing of other trains "should" be easy, it is in other countries.

However, we are talking about the UK!

 

[Cheshire Scot]

The aluminium train is allowed over 7 hours to reach Mossend ; an HGV takes half that.

From actually leaving Fort William rather than the Alcan sidings, just over 6.5 hours, still far from impressive but severely constrained by the max. speed of 40mph (and in places 35mph) for class 6 freight over the 100 miles to Craigendoran Junction and dwell times to cross other trains en route, but that journey time is similar to those in the late 70's when there were 5 freight trains per day. If rail can be competitive on cost journey time might not be a serious issue.

Where would inward timber come from? In the past wagonload timber going out of the area was loaded at locations such as Taynuilt, Arrochar and Crianlarich, and indeed to Corpach for pulping from Crianlarich Lower the site of which is now built on. The ability to load a full trainload (whatever the size of train) at any of these sites (or other locations on the route) would be questionable to say the least.

Perhaps potentially more of a prospect for outward traffic, be it finished timber or logs, but only if journey time is not an issue and again, would there be demand for a full trainload to one destination - unless loaded in containers (flats for logs) for onward distribution to multiple destinations from terminals in Coatbridge or Mossend.

If the Alcan train runs 3 days a week (?), potentially the same path could be used on the other days.

 

[furnessvale]

If rail can be competitive on cost journey time might not be a serious issue.

Given that much moves by sea, I cannot see that time constraints are a deal breaker. In any case, I doubt the end product is "Just in Time" material.

 

[InOban]

As I recall the issue is delivering container loads of processed timber at the right time to catch overnight freights south from Mossend.

unprocessed softwood timber is a fairly low value commodity. The curse in this part of the world are loaded trucks passing each other on their way to different processing sites.

 

[Deepgreen]

This is an obvious case for rail freight, with a virtually extant facility, but still the UK rail industry will no doubt find a way to stymie it. I despair. I also don't see why one overlength train passing, say, a two-car DMU is a pathing nightmare.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 26 Mar 2023 ==

Given that much moves by sea, I cannot see that time constraints are a deal breaker. In any case, I doubt the end product is "Just in Time" material.

Quite.

 

[zwk500]

This is an obvious case for rail freight, with a virtually extant facility, but still the UK rail industry will no doubt find a way to stymie it. I despair. I also don't see why one overlength train passing, say, a two-car DMU is a pathing nightmare.

You've never had to plan it then. The RETB doesn't help but it's also the Sprinter differentials which the freight can't take advantage of.

 

[Deepgreen]

Pictures from the future ?

I suspect that is a reference/advert for a forthcoming event.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 26 Mar 2023 ==

You've never had to plan it then. The RETB doesn't help but it's also the Sprinter differentials which the freight can't take advantage of.

No, I haven't, but are we to have a rail network in the UK that can be progressive and endeavour to accept obvious freight flows or just give in and send everything by road? We seem to have got to a state where the latter is the default.

 

[zwk500]

No, I haven't, but are we to have a rail network in the UK that can be progressive and endeavour to accept obvious freight flows or just give in and send everything by road? We seem to have got to a state where the latter is the default.

This is a very rural branch line that doesn't have much traffic and would struggle to justify increased maintenance to ease bridge restrictions etc for a flow that might well not go by rail for very long. The rail network is very good a supporting rail freight where volumes demand. The West highland is not the same as the whole network just giving in.

It would be brilliant if it can work, but the paths aren't going to be straightforward.

 

[Deepgreen]

This is a very rural branch line that doesn't have much traffic and would struggle to justify increased maintenance to ease bridge restrictions etc for a flow that might well not go by rail for very long. The rail network is very good a supporting rail freight where volumes demand. The West highland is not the same as the whole network just giving in.

It would be brilliant if it can work, but the paths aren't going to be straightforward.

Someone earlier mentioned a flow that is only a few days week - can the remaining days' existing, unused, paths not be made to work here, I wonder? Timber is surely not a 'just in time' commodity, i.e. it has a shelf life that doesn't demand express transport. The WHL is technically a branch line, but a 123 mile long one! It has the timber potential already there and a railhead almost ready to go. More freight ran previously than is the case today so this is not breaking new ground. Perhaps this is yet another case of technical 'advances' (RETB) leading to reduced flexibility and ability to accommodate change. It should be possible to make this work, but I am fully expecting there not to be the will to do so.

 

[Bald Rick]

Perhaps they could make some sleepers,theres plenty of rotten ones in those photos.

Not out of the wood being harvested here! They would last a few years at best.

 

[Meerkat]

Ferguson Transport, the local HGV operator would love to transfer some of their business onto rail, but getting viable paths has proved impossible. A train of a commercial length is too long for almost all the passing loops making the passing of passenger services very difficult. The aluminium train is allowed over 7 hours to reach Mossend ; an HGV takes half that.

Much of the timber trucked into the site is exported by sea to sawmills elsewhere

Has the Fort William line got the loading gauge for containers or swap bodies? Don't really want to be using pocket wagons when train length is already an issue.

 

[D6130]

More freight ran previously than is the case today so this is not breaking new ground.

....but there were fewer passenger trains in those days - especially South of Crianlarich.

 

[Railsigns]

Perhaps this is yet another case of technical 'advances' (RETB) leading to reduced flexibility and ability to accommodate change.

If anything, RETB has done the opposite. It's also likely that the line wouldn't be open today were it not for RETB.

 

[Cheshire Scot]

....but there were fewer passenger trains in those days - especially South of Crianlarich.

And several freight trains ran during the very early hours - the line was open approx 01.30 to 21.30, northbound the 06.00 from Queen St was the fifth or sixth train of the day