Swimming in Petrol Lessons down at Wakefield Kirkgate Station.
In the early 1990's the role of the guard on goods trains was on the decline and at The Mill was no exception.
For quite a number of years we had a booked job to take 12 x101 tons TEA Tanks full of petrol and diesel with a tonnage of around 1250 tons, and a length of 36SLUs which runs at about 720 feet long, to Hunslet East ORT at Leeds
The normal engines could be Class 47's or Class 56's, or what ever Warrington had to spare.
The driver and I would sign on at 09:05hrs to await the train with a head code of 6Z39.
This train started at Stanlow Refinery and come via Warrington, Ashton Moss, Man Vic up the hill out of Vic, then make a right hand turn at the top to go via Park, Staly Bridge, Marsden, Huddersfield,Then non stop past The Mill to Number 1 Platform at Kirgate Station.
At Kirkgate was a big mess room and a box to put your time sheets in, more of this later.
On arrival in the mess room, contact was made with the Kirkgate Box signalman, as to where our train was, if it was round about Standage Tunnel, we normally had a brew, and a natter, and then waited for The Box to give us a call, The phone would ring, and the bobby would say.
Z39 down 1 in 15 minutes just passing The Mill.
At this we filled our cans, with boiling water just in case we needed a brew on the way to Leeds.
This was a normal as owt can happen on the big iron road, as we were going to find out when the train rolled into the platform.
As the train had come down from the Tunnel, the driver would be 60 mph all the way down from Marsden, the road at Slaithwaite was like riding on a big fast roller coaster, so the fuel would be swishing about in the rail tanks and down the side of the wagons.
On arrival of Z39, the train stopped at the end of number 1 platform, where a very strong smell of petrol could be niffed.
On inspection of the tank next to the engine, we could see petrol swishing out of the tank down the barrel side of the TEA and was dripping onto the track.
If someone had lit a fag up, there would have been an trainload of petrol going up in flames.
Worse still was the cascading petrol had run onto brake blocks of the rear cab of the 47 and run down onto the wheels of the first TEA next to loco.
In this case, the 47 blocks were metal on metal which equals sparks, and sparks and dripping petrol do not go well with each other, on the other had, the Teas had composite brake blocks, which get warm, but do not spark when braking.
I actually stood on the platform, and saw the petrol running down the side of TEA, and onto the track.
This was the time now to get hold of the signal man and get the fire boys out of bed and down to the scene of the near tradgedy on platform 1 at Kirkgate Station.
Soon there were blue lights and firemen and police all over the spot, the engine was shut down, and the station shut until things were made safe with the train and other combustibles on the Station
The owners of the TEAs' came and inspected the petrol tankers, and found that all the man lids on top of the wagons had withered rubber gaskets were allowing the fuel to spill out between the metal man hole and the barrel of the tanks.
Thats why the surge of petrol in and around the journey from Stanlow, was dripping onto the wheels of the train.
When made safe 6Z39 dropped down into loop till all the gaskets had been changed and examined by BR and the tank owners, and then went at reduced speed to Hunslet East for discharge.
In my time at The Mill I have seen 3 oil trains that were leaking, one when it caught fire in Summit Tunnel, and again in Summit Tunnel with the same 6Z39.
That again is another story to tell on a later day.
In the early 1990's the role of the guard on goods trains was on the decline and at The Mill was no exception.
For quite a number of years we had a booked job to take 12 x101 tons TEA Tanks full of petrol and diesel with a tonnage of around 1250 tons, and a length of 36SLUs which runs at about 720 feet long, to Hunslet East ORT at Leeds
The normal engines could be Class 47's or Class 56's, or what ever Warrington had to spare.
The driver and I would sign on at 09:05hrs to await the train with a head code of 6Z39.
This train started at Stanlow Refinery and come via Warrington, Ashton Moss, Man Vic up the hill out of Vic, then make a right hand turn at the top to go via Park, Staly Bridge, Marsden, Huddersfield,Then non stop past The Mill to Number 1 Platform at Kirgate Station.
At Kirkgate was a big mess room and a box to put your time sheets in, more of this later.
On arrival in the mess room, contact was made with the Kirkgate Box signalman, as to where our train was, if it was round about Standage Tunnel, we normally had a brew, and a natter, and then waited for The Box to give us a call, The phone would ring, and the bobby would say.
Z39 down 1 in 15 minutes just passing The Mill.
At this we filled our cans, with boiling water just in case we needed a brew on the way to Leeds.
This was a normal as owt can happen on the big iron road, as we were going to find out when the train rolled into the platform.
As the train had come down from the Tunnel, the driver would be 60 mph all the way down from Marsden, the road at Slaithwaite was like riding on a big fast roller coaster, so the fuel would be swishing about in the rail tanks and down the side of the wagons.
On arrival of Z39, the train stopped at the end of number 1 platform, where a very strong smell of petrol could be niffed.
On inspection of the tank next to the engine, we could see petrol swishing out of the tank down the barrel side of the TEA and was dripping onto the track.
If someone had lit a fag up, there would have been an trainload of petrol going up in flames.
Worse still was the cascading petrol had run onto brake blocks of the rear cab of the 47 and run down onto the wheels of the first TEA next to loco.
In this case, the 47 blocks were metal on metal which equals sparks, and sparks and dripping petrol do not go well with each other, on the other had, the Teas had composite brake blocks, which get warm, but do not spark when braking.
I actually stood on the platform, and saw the petrol running down the side of TEA, and onto the track.
This was the time now to get hold of the signal man and get the fire boys out of bed and down to the scene of the near tradgedy on platform 1 at Kirkgate Station.
Soon there were blue lights and firemen and police all over the spot, the engine was shut down, and the station shut until things were made safe with the train and other combustibles on the Station
The owners of the TEAs' came and inspected the petrol tankers, and found that all the man lids on top of the wagons had withered rubber gaskets were allowing the fuel to spill out between the metal man hole and the barrel of the tanks.
Thats why the surge of petrol in and around the journey from Stanlow, was dripping onto the wheels of the train.
When made safe 6Z39 dropped down into loop till all the gaskets had been changed and examined by BR and the tank owners, and then went at reduced speed to Hunslet East for discharge.
In my time at The Mill I have seen 3 oil trains that were leaking, one when it caught fire in Summit Tunnel, and again in Summit Tunnel with the same 6Z39.
That again is another story to tell on a later day.
