The process of recycling a train

[driverd]

Hi all,

Just been having a nosey around the CF Booth yard on Google maps and I got rather curious about the technical process for scrapping a train.

So from train arriving, fresh out of traffic complete with seats, all I can ascertain from the Internet is that the train next gets a big excavator (of sorts) ripping it apart, often with the help of a man with a blow torch.

But what next?

How are the seats/casing etc removed, along with all the other non-metal bits?

What happens to the metal components? How are these sorted and are they compacted or do they melt them down on site?

Many questions but if anyone could outline the process and methods used I'd be very interested to know!

 

[Martin66]

Footage recorded 17 July 2025. Metrocar 4033 undergoing breakage. Recycling is at the heart of the region’s fond farewell to the Tyne and Wear Metro’s old train fleet. The 45-year-old carriages, which are currently being phased out, are sent for recycling with much of their used metals repurposed and shipped abroad to support manufacturing. Metals from the Metro’s rolling stock – including aluminium, copper and steel – are being exported via regional hubs to countries around the world including Spain, India, Turkey and Asia. A total of 29 trains – almost a third of Metro’s current rolling stock - have been recycled so far, with the work happening in carefully planned stages as more of the new Stadler Metro trains are put into customer service. Leading North East metal recycling specialist, J Denham Metals Ltd, is carrying out the task of taking these iconic trains on their final journey. The breakage process makes for a visually striking scene. Powerful machinery rips the carriages open like tin foil so that the metals can be harvested. It all gets underway when the train is signed out of service and taken to the Howdon Metro Depot in North Tyneside, where Stadler hands it over to a haulier. The carriage is taken from the Metro tracks and placed on to an articulated lorry for its road journey down to County Durham. When it arrives at the scrap yard a giant hydraulic grabber lifts the train up – and so begins the breakage process. The grabber starts on the bodywork, before windows and seats are removed. An equally large hydraulic machine – known as a snipper – gradually works its way through the carriage in a process which takes just under one hour. The used metals can then be loaded into containers for recycling. The focus turns to the train’s chassis and the wheels, or bogeys as they are known in the railway industry, the heaviest and most bulky sections. Nexus is retaining two of the old Metro carriages for heritage purposes and these will be donated to the Stephenson Steam Railway in North Tyneside and to Beamish Museum in County Durham. Video by Nexus.

 

[sh24]

Once shredded, and depending on the facility, they will use magnetic sorters to split out ferrous and non ferrous metals, an assortment of funky and clever bits of kit to shake out/remove non recyclable parts and potentially people to do further sortation.

 

[mbonwick]

Mechanical shears and gas-axe down to a manageable size.

Shred it all (nothing on a train is heavy enough section to bother leaving).

Magnetic drum separator to pull out anything ferrous (steel).

Eddy current separators to separate everything non-ferrous (copper, aluminium, plastic).

Hard plastic and foam might be separated from each other, but more likely just shipped off to landfill/incineration as mixed waste.

Very little is done by people - labour is just too expensive!

Booths have their own non-ferrous foundry, so will remelt the copper and aluminium scrap back into ingots. Ferrous scrap will be sold on, and most likely shipped abroad for remelting.

 

[hwl]

This youtube channel does lots of scrapyard video including shredding and automated sorting:

The video is of EMR facility in Liverpool docks and has the sheader (hammer mill) then sorting using magnetic, eddy current, and then left over sorting by density + a whole lots more in the shed behind for plastics and non ferrous to further split them out

Watch from 7m45s onwards.

The material comes in by road, ship from NI and train (GBRf) from 3 ERM scrapyards. The ferrous material is exported to Turkey, Indonesia etc.

 

[frankmoh]

Back in the day, they used to set carriages on fire before scrapping them!


Here's a screenshot from the BBC's "Dawn of the Super Trains", from 1970, showing a flaming train. I couldn't tell you which one it is though.

 

[Yorkshire09876]

Shred it all (nothing on a train is heavy enough section to bother leaving).

Engines and alternators, plus bogies and wheelsets, may be.

 

[D365]

Engines and alternators, plus bogies and wheelsets, may be.

Certainly the bodyshells are removed from their bogies. Whether that is by means of brute force, or otherwise.

 

[driverd]

This youtube channel does lots of scrapyard video including shredding and automated sorting:

The video is of EMR facility in Liverpool docks and has the sheader (hammer mill) then sorting using magnetic, eddy current, and then left over sorting by density + a whole lots more in the shed behind for plastics and non ferrous to further split them out

Watch from 7m45s onwards.

The material comes in by road, ship from NI and train (GBRf) from 3 ERM scrapyards. The ferrous material is exported to Turkey, Indonesia etc.

Really interesting video! I had no idea the process would be so visible (well, to a drone anyway) - thanks for that. That hammer mill is one heck of a machine.

Engines and alternators, plus bogies and wheelsets, may be.

What would they do with these? I presume they are eventually melted/shreded?

 

[hwl]

Really interesting video! I had no idea the process would be so visible (well, to a drone anyway) - thanks for that. That hammer mill is one heck of a machine.

That one has a 7.5MW motor. The steam is from cooling water that is sprayed inside the hammer mill.

Some of her recent video are bit more informative but was the most recent one that was quick to find.

The Newport one is apparently slightly bigger hence the preference for sending multiple units there so they need less effort overall.

What would they do with these? I presume they are eventually melted/shreded?

Wheel sets and bogies - Gas torch into small pieces so they can be easily be fed into an EAF or blast furnace.