European Railroad Discussion > Hoppers

When I lived in London many of the pictures I took were of intermodal trains; on the West Coast Mainline, in East Anglia or heading to and from Southampton. Now that I'm in Wales it seems to be trains of hoppers, and especially so this month as coal fired power stations start re-stocking in anticipation of the 2017/2018 heating season.

1: On August 1st we were in Wiltshire, sort of mid way between London and Wales, for my father in law's 94th birthday. He lives reasonably close to the Berks and hants line on which numerous stone trains ply between the quarries in the Mendip Hills and London. Here's an empty one behind DBC 59206 rounding the curve at Crofton, some 70 miles west of London.

2: August 8th and I was down in Newport at Gaer Junction for the 6B22 Avonmouth to Aberthaw Power Station, carrying imported coal to the South Wales power plant. Colas have the haulage contract and are employing class 70s on trains of 23 hoppers.

3: On the same day 66177 plodding up the Taf Bargoed valley towards Cwmbargoed coal washery with hoppers which, after loading will end up at Hope Cement

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4: The following day, August 9th Colas were busy again on a train of gritstone, used for safety coating on road surfaces, from Neath Abbey Wharf to Leeds in Yorkshire, here it's passing Abergavenny

5: On August 10th DBC 66119 on empty hoppers being tripped to the Onllwyn washery for loading with semi-anthracite which will be turned into smokeless house fuel by Coal Products Limited at their plant at immingham on Humberside.

6: August 12th, 66094 on a train from Machen Quarry passing Park Junction on the outskirts of Newport, the weed killing train was due that night, and not before time!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/17 07:01 by 86235.

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7: Another shot of the Avonmouth to Aberthaw coal train, exiting the Severn Tunnel and entering Wales

8: On August 18th the Great Heck train crash memorial loco 66526 Driver Steve Dunn (George) passing Bedlinog on Cwmbargoed bound empties, just before the rains came.

9: And finally, another new flow, from Portbury Dock to Fiddlers Ferr power station on Merseyside. These are the empties, 4V22 on their first run, passing Abergavenny

There's more from August here: https://nick86235.smugmug.com/Trains/2017/The-advent-of-Summer/i-mHB3Lv5

Nick

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It appears in your second photo that the beautifully symmetric coal hoppers have been tagged. I suspect no country will be devoid of spray paint and tagging. By the way, great hopper coverage.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

Bob3985 Wrote:
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> It appears in your second photo that the
> beautifully symmetric coal hoppers have been
> tagged. I suspect no country will be devoid of
> spray paint and tagging. By the way, great hopper
> coverage.

Thanks. Unfortunately most have been tagged to a greater or lesser degree. And many have been sitting around idle since the drop off in coal loading.

In photo #8, what is the structure crossing over the track back around the third or fourth hopper?

lynnpowell Wrote:
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> In photo #8, what is the structure crossing over
> the track back around the third or fourth hopper?

It probably carries a stream/water course.

86235 Wrote:
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> 6: August 12th, 66094 on a train from Machen Quarry passing Park Junction on the outskirts of
> Newport, the weed killing train was due that night, and not before time!

Love the old signal box with rod-connected switches and semaphores, how has that survived this long? Spraying the weeds is OK, but does nothing for the fouled ballast condition that allows them to grow there. Clean ballast doesn't need spraying.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/17 14:04 by illini73.

illini73 Wrote:
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> 86235 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > 6: August 12th, 66094 on a train from Machen
> Quarry passing Park Junction on the outskirts of
> > Newport, the weed killing train was due that
> night, and not before time!
>
> Love the old signal box with rod-connected
> switches and semaphores, how has that survived
> this long? Spraying the weeds is OK, but does
> nothing for the fouled ballast condition that
> allows them to grow there. Clean ballast doesn't
> need spraying.

Tha 'Marches route' from South Wales to Shrewsbury and beyond still has many semaphores and signal boxes. It's a rural route that so far has largely avoided the modern signalling era.

exhaustED Wrote:
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> lynnpowell Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > In photo #8, what is the structure crossing
> over
> > the track back around the third or fourth
> hopper?
>
> It probably carries a stream/water course.

Yes, it's a culvert, maybe connected to the former colliery which for 30 years after coal was last raised was maintained for pumping purposes.

Like all of your photos, always look forward to your posts....

In the second photo, the yellow signs are speed through the switch, excuse me, points, 30 mph or mph?

Posted from iPhone

illini73 Wrote:
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> Love the old signal box with rod-connected
> switches and semaphores, how has that survived
> this long? Spraying the weeds is OK, but does
> nothing for the fouled ballast condition that
> allows them to grow there. Clean ballast doesn't
> need spraying.

Park Junction is something of an oasis of mechanical signalling. It's in a suburb of Newport and apart from the odd train too and from Machen Quarry sees nothing but a half hourly DMU service too and from Ebbw Vale. 60 years ago it was a very different picture, six tracks with trains of iron ore and metallurgical coal heading to the steelworks at Ebbw Vale, whilst steel and steam coal headed in the opposite direction. What today is a four mile spur to Machen Quarry was until 1962 the mainline of the Brecon and Merthyr, tapping mines in the Rhymney and Bargoed valleys to the west.

When I first came upon it in 2000 the Ebbw Vale line was freight only, by then all the mines had closed but the steel works at Ebbw Vale still generated plenty of freight traffic, both in and out. That came to an end in 2001 when the works closed after which the line lay dormant. A passenger service was resurrected on the cheap in 2008. I guess upgrading the line through Park isn't high on Network Rails priorities. When it is we'll be saying goodbye to the old track and the semaphores.

CPRR Wrote:
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> Like all of your photos, always look forward to
> your posts....
>
> In the second photo, the yellow signs are speed
> through the switch, excuse me, points, 30 mph or
> mph?
>
> Posted from iPhone

Do you mean mph or kph? In the UK it is always mph, the yellow sign is a temporary speed board, the triangular sign is the permanent board, and a trangular sign is advanced warning of a permanent speed restriction.

86235 Wrote:
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> CPRR Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Like all of your photos, always look forward to
> > your posts....
> >
> > In the second photo, the yellow signs are speed
> > through the switch, excuse me, points, 30 mph
> or
> > mph?
> >
> > Posted from iPhone
>
> Do you mean mph or kph? In the UK it is always
> mph, the yellow sign is a temporary speed board,
> the triangular sign is the permanent board, and a
> trangular sign is advanced warning of a permanent
> speed restriction.
Thanks. Damn autocorrect on the kph and mph. Thanks for the info

Nick - in #6 that looks like dual-gauge track. What's going on on the left-most track?

dwatry Wrote:
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> Nick - in #6 that looks like dual-gauge track.
> What's going on on the left-most track?

Not dual gauge - just a length of old or new rail.

exhaustED Wrote:
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> dwatry Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Nick - in #6 that looks like dual-gauge track.
> > What's going on on the left-most track?
>
> Not dual gauge - just a length of old or new rail.

Duncan - we can go up to Park Junction in October, I bet the length of rail will still be there :-)