European Railroad Discussion > Onllwyn Coal Washery

High in the upper Dulais Valley (750' above sea level) in South Wales lie the former pit villages of Seven Sisters, Onllwyn and Banwen. Today the former anthracite drift mines are a memory, coal mining is restricted to open cast workings for semi-anthracite which is trucked (and trained) to Celtic Energy's coal washery at Onllwyn, on the former Neath & Brecon Railway. Four or five trains a week ascend the Dulais Valley to Onllwyn, some are carrying coal for washing from Gwaun cae Gurwen in the Ammanford Valley to the west, others are empties for loading with metallurgical coal for steel making and for converting into smokeless briquettes for domestic heating. Although the washery is off limits the railway operation is visible from the surrounding roads and footpaths which makes for an interesting and, in Britain today, a unique photographic opportunity.

Yesterday morning I checked realtimetrains to find that Freightliner's empties from East Usk Yard in Newport to Onllwyn (train 4O10, dep 07:36) had been activated in the Network Rail system, and from elsewhere that a loco had been allocated. So I was pretty sure it would run.

But by 08:00 it still hadn't left East Usk Yard, I was starting to have doubts, trains do get cancelled at very short notice sometimes and we did have a very wet weekend with local flooding in parts of Wales. It was 08:30 when I next checked Freightmaster's realtimemaps application and, joy of joys, saw 4O10 trundling west past Marshfield, heading towards Cardiff and running some 45 minutes late. It's about an hours drive from home to Onllwyn so I left about 09:00 anticipating that 4O10 wouldn't reach the washery until at least 11:00 (scheduled arrival 10:22) giving me some time to scout around.

As I said we had had a very wet weekend, but Monday was looking promising although, in the event, the actuality didn't meet the promise. It wasn't wet but it was overcast, with only occasional glimpses of brightness and that earlier rather than later.

So here I am, at the upper end of the Dulais Valley on the old N&B; it's now 11:20 and I had been waiting for about an hour when I heard (or thought I heard) an air horn above the stiff wind. And sure enough at 11:23 66518 appeared on 21 empty HHA hoppers.

Before the train can enter the washery there are two catch points which have to be reset by the travelling shunter (who arrives in a van). The first protects the washery from run aways off the Network Rail system, and marks the boundary between Network Rail and Celtic Energy's property. 4O10 has just restarted after the enforced stop, you can see the shunter's van in the background.

The second stop is at another catch point, this protects Network Rail from run aways from the washery, it's much more visible, the shunter is unlocking it using an Annetts key which is attached to the train staff, which gives authority to enter the single track section from Neath N&B Junction to Onllwyn

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66518 hauls the hoppers into the washery where loading commences immediately, using a pair of JCB wheeled loaders. 66518 runs round the train in preparation for moving it forward two or three wagon lengths at a time as individual wagons are loaded. Loading takes a couple of hours so I took one shot with my 180mm lens of the entire train on the loading track before heading to Ystradgynlais (the nearest town) to get a sandwich for lunch. When I returned 90 minutes later loading was almost complete, just another couple of wagons.

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At just after 14:00, about on time, what has now become 6E11, bound for the BSC steelworks at Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire (scheduled arrival Tuesday 07:30), left the Washery, here it is approaching the stop board at Pantyffordd. This is where it has to wait for the shunter to reposition the catch points, lock them and return the train staff to the train before it can proceed. Takes about 5 to 10 minutes for the shunter to complete the locking process, yesterday 66518 was moving at a snails pace down to the stop board in anticipation of the train staff's arrival.

It was only there for a few minutes before the shunter's van drew up, the train staff was returned to the driver and at 14:20 6E11 was on its way.

It eventually arrived at the steelworks in Scunthorpe 30 minutes early at 07:05 this morning.

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Thanks, Nick, for this nice tidy story. Gerry

Nicely done Nick - I saw the loaded train blasting through Ludlow station just after 10pm on its way North with its 2000+ tonne train.

Excellent and very interesting photo series. Great photo composition and thorough narratives.
Thanks for your posting.
ALLEN

Thanks, glad you liked them.

Fascinating details of what I would guess is a rare operation.

Do these trains use vacuum or air brakes?

JGFuller Wrote:
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> Fascinating details of what I would guess is a
> rare operation.
>
> Do these trains use vacuum or air brakes?

Air, all freight equipment on Network Rail use airbrakes these days. On heritage railways vacuum is still common.