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Today saw a class 70 run to moorswater industrial estate. First train for many years. The former works are being turned into a concrete distribution point for Cornwall with a weekly rail delivery expected to start soon.

How will this impact the Looe branch?



Edit to correct title only

Not at all.  The signalling allows a train to be locked into the Coombe Junction to Looe section whilst a train proceeds from Liskeard to Moorswater (and vice versa).  It worked perfectly adequately in the past.

Cue CfN: Its Moorswater not Moors water

Great to see it being used again.

The former china clay loading point was converted to a cement distribution depot some 10 years ago.  Are you sure the new use is for concrete and not just a reactivation for cement?

maybe a reactivation then. i was told it was opening as a distribution point in July and its Cheaper to use rail than road again,

According to RTT (http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/O07178/2016/06/28/advanced), something, presumably what you saw, arrived from Tavistock Junction at 1300,  147L. It left at 1448, 67E and arrived at Tavistock Junction 80E. I have to admire the maximum speed of 168mph. It was a STP service.

Elsewhere on RTT, there is a weekly path between Aberthaw Cement Works and Moorswater Lafarge, avoiding BRI, arriving 1250 Tuesdays between 21/6/16 and 9/9/16. It doesn't look as though it was activated today.

Thank you for the prompt: I've now amended the heading of every post accordingly - and given a metaphorical clip round the ear to the original poster for failing Cornish.  ;) :D ;D

A railway worker has said on Flickr a weekly service is to commence mid July.

R.e. Title- autocorrect failed me!

I had sommelier problems with mine.

Don't wine.

Sour grapes.  More water.  ;)

Lots of pictures around of the Moorswater train running yesterday - a long line of incoming cement wagons.

Many thanks to Tim Symons for permission to reproduce this picture here of the train on its way from South Wales. It had to carry on down to Lostwithiel for the locomotive to run around; here seen at/near Dobwalls.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/cement_train_symonds_copyright.jpg)

Its ran the last 3 weeks. It ran round at Liskeard the first week, the 2nd and 3rd week the train was too long for the loco to run round at Liskeard, hence running down to Lostwithiel.

Crikey thats a lot of cement.  Wonder where its all being used ???

Hope the wagons are well sealed if they go through Dawlish during a storm ...

Most of Devon and Cornwall I expect

Either 21 or 24 wagons this week.

Much of that cement I suspect will be heading for Plymouth  where there is now a  massive construction boom going on. There are several high rise student accommodation developments under construction with more about to start. One 23 story building is nearly complete and another 14 story block is under construction, two more 17 story buildings have been given planning permission and construction is about to start on the former bus station site at Breton Side on a £45million IMAC cinema complex. Construction on the 5000 home new town of Sherford straddling the Plymouth /South Hams boundary is now underway as well. Indeed Plymouth is undergoing it biggest construction boom since the post war rebuild following the devastating blitz on the city centre.That's why a new cement import terminal is under construction at the cities Corporation Wharf in Cattedown.
http://www.globalcement.com/news/itemlist/tag/Corporation%20Wharf

http://euroblend.com/west-country-cement/

It will be interesting to see if the cement trains continue to run when the new cement terminal in Plymouth opens.

Re the Plymouth cement terminal at Cattedown, I don't suppose for a second that a link-up between the terminal and the branch is envisaged....?
 

The cement plant being created in Plymouth is by a rival company. Rail haulage at present is cheaper than road when we're looking at 20+ wagons, so I'd expect Moorswater to be the cheaper supplier as they also don't have a new facility to recoup costs from

Surely it must make more economic sence to import cement directly by sea to Plymouth, the main market for it, than to haul a heavy cement train past Plymouth to Liskeard, and then having to haul it back to Plymouth by lorry along what is still largely single carriageway up hill down dale A38 road in Cornwall.

A lot of Cement comes from the Hope Valley area (between Manchester and Sheffield) not much point in transshipping by Sea.

But a lot is imported from other countries - the Plymouth facility describes it as a Cement Importation Terminal.  I was assuming it would theerfore be coming from abroad. 

Just to update this service is still running weekly, with between 20 and 25 trucks in the rake.

Someone was building an environmentally friendly wind farm.