Freight in our area

[whole diary]

[Pb_devon]

You were correct....the MoD armaments depot is Ernesettle.
Also the occasional nuclear waste flasks from Devonport Dockyard to Sellafield. This is guaranteed future traffic as submarine decommissioning will continue for many years.

[Umberleigh]

I recently came across a reference to Railfreight once carried on the Bodmin & Wenford heritage railway and then onwards from Bodmin Parkway by EWS^▸ (English Welsh & Scottish Railway Ltd, now known as DB Schenker Rail (UK^▸ (United Kingdom))). Something to do with a lighting supplier using the old EWS Enterprise mixed trainload service that ran from from St Blazey. Can anyone shed any light on this?

[bradshaw]

https://www.bodmin-heritage-diesels.co.uk/home1/Freight.html

This link gives the details, the company was Fitzgerald lighting

[Bmblbzzz]

I recently came across a reference to Railfreight once carried on the Bodmin & Wenford heritage railway and then onwards from Bodmin Parkway by EWS^▸ (English Welsh & Scottish Railway Ltd, now known as DB Schenker Rail (UK^▸ (United Kingdom))). Something to do with a lighting supplier using the old EWS Enterprise mixed trainload service that ran from from St Blazey. Can anyone shed any light on this?

Was it a light goods service?

[old original]

DB^» (Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway - about) Cargo has retained it's China clay contract in Cornwall or a further two years..

https://www.railmagazine.com/news/network/db-cargo-extends-cornish-clay-train-contract

[Umberleigh]

Great news but only two years suggests they are really being squeezed by Imerys to keep on top of costs and thus prices

[Umberleigh]

Found this article that explains how the clay trains operate and that the combined Par Docks & Trevisco trains up to Exeter and beyond still have to be split because of the Devon banks:

https://www.railmagazine.com/trains/current-trains/stop-start-66-put-through-its-paces

[Bmblbzzz]

Found this article that explains how the clay trains operate and that the combined Par Docks & Trevisco trains up to Exeter and beyond still have to be split because of the Devon banks:

https://www.railmagazine.com/trains/current-trains/stop-start-66-put-through-its-paces

The Auto Engine Stop Start (AESS) technology, manufactured by ZTR, will be fitted to 30 locomotives by the end of this year, and a further 60 in 2015. By the end of 2016, all 174 DB^» (Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway - about) Class 66s based in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) will be fitted with the technology.

Wow! I'd never thought of trains having this too.

[Bmblbzzz]

Also from that article, the description of the unloading process, with the train split into two sets, the "Beetle", a traverser and a whole lot of shunting going on, freight operations by rail do sound complicated!

[Lee]

Also from that article, the description of the unloading process, with the train split into two sets, the "Beetle", a traverser and a whole lot of shunting going on, freight operations by rail do sound complicated!

[RichardB]

Here's a tweet which includes a speeded up film of a china clay train from Rocks dries at Goonbarrow Junction to Carne Point, Fowey Docks.  The film was made by Matthew Thompson of Network Rail.

https://twitter.com/claywagonbodmin/status/1560496909105725440

[Witham Bobby]

No summary of freight traffic on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) territory would be complete without mentioning the stone traffic originating from Merehead and Whatley quarries.  Back in the mid 1970s, with 8 - 12 trainloads per day leaving Merehead, you'd have thought that The Mendips would all be flattened within 20 years.  And yet they keep pulling the stone out, half a century later