Cement works in Britain
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Unidentifiable Ruston & Hornsby 0-4-0DE clearly in industrial use, but location unknown - c.1970.
Initial thoughts were that this could be at APCM Melton Quarry, North Ferriby, East Yorkshire where the photographer is known to have been active, but although the chalk stains are typical of locomotives working there, it has not been possible to match loco or location details with anything at North Ferriby or nearby Melton. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
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© 2023 - 53A Models of Hull Collection. Scanned from the original 35mm monochrome negative.
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London Midland Peaks were regular visitors to the Southern Region in the 1960s and most of the 1970s working the Stirling - Newhaven Harbour car-sleeper and on coal trains to Kent at Northfleet APCM and Southfleet coal terminal. Alas by the time Bromley South became a local station for me in the early 80s nothing this exotic put in an appearance except on railtours.
Incidentally looking at the trees I would say this was shot in July not early April which is the date noted by the photographer.
Unknown photographer.
Best viewed Original size (1280 x 853 pixels).
Ruston & Hornsby Class LPSH 0-4-0DH (RH 513139/1967) "Herbert Turner" pictured soon after arrival at APCM Melton Quarry - c.1970.
The loco was new to APCM Barnstone Cement Works, Nottinghamshire and was originally named "The Herbert Turner" moving to Melton some time in 1970. By the date of this photo, "The" had been dropped from its name and indeed the nameplate looks rather crude (you can just see a hint of the original longer plate).
When Melton relinquished the use of rail around 1973, it moved down to Humber Works itself, then (after closure of the cement works and a period of disuse) it went to Omya UK in Aberdeen during March or April 2000, then I believe it was conserved by Bryan Lawson at Coleford around March 2010.
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© 2022 - 53A Models of Hull Collection. Scanned from the original 35mm monochrome negative.
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Steam excavator, possibly disused, at APCM Shipton-on-Cherwell in August 1967.
Scanned from a 6x9cm size negative in my collection.
Best viewed Original size (1280 x 853 pixels).
Ruston & Hornsby Class LPSH 0-4-0DH (RH 513139/1967) "Herbert Turner" at APCM Melton Quarry - c.1971.
The loco was new to APCM Barnstone Cement Works, Nottinghamshire and was originally named "The Herbert Turner" moving to Melton some time in 1970. By the date of this photo, "The" had been dropped from its name and indeed the nameplate looks rather crude (you can just see a hint of the original longer plate).
When Melton relinquished the use of rail around 1973, it moved down to Humber Works itself, then (after closure of the cement works and a period of disuse) it went to Omya UK in Aberdeen during March or April 2000, then I believe it was conserved by Bryan Lawson at Coleford around March 2010.
Please do not share or post elsewhere without permission of the copyright holder(s).
© 2022 - 53A Models of Hull Collection. Scanned from the original 35mm monochrome negative.
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08827 passes through Carlisle Citadel station with a trip working of cement tanks - 9T07 Carlisle Upperby APCM Depot to Carlisle Yard. 5th April 1988. Looks like the wagon spotters were having a field day!
371?? Making a proper EE Racket upgrade towards Chinley and then Earles Reception Sidings with its empty Cement Hoppers
Taken : 01.05.1990.
47 328 sits at Northfleet Cement Works operated by Blue Circle Industries. Having arrived with train 6H34 11.25 from Mountfield and discharged its train of gypsum it will depart as 6H35 15.16 to Tonbridge West Yard. When the Northfleet plant was built in the 1960's it was the largest cement works in Europe and the kilns were so large you could drive a bus along inside them. Alas the place now has all but gone and the rail connection removed.
Just up from the jetty on Orford Ness Quay is this shipwreck lying rotting in the mud. Its name is not really discernible but the word "Chester"can be seen on the stern.
In fact these are the remains of the Thames Sailing barge Tuesday of Rochester, built in 1883 and once owned by Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers (APCM/Blue Circle) - a company I used to work for in the early 1970s. Belonging to APCM means it was probably a cement barge.
It was only after WWII that the Thames sailing barge trade ended although I read that the last commercial voyage was as late as 1970.
Emerging from one of the tunnels - probably the one quite near the works that goes under the North Kent railway line.
Tuesday 28 March 1972 and APCM No 1 arrives by low-loader at the South Eastern Steam Centre Ashford.
The locomotive as one of a batch of 6 built for use in the North Kent chalk pits around Swanscombe. Manufactured by Hawthorn Leslie as Works No 3715 in 1928 the loco worked all its lif at Swanscombe until retired in 1970. It was preserved by the Gravesend Railway Enthusiasts Society (GRES).
The loco is currently a static display on the Colne Valley Railway.
Best viewed Original size (1280 x 853 pixels).
Ruston & Hornsby Class LPSH 0-4-0DH (RH 513139/1967) "Herbert Turner" pictured soon after arrival at APCM Melton Quarry - c.1970.
The loco was new to APCM Barnstone Cement Works, Nottinghamshire and was originally named "The Herbert Turner" moving to Melton some time in 1970. By the date of this photo, "The" had been dropped from its name and indeed the nameplate looks rather crude (you can just see a hint of the original longer plate).
When Melton relinquished the use of rail around 1973, it moved down to Humber Works itself, then (after closure of the cement works and a period of disuse) it went to Omya UK in Aberdeen during March or April 2000, then I believe it was conserved by Bryan Lawson at Coleford around March 2010.
Please do not share or post elsewhere without permission of the copyright holder(s).
© 2022 - 53A Models of Hull Collection. Scanned from the original 35mm monochrome negative.
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58 025 winds out of Finedon Road yard at Wellingborough on Welbeck Colliery - Northfleet APCM mgr loads following a recess and crew change. Although the signalbox and yard are less prominent in this version compared to the mono one the trackworkers going off duty walking up the yard are of more interest.
The Associated Portland Cement Manufacturer's works at Dunstable on 31 October 1971 had three locomotives at its disposal, two Ruston & Hornsby 165DE class 0-4-0 diesel electrics, and the former B.R. Western Region class 14 0-6-0 diesel hydraulic D9526 built at Swindon Works just 7 years previously. In the foreground is Ruston 421437 (built in 1958 and scrapped in 1978) transferred from the company's Sewell Quarry in February 1971. By this time production had ceased at Dunstable and the works was acting as a preparation and distribution plant for cement brought in from Northfleet Works in Kent. Rail traffic ceased in June 1988 and the works site is now an industrial estate and business park. D9526, seen in the loco shed, was temporarily placed on loan to Dunstable works for the period May to November 1971. Originally allocated to Bristol Bath Road in January 1965 and transferred to Cardiff Canton in May 1967, it was placed into store in November 1968 and withdrawn from B.R. service on 30 November 1968, being sold to A.P.C.M. Westbury Works. It made its way to Dunstable and return under its own power, reputed to be the last working of a class 14 on the B.R. main line. It is now preserved on the West Somerset Railway.
© Gordon Edgar - All rights reserved. Please do not use my images without my explicit permission
The initial section of what was initially called the CTRL1 was opened in September 2003 and veered off at Southfleet Junction from what would eventually become HS1, when the remainder to St. Pancras was opened in 2007, to join the trackbed of the former Gravesend West branch which had closed to passengers in 1953 and the rump to Southfleet for APCM Northfleet coal traffic in 1976. Indeed the site of Southfleet station is just out of sight to the left and the former station building survives as a private residence complete with swimming pool and tennis court!
"Swanscombe No.6" was one of 7 steam locomotives employed at the Swanscombe, Kent. It was built by R.& W. Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. Ltd. at their Forth Bank works in Newcastle. It hauled chalk while at Swanscombe, but was displaced by diesels in 1970. The engine was donated to the Middleton Railway, Leeds, where it was seen drifting downhill from Middleton Park at the rear of a service to Moor Road, Saturday 4th September 2021. The loco has only recently entered traffic following a full overhaul.
The last two active steam locomotives at Dunstable cement works were a pair of Andrew Barclay 0.4.0STs, outliving the rest of the fleet by fifteen years. This scene at the shed in April 1965 records PUNCH HULL (776/96) and in the background TOM PARRY (2015/35), neither looking as if they has worked for some time, the former presumably dragged out of it's home by one of the diesels.
Both were sold for preservation and moved for storage at the old Dunstable Town station in March 1967, later passing to the new centre at Quainton Road, from where they subsequently moved on to elsewhere.
Scanned from a 6x9cm size negative in my collection
A general view of the plant on 16th February 1978, with John Fowler 0.6.0DH 4240017/66 having it's wagons discharged.
The cement works was built in 1925/6, being supplied with chalk from a quarry over the other side of Houghton Road, the railway system in the latter being unconnected with that in the main works. Production ceased in March 1971, the works then becoming a distribution centre for cement arriving from Northfleet, in Kent. This all closed during the summer of 1988, the site is now an industrial estate. Some old concrete fence panels of the works can still be seen along Houghton Road.
Pentax SP1000/50mm
Ilford FP4
A slow speed fitted 47/3 was usually added to the Peak hauled mgr bound for North Kent at Brent in order to navigate the unloading terminal at Northfleet. The return working is viewed from a passing train on the approach to Clapham Junction. The 47 would be removed at Brent.
Unknown photographer.
Tuesday 28 March 1972 and APCM No 1 arrives by low-loader at the South Eastern Steam Centre Ashford.
The locomotive as one of a batch of 6 built for use in the North Kent chalk pits around Swanscombe. Manufactured by Hawthorn Leslie as Works No 3715 in 1928 the loco worked all its lif at Swanscombe until retired in 1970. It was preserved by the Gravesend Railway Enthusiasts Society (GRES).
The loco is currently a static display on the Colne Valley Railway.
DETAILS FOR THIS VEHICLE.
Location : March Old Loco Yard C&W Sidings.
Date : 02/08/1987.
Type : Presflo Cement Tank.
Weight : 36 t GLW / 13.4 t Tare.
Number : B 873513.
Number Series : B 873420 to B 873569.
Builder : 1961 by Gloucester RC&W Co. Gloucester Works.
TOPS Code : CPV.
Designation : CEMENT or PRESFLO CEMENT.
Lot no. : 3406.
Diagram no. : 1/272.
ADDITIONAL NOTES.
British Rail operated a very large fleet of 36 ton Presflo Cement Tanks with 1952 vehicles built between 1955 and 1961. The vast majority ran in plain BR bauxite brown livery but some BR owned vehicles carried company branding like APCM, Blue Circle and Tunnel Cement, Crown Cement , Rugby Cement and Pozzolanic.
These smaller capacity wagons survived into the 1980's but the BR fleet was largely redundant by the mid 1980's with just APCM/Blue Circle still running their own vehicles of the same type numbered in the APCM 83xx to APCM 88xx series.
Blue Circle Cement Scammell Routeman UUV 796S heading south along the A5 in Dunstable, having recently left the depot in Houghton Regis. Taken from the top window of the flat we lived in when first married, above Konnie's wool shop. 1982
Mamiya C220/80mm
Agfa CT18
This view shows APCM gypsum hoppers used between Mountfield mine and Northfleet Cement Works derailed mid train on the access to Tonbridge West Yard across Tonbridge West Junction.
The train was 6H35 15.15 ex Northfleet Cement Works to Tonbridge West Yard. On arrival in Tonbridge station the train would then propel across the junction into the West Yard. On this occasion an error on the part of the yard staff saw the train propel back onto an occupied road hence rapid deceleration and the weakest point mid train where the wagons were snaking into the yard was where one wagon rode up and dropped onto the ballast.
Associated Portland Cement, 22 ton, vacuum-braked, ventilated, bagged cement Palvan (pallet van) No.DV6253 (ex-No.BV 53; later No.APCM 6253) in Blue Circle Cement livery, Diagram 6/492; 96 were built by the Standard Wagon Company(Heywood) in 1964-66. TOPS Code PVV. They were used to carry bagged specialist cement such as Snowcrete and Walcrete. At Midsomer Norton on the Somerset & Dorset Railway Diesel Gala, 7 March 2020.
47 342 stands in the lunar like landscape of Northfleet Cement Works with gypsum train 6H34 11.30 from Mountfield Exchange Sidings in East Sussex. The gypsum train is seen on the 'A' loop which prescribed a large balloon loop through the plant from Northfleet Sidings beside the BR North Kent line. 'A' Loop was shared by the coal trains too but the gypsum intake was much further round the loop adjacent to the cement loading shed which can be seen in the background. By this date the 'B' loop had been rationalised with one track removed through the cement loading shed. When completed in the 1960's APCM's Northfleet plant was the largest cement works in Europe, it was said a double decker bus would easily fit within the rotating kilns. The 'A' loop ran beside one of the kilns and it was quite impressive with heat coming off it like an open furnace. Alas Northfleet fell victim to cheap imports from Southern Europe in the mid 1990's and has since closed.
During gypsum discharge it was common for the hopper beneath the train to fill up to track level thus requiring the train to stop for up to half an hour before resuming to unload using the automatic MGR style discharge equipment fitted to the wagons at the stately pace of ½mph.
This was quite a long day for Tonbridge crews but one I remember well as it was triple manned back then with Driver, Guard and Secondman. If time permitted we all used to wander down to the quayside on the Thames to watch the tugs or shipping. Others thought of their stomach however and made use of the rather fine canteen for the cement works staff.
Resplendent in Railfreight red stripe livery and adorned with the 'Cockney Sparrow' 47 367 is seen stabled in no.8 road in Tonbridge West Yard. The locomotive being on hand to work light engine to Mountfield Exchange Sidings for 6H35 10.35 to Northfleet Cement Works. At this time 3 Stratford (London) allocated class 47/3's were in regular use on this train as the APCM owned gypsum wagons required a slow speed fitted locomotive to be able to discharge the train. So Stratford had 47 325, 47 328 and 47 367 all in the FALG (Trainload Freight Aggregate) pool. Unlike many of its class mates 47 367 survived beyond its mainline career and is now owned by the Stratford 47 Group and kept on the North Norfolk Railway.
This is a digitally-coloured version of an official Foden photograph from the collection of Graham Newell. It depicts a brand new and unregistered Foden dump truck prior to delivery to cement manufacturer G&T Earle, which was taken over by Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers (APCM) - better known as Blue Circle Cement - but continued to trade under its own name for some time. Earle's original operations had been in East Yorkshire but it later expanded to other parts of country, including the Cauldon Works site in Staffordshire, for which this vehicle is lettered. The colour was matched to a preserved G&T Earle steam locomotive (01-May-16).
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DETAILS FOR THIS VEHICLE.
Location : Hoo Junction Up Yard.
Date : 19/10/1986.
Type : Bogie Presflo Cement Tank.
Weight : 102 t GLW / 22.3t Tare.
Number : BCC 9755.
Number Series : BCC 9700 to BCC 9766 (ex LS 9700 to LS 9766).
Builder : 1969-70 by Metro-Cammell Ltd, Washwood Heath Works, Birmingham.
TOPS Code : PDA (later JCA).
ADDITIONAL NOTES.
Two batches of these "Double Dimple" presflo cement tanks were constructed to coincide with the opening of Europe's largest cement works at Northfleet on the Kent side of the Thames Estuary in the late 1960's, alas the site has now been cleared but in its heyday these wagons worked over a large area of South East England distributing bulk cement to Blue Circle Cement Co. terminals.
The first batch built by Met-Cam in 1969-70 (as seen above) were initially owned by BRT (British Railways Traffic & Electric Co.) and leased to APCM (Associated Portland Cement Manufacturing Co.) which late became just Blue Circle Cement. They initially ran with private owner numbers in a pre-TOPS 20xxx number range but once the yellow plate private owner numbering was introduced they became 9700 to 9766 and gained the prefixed LS (Lloyds & Scottish) as BRT sold the tanks and contract with APCM to the bank owned leasing company, (the prancing horse and Scottish Thistle logo of the lease company is still visible on the far tank barrel end above).
APCM were one of the first major cement producers to move away from BR owned low capacity 36 tonne cement wagons into the larger 50 tonne and 102 tonne vehicles and had there own classification system with two letter prefixes BV, LA, PD, and PF. To the cement industry these depressed centre tanks were known as Chevron pattern or class DP vehicles the DP in this case simply standing for "Depressed".
The second batch built in 1971-72 were just about identical but were owned by APCM from the outset and carried numbers APCM 9500 to APCM 9549. BR later designated these vehicles design code PD001A and the earlier vehicles PD001B.
Light was fading when we visited APCM Shipton-on-Cherwell cement works, Oxfordshire in September 1981 and this picture turned out pretty dark but I’ve tried to rescue it.
John Fowler 0-4-0DM 4220037 came here from APCM Sewell Quarry near Dunstable, and at the time of our visit it was the spare loco to a Thomas Hill “Vanguard”.
When this facility closed, it moved to Rhoose cement works in South Wales to join another pair of Fowlers there, but has since been scrapped.
John Fowler 0.6.0DH (4240017/66) working at the APCM cement works at Houghton Regis in October 1975. The works was opened in 1925/26 and was connected to the ex-GNR Dunstable to Luton line via a triangular junction. The train here is seen on the short line between the two, propelling wagons from Northfleet. Cement production had ceased in 1971, the factory now being a distribution centre only. This closed in July 1988 and the whole area demolished. I think that the route of the line here is being incorporated into the Luton busway, as a means to access Houghton Regis.
Fujica ST701/50mm
Ilford HP5
The rare combination in Britain of a vast quarry operated by steam locomotives and in arctic-like conditions, something perhaps more associated with north east China in the 21st Century, but this was barely 25 miles from the centre of London! Associated Portland Cement's Hawthorn Leslie 0-4-0 saddle tank 'No.3' propels empty wagons to the excavation area at Swanscombe, Kent in November 1970.
© Gordon Edgar collection - all rights reserved. Please do not download, copy or use this image without my explicit prior permission
DETAILS FOR THIS VEHICLE.
Location : Salisbury Goods Yard.
Date : 01/10/1988.
Type : Presflo Cement Tank.
Weight : 36 t GLW / 13.4t Tare.
Number : B 888711.
Number Series : B 888581 to B 888880.
Builder : 1958-59 by Central Wagon Co.
TOPS Code : CPV.
Designation : CEMENT or PRESFLO CEMENT.
Lot no. : 3175.
Diagram no. : 1/272.
ADDITIONAL NOTES.
British Railways built a fleet of 1,952 36ton Presflo Cement Tanks but unlike many other BR vehicles the Presflo's were one of the few BR wagon types to carry private owner advertising for the company they were in regular use with. Common ones being APCM, Blue Circle and Tunnel Cement but some smaller fleets existed like Crown Cement , Rugby Cement and Pozzolanic.
These smaller capacity wagons survived into the 1980's and APCM/Blue Circle maintained their own fleets numbered in the private owner series APCM 8601 to APCM 8828 as well as using BR owned vehicles. The market downturn for UK produced cement in the late 1980's caused by cheap imports from Southern Europe spelt the end for these wagons. The vehicle seen here in Salisbury Goods Yard was one used on the Pitstone to Southampton flow but was stored after the arrival of the KHA twin silo wagons owned by STS in 1986.
APCM re-opened an old (ex-BPCM) limestone quarry at Sewell, west of Dunstable, during 1966. A standard gauge line was used, self-contained despite it's proximity to the former LNWR line to Leighton Buzzard. This view dates from 18 July 1966 with one of the locomotives, John Fowler 0.4.0DH 4220037/66 just visible behind the shed in the background. The operation was short-lived however, coming to an end by early 1971.
This is a scan from a print that I had made during the 1970s from the original 5x4in glass plate taken by my employer at the time, local photographer Bruce Turvey.
A loco that found use at Croxton & Garry at their Melton works near Hull was this John Fowler 0-6-0 diesel-hydraulic 'Patricia' (W/No.4240017 built in 1966) and it remained there until June 2021, when it was acquired by the Yorkshire Wolds Railway. From new until 1989 it was to be found at the Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers' works at Houghton Regis, near Dunstable, and was photographed there in near immaculate condition, just four years old, on 30th July 1970.
© Gordon Edgar - All rights reserved. Please do not use my images without my explicit permission
This is another image based on the excellent Corgi Classics model range. I reality, I suspect that Blue Circle would have opted for bodies with deep side raves, but I am happy to stick with my standard base image - an adaptation of an Invincible tanker - for the moment. In addition to these flatbeds, Blue Circle had similar but shorter Invincibles (or Warriers) with bulk powder tanks. This was possibly the last generation of Blue Circle vehicles to incorporate the blue relief colour - some were delivered or repainted in the later plain yellow scheme (20-Oct-16).
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Hawthorn Leslie 0-4-0 saddle tank 'No.6' at APCM Swanscombe Works on 6th September 1970, as standby locomotive to 'No.3' noted working between the quarry and works on this date.
© Gordon Edgar - All rights reserved. Please do not use my images without my explicit permission
DETAILS FOR THIS VEHICLE.
Location : Westbury Cement Works.
Date : 18/04/1992.
Type : Bagged Cement Van.
Weight : 36 t GLW / 11.5t Tare.
Number : APCM 6253.
Number Series : APCM 6201 to APCM 6296.
Builder : 1964 by Standard Wagon Co. Heywood Works, Lancashire.
TOPS Code : PVV.
ADDITIONAL NOTES.
APCM (Associated Portland Cement Manufacturing Co.) operated a fleet of 95 box vans to convey bagged cement. The company classified them as class BV vehicles which simply meant Box Van" they initially carried APCM numbers BV001 to BV096 but under TOPS renumbering became APCM 6201 to APCM 6296. The wagons were designed to take pallets loaded by forklift truck. They were a common sight in Kent with workings from Swanscombe, Stone (near Dartford) and Holborough but the fact they were vacuum braked meant the increasing use of air braked stock made them non standard and by the late 70's early 80's the road haulage industry largely made them redundant. APCM sold the vehicles to Railease Ltd for scrap value but the underframes were still serviceable so Railease rebuilt 31 of them as air braked vehicles. Six became RLS 6297 to RLS 6302 TOPS code PMA and were a 36 ton open ballast wagon. The next 14 numbered RLS 6304 to RLS 6316 were TOPS code PRA a 38 tonne china clay hood wagon. The final batch of 11 were another fleet of PMA open ballast wagons numbered in the RLS 6317 to RLS 6327.
K&ESR 18 Westminster, Peckett and Sons B2 Class 1378/1914 was built for Sir J Jackson Ltd for use on Larkhill Military Railway for the construction of military camps on Salisbury Plain. It was sold to the War Department in 1917 working on the Fovant Military Railway until the line closed in 1921. Sold to Dunstable Portland Cement Co Ltd, Dunstable, Bedfordshire then transferred by their successors, Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers Ltd. (APCM) in 1952 to work in a quarry at Shipton-on-Cherwell where it was numbered 5 in the APCM fleet. Withdrawn in August 1969 and arrived on the K&ESR in 1970. Placed on static display at Bodiam in 1975. Info from the Wikipedia page "Rolling stock of the Kent & East Sussex Railway (heritage)"
Subsequent status post 1977: it was moved East Tisted. Hampshire then moved to the Northampton & Lamport Railway in 1998. Then In October 2021 it was reported that the locomotive had been put up for sale where it was undergoing an overhaul.. ( preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/peckett-sons-works-n... )
Having left the cement wagon, just visible in the distance, 25.087 is now reversing down to the exchange sidings at APCM Dunstable to pick up empties. By this time, cement production at Dunstable had ceased, and it was just a distribution centre. The other wagons had been left on the 'main line', behind the camera.
The buildings on the left is the Waterlows printing works, whilst in the distance can be seen the water tower at AC Delco; both sites are now housing.
Pracktica Nova 1/Pentax 50mm
Ilford FP4 rated @ 200ASA
Murston Brickworks was first established by George Smeed in 1846 and was totally modernised in 1926 with an 'Auto Plant' which could produce up to 10,000 bricks per hour. By the time of my visit on 7th June 1969, the 2ft gauge railway had been replaced for just over a year by dumper trucks working between the quarry and the works. Two locos were still on site though, Frank Hibberd-built 4-wheel petrol-mechanical (Works No.1568 built in the 1927) and Ruston and Hornsby 4-wheel diesel-mechanical (Works No.175137 built in 1935). The Hibberd survives on the Leighton Buzzard Railway but the Ruston was scrapped in January 1972.
© Gordon Edgar - All rights reserved. Please do not use my images without my explicit permission
The works shunter at Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers Ltd Houghton Regis near Dunstable on 30th July 1970 was this well-presented and just four years-old 275hp 0-6-0 diesel-hydraulic loco built by John Fowler (Works No.4240017), built in 1966 and named 'Patricia'. Apart from a short term loan to the company's Westbury cement works in 1971, it remained at Houghton Regis until the works closed in 1988, the site latterly being used as a distribution depot for cement brought by rail from Northfleet works in Kent. The Fowler was moved in March 1989 to Croxton & Garry Ltd.'s Melton railhead, near Hull, and remained there, out of use in the shed for many years, until June 2021, when it was happily acquired by the Yorkshire Wolds Railway.
© Gordon Edgar - All rights reserved. Please do not use my images without my explicit permission
Outside the loco shed, with another RR Sentinel loco. The line on the right headed towards a wharf on the river. It was still used for carrying bagged cement for export, using wagons like the one on the left
Thomas Hill “Vanguard” 4wDH works number 213v is seen at APCM Shipton-on-Cherwell cement works, Oxfordshire in September 1981. It’s coat of yellow paint is covering the green livery it wore when originally delivered here new in 1969.
At the time of this visit, there was also a spare loco on site, an 0-4-0 DM John Fowler 4220037 which came here from APCM Sewell quarry near Dunstable.
When this facility closed, the Vanguard was moved to the Lafarge cement plant at Aberthaw, South Wales in 1985 where it worked for another decade or so. It is still there, dumped out of use and gradually deteriorating.
The Fowler moved to Rhoose cement works in South Wales to join another pair of Fowlers there, but has since been scrapped.
Unlike the RR Sentinel locos which formed the rest of the Swanscombe fleet at that period, No 1 was a Ruston and Hornsby of 1957, with outside coupling rods.
The yellow steel wagons were the final version of the APCM chalk wagon, having superseded the 'Ship Canal' type wooden wagons and other relics some years before