Aire Valley Coal
James Skoyles charts the complex history of the Aire Valley coal system and how it evolved over the years.
The 1960s was the decade of modernisation and British Railways was advancing the plans it had published in 1955. Other industries were modernising at the same time. The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) had decided that its new build of base load power stations would be able to generate at least 2,000 megawatts. It wanted to get away from city and town power stations and move to large rural sites to power the national grid.
The plan
The CEGB had main criteria to meet when looking at potential sites for the new base load stations. Was the location close to the fuel source and a water supply, for example? There was already a power station at Ferrybridge and the CEGB decided its new station would be built opposite. The new power station would have ‘balloon’ type return rail loops that meant trains departed in the same formation as they arrived in; no longer would the loco need to run round its set of wagons. This was to be standard for all new CEGB power stations where space permitted.
The new generating stations were to be sited at Eggborough and Drax in Yorkshire. The latter would be the largest of the engineering projects and would involve more than four miles of lifted railway being re-laid, four new automatic half-barrier crossing commissioned and new multiple-aspect signalling installed.
The CEGB wanted sleek efficiency, with each train delivering a minimum of 1,000 tonnes of coal, and it set up a committee with British Rail to work out the best way to achieve this. After a few trips abroad to the USA and Germany to see these countries move bulk products in vast tonnages, British Rail and CEGB entered into negotiations with the National Coal Board (NCB) for what they wanted to achieve with a modern way of delivering coal. The NCB was not best pleased with the plans, nor was it happy with the expenditure involved in installing overhead rapid loading systems at its collieries. The NCB had for years been using railway-owned wagons as free storage at zero cost. However, a study into wagon usage found that once they had arrived at a colliery some coal wagons could spend two weeks in a loaded state before being dispatched on a train for delivery to a customer’s premises.
Given this fact, the NCB became a little less aggressive in its response. British Rail had indicated it was going to issue the NCB with a bill for the wagons that were being stored loaded in colliery exchange sidings, as it was losing valuable revenue. After some negotiations, the NCB agreed to fund the building of rapid loaders to enable full Merry Go Round (MGR) working to go ahead. British Rail and the NCB agreed a revised fee for the carriage of coal, with a reduction in the price by 1p per ton when it was carried in the new MGR trains.
Unlike the power stations, the collieries did not have room for a return loop, so trains would have to continue to run round. The loading of the trains was done in two stages at most collieries. As the train arrived it passed over a weighbridge that recorded its tare weight. The train would then start to be loaded as it passed through
"The new generating stations were to be sited at
Eggborough and Drax in Yorkshire."
through the overhead rapid loader. The driver would set up the loco’s slow speed control to between 0.5mph and 1mph and the bunker operator would load the wagons, but only half fill them. Once the loco had run round the train would be hauled through the rapid loader again at slow speed and the bunker operator would finish off the loading to the correct weight. Once this had been completed, the train would then pass over the gross weight weighbridge and a copy of the weighbridge ticket would be given to the guard for handing in at the destination power station. This did not become universal practice, though. Many pits would operate exemptions to the rule regarding the method of loading trains, and some developed a way that best suited them.
Training
The other challenge faced by BR was the training of its staff. Most of the train crews based at Knottingley Depot had moved there after they were made redundant at depots such as Cudworth, Royston, Normanton, Ardsley and Wortley. They had spent most of their railway careers handling trains that were either unbraked or had some vacuum-braked wagons at the head of the train, with the guard helping out in the brake van at the rear. These men had no experience of the air brake system that was being introduced on the new high-capacity coal hoppers. So, Healey Mills’ area management had to arrange train handling specials in the summer of 1965 to enable the train crews to learn the necessary techniques. The specials could be seen running with a brake van attached at both ends. This was not something that would normally happen in day-to-day running, as the train would have a continuous brake. However, agreement was not reached between the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR), the train drivers’ union ASLEF and the BR Board to allow guards to occupy the rear cab of locos until 1967. Consequently, the new trains had to run with brake vans that had been fitted with air pipes.
The depot that was destined to be the operational hub for the Aire Valley coal traffic was Knottingley. It opened in July 1967 and was responsible for the maintenance for a wagon fleet that initially totalled 1,500. The wagon repair shops were equipped to carry out both minor and major servicing on the new fleet and the workshop boasted such equipment as lifting jacks, sunken floors to allow fitters to attend to faults under the wagon, and air brake test points. The depot would also be responsible for carrying out minor servicing and fuelling of the loco fleet associated with the Aire
Valley coal traffic. Any more complex work than a B-Exam had to be carried out at the loco’s home depot or BR works. Knottingley depot would also be the home station for 45 drivers and guards who would work the coal traffic in the area.
Initial running
The summer of 1967 saw Ferrybridge officially open to rail traffic, although the power station had been building up coal stocks since the winter of 1966, and Eggborough Power Station also opened to rail traffic and started generating power for the National Grid around the same time. The trains were worked by a small fleet of 12 airbrake-equipped, no-heat and slowspeed-fitted Brush Type 4s. A number of trials were carried out to see what their limitations would be. It was decided by the operating department that the Class 47s would haul no more than 30 hoppers in a trainload. Continuous running on full power with an average speed of 27mph placed a great strain on the loco’s generator and this had been the cause of some major flashovers. New operating instructions were issued to the signalman at Ferrybridge and Knottingley signal boxes. This advised them that the MGR trains should be given a clear run on green aspects when climbing to Knottingley West Junction in the winter months. This was to avoid the risk of a train stalling on the incline from Ferrybridge North Junction and not being able to restart from the signal protecting Knottingley West Junction.
With the new power stations commissioned, the Aire Valley coal circuit commenced. The trains would run from 1600 on a Sunday through to 1400 on a Saturday – a National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) agreement saw that no coal was mined on a Sunday. The NCB got around this by stacking vast tonnages on the surface and bringing in a skeleton staff on a Sunday to fill the overhead bunkers to enable trains to be loaded. The miners started work again at 0001 Monday morning. The system started to slow down on Friday night into Saturday morning, with the power stations not taking any trains after the 1400 deadline on Saturday. The exception to the rule was Drax when it opened – it would take trains until 1800.
The Knottingley area did not have a vast amount of siding space to stable wagons when the system was shut down for the weekend. Wagons could be found at Sudforth Lane, Pontefract (up and down sidings), Knottingley Sidings and the fan of sidings at Gascoigne Wood that later became the loading point for coal mined at the Selby super pit complex. As well as empty wagons at these places, some sets would be stabled pre-loaded, what the railway calls ‘stand loads’. These would be the last trains loaded the previous week and they would be delivered as the first trains the following week.
Drax
As the 1960s ticked over into the 1970s, things largely remained the same until the jewel in the crown was completed at Drax. The junction was reinstated at Hensall, the former Hull and Barnsley main line was re-laid for four miles and two new automatic half barrier level crossings were commissioned, along with new colour light signalling controlled from Hensall signal box. The new track and signalling were commissioned on February 27, 1972 and brought into use the following day. With the last part of the power station building completed, the motive power requirement rose to an additional four Class 47s. However, the number of wagon sets did not rise as the ones that were sitting unused were put to work. Knottingley wagon shops and its fitters finally reached their maintenance targets, with 168 wagons being inspected and six wagons removed from traffic for heavy maintenance daily.
The weekly tonnages of coal being moved by the time Drax became operational was around 300,000 from around 30 collieries; and the average distance travelled was around 15 miles.
Complex planning
Planning and resourcing these trains were becoming monumental tasks. The planners and roster clerks had very tight schedules to work to and the nature of the business meant that coal production
"As the 1960s ticked over into the 1970s, things largely remained the same until the jewel in the crown was completed at Drax."
fluctuated week by week. The weekly tonnages produced by the area’s collieries also varied weekly. Added to the mix was the fact that North East coal was brought into the area to sweeten the Yorkshire blends that the power stations were burning. BR looked to new technology to find a solution to this complex issue and found one that it developed in conjunction with the CEGB. When the CEGB’s order was received every Wednesday, the details would be transmitted down a telephone line to a standalone computer terminal and three hours after the information had been received this produced the draft train plan for the forthcoming week. The computer program considered the terminal layout and loading time, signal box opening and closing hours and the suitable locations for the traincrews to take Personal Needs Breaks. Once the draft plan was published it was sent to Knottingley Depot for further refinement, which mainly involved checking such things as the timings against engineers’ possessions and the retiming and tweaking of services. Once this had been done, the roster clerks started putting names to turns of duty. This process would be completed by early Thursday morning so that the ASLEF Local Depot Committee could scrutinise the roster and ask the clerks to make amendments if needed. Then the roster was published on Friday morning for the forthcoming week. Christened Aireplan, this program saved many manhours and cut the task of planning the services by a day.
TOPS
British Rail was keen to use new technology to its best advantage and to see new systems developed. The largest of these to be implemented was TOPS (Total Operations Processing System). This computer program was designed to ensure operations staff knew where any item of motive power, passenger or non-passenger stock was at any time. The program also prevented the regional variation in loco and stock maintenance. Each region had its own way of doing its exam and maintenance work but a study by the TOPS implementation team showed that some regions of BR were over-maintaining their locos and stock. TOPS did away with this by having parameters to be followed by all regions. The TOPS system also showed how best British Rail’s assets were being utilised on a daily basis and how its entire fleet was performing. Most of all it showed how well the wagon fleet was being used and that efficient wagon turn rounds were being achieved, which meant they were no longer getting lost in the system.
Remote control
The Research Department at Derby developed a system during the 1970s whereby a train could be driven remotely via the use of radio waves. At most power stations a driver would be stationed for an eight-hour shift and his job was to give the inward driver a break to have his sandwiches and a drink and use the toilet facilities if needed. These Personal Needs Break or PNB turns were seen by the management to be a waste. The relief driver was only discharging a train around the power station loop and if that driver worked four trains in a typical shift, he would only have worked about three hours.
Eggborough Power Station was chosen to test the new system to replace the PNB turns and two Knottingley-based Class 47s (47277 and 47373) had remote control
equipment fitted. The system worked by a cable being placed in the 4ft between the rails and this transmitted a radio signal to the equipment on the loco. This signal controlled the slow-speed equipment and the brake and power controller up to a speed of 1.5mph. The radio receiver was mounted high up, and the remote-control equipment installed in the roof received the radio signals. The whole process of unloading the train would be carried out by the CEGB hopper operator who had full control of the loco. The two 47s chosen had an external modification in the form of a yellow flashing light fitted on the cab roof to warn staff that the train was under remote control. The trials lasted for several years, on and off, and two Class 56s (56073/074) were also fitted with the necessary kit. BR was confident that the trials were going to be a success and said that all Class 56s built from 56085 onwards would be fitted with the remote-control equipment. However, the full implementation of the system did not occur. ASLEF had concerns that any member of staff who was not vigilant could be hit by the driverless loco and either injured or killed, unnoticed by the controlling member of staff. For this reason a driver or driver’s assistant was positioned in the leading cab ready to apply the emergency break if required. Also, the radio waves and the loco sensors did not work very well in the winter months, and once the environment in which the wires were sitting became covered in coal dust and sludge it caused issues with transmission. Based on all of this, with the main concern being for everyone’s safety, the trial was abandoned and the equipment on 56085 onwards was isolated and removed when the locos went for their first intermediate overhaul.
The Plan for Coal
In 1974 the National Coal Board announced its ‘Plan for Coal’, which brought news of developments in the area that could only boost the rail traffic, as if moving just shy of 500,000 tonnes per week was not enough! The coal board’s plans were to open new mines, the first one at Royston, near Barnsley. This new drift mine was up and running by the summer of 1976. It was on the south side of Barnsley, close to Grimethorpe and Houghton Main pits, and was served by a connection from the former Midland Main Line.
The biggest project undertaken by the National Coal Board was without doubt the Selby super pit. This was planned to cover roughly 110 square miles and to involve the sinking of ten shafts across five sites, with a central location used to bring the coal to the surface. The new mines were at Wistow, Stillingfleet, Riccall, Whitemoor and North Selby, with Gascoigne Wood sidings the site where the coal surfaced.
The elaborate plans included the diversion of the East Coast Main Line between Selby and York, as this would cross one of the areas where mining would be carried out. The total cost for the Selby super pit was £1.3bn. Planning for the site had been carried out some years earlier and test drills had been performed. The NCB was excited by the results as seams of coal a metre thick had been found in several places. In the second half of the 1970s work began in earnest sinking the new shafts. The colossal job of diverting the ECML from Temple Hurst Junction to the new Junction at Colton, south of York, also began. For the railway, this cut ECML journey times
by around 25 minutes and allowed for the construction of the fastest and flattest railway junction in the UK. On July 29, 1980 the inaugural ceremony took place at the site of what would be Hambleton South Junction and construction of 14 miles of new railway began. The project was not easy as it involved raising the Selby to Leeds line to go over the ECML and building a modern bridge over the River Aire and a viaduct over the River Wharfe at Ryther and its associated flood plain. The NCB had estimated the project would cost around £60m because of issues met when trying to stabilise and build on the ground next to the River Wharfe, but in the end the final figure was £63m.
As Gascoigne Wood would become the loading point for the new coal traffic, BR created a small fan of 12 sidings at Milford Junction, six dead end and six through roads. This was on the west side of the Normanton lines, sandwiched between the curve for Gascoigne Wood. In conjunction with the scheme was the introduction of multiple-aspect signalling between Castleford, Ferrybridge, Milford Junction and Gascoigne Wood. As a result, Burton Salmon signal box closed and the junction was removed, which also led to the closure of Hillam Gates gate box. The physical junction to cross trains from the Normanton lines onto the Pontefract lines was now a single lead junction at Milford. The Selby diversion was opened to traffic on October 3, 1983.
Gascoigne Wood
In January 1982 the first loading bunker was brought into use at Gascoigne Wood. It was known locally as the Stone Bunker as it began life being involved in removing waste shale from South Kirby Colliery to fill up what had been a quarry site next to the mine. Welbeck, or Goose Hill, near Normanton was another site from which shale was taken to fill old quarry workings. The shale traffic used longer sets of 48 coal hoppers and, because of the weight of the material, the wagons would only be half filled. In a single 24-hour period it was possible for four trainloads to be transported.
In 1983, when the Selby diversion had been completed, the NCB began coal production at the Selby super pit. However, this was short-lived as on March 6 the NUM locked horns with the ruling Conservative government over the proposed pit closure programme and one of the longest industrial disputes of late 20th century began. Overnight all coal movements in the area stopped as ASLEF and the NUR refused to work coal services out of sympathy for the striking miners. The bitter dispute ended on March 3, 1985 with both sides claiming a partial victory. As early as March 4 the Aire Valley coal traffic again started to feed the three big power stations. However, there were some immediate casualties of the strike. Cortonwood, the colliery that had sparked off the dispute, closed in 1985, followed by Wath Main, Elsecar, Cadeby, Fryston, Peckfield, Glasshoughton and Nostell
Collieries from 1985 to 1987. However, with the Selby super pit complex coming up to full production, the loss of traffic from these collieries was not noticed by the railway as Gascoigne Wood covered the shortfall.
The railhead at Gascoigne Wood was dispatching 30 coal trains per day, with most of the material going to Drax and Eggborough Power Stations, with smaller amounts going to Ferrybridge and Fiddlers Ferry. Most trains were able to complete four round trips from Gascoigne Wood in a 14-hour period. The coal brought to the surface at Gascoigne Wood required sweetening as on its own it was not palatable for the Aire Valley power stations. So coal was also brought from the Durham and Northumberland Ccoalfields and staged at York Yard before going direct to the destination power station. The North East was sourced mainly from Dawdon, Seaham, Easington, Ellington Collieries and Butterwell Mine and was taken to Gascoigne Wood down side where a hopper discharge facility had been built as part of the complex. The inward coal from the North East would be discharged and put out to stock until it was mixed with the local product. The massive conveyer belt system that linked up and down sides would move the mixed coal into waiting trains. However, it was not uncommon for the coal sourced from the North East to also go direct to one of the power stations where it would either be mixed with the local coal or burnt directly.