Penmaenmawr traffic resumes after Hanson investment

AGGREGATES traffic from Penmaenmawr Quarry in North Wales has resumed following a £300,000 programme of repairs, renewals and refurbishments by quarry owner Hanson.

The sidings and conveyor were in regular use until 2012 for the supply of ballast to Network Rail.

In order to test equipment and the supply chain between the quarry and the railhead, a loaded trial service ran to Hanson’s Tuebrook depot near Liverpool on December 20.

One train per week, hauled by a GB Railfreight Class 60 or 66 locomotive is expected to run from the quarry, with the volume of material transported dependent on its destination and network capacity.

Hanson’s Tuebrook and Wigan depots have been established to make greater use of rail for supplying aggregates to markets in the North West of England. Bringing the quarry sidings back into use is seen as a first step in restoring its longer term economic viability.

GARY THOMAS GBRf Class 60, No. 60087 prepares to back onto wagons in the Penmaenmawr Quarry yard on December 20 ahead of the trial run, the first traffic the railhead has seen in a decade.

HANSON No. 60087 at the loading end of the Penmaenmawr Quarry railhead.