Railfreight Archive

The third in a series of four nostalgia-packed programmes looks at the rail freight scene in the 1980s. This was a decade of much variety in terms of traction, the types of wagons and the many commodities they carried. The Speedlink wagonload network was buoyant, vast tonnages of coal were being carried, marshalling yards were a hive of activity and many vacuum-braked wagons were still in regular use. On the few freight flows that still run today, this programme recalls the old order of locos and wagons from four decades ago. However, most of the featured workings no longer run and some of the freight-only lines have long since closed. The material in this programme is previously unreleased on DVD and the footage retains its original soundtrack.

Among the long-lost traffic flows featured are... Woodhead Class 76s on Fiddlers Ferry coal; Limestone from Caldon Low & Redmire; the Tunstead to Northwich ICI hoppers; Meldon Quarry ballast; Nottinghamshire MGRs; Speedlink coal; iron ore to Ravenscraig & Llanwern; coal slurry from Westfield opencast; MGR coal to Ironbridge and Fiddlers Ferry power stations; Fletton flyash; Oakamoor sand; Clitheroe-Gunnie cement; Freightliner workings from the long-closed terminals at Holyhead, Longsight & Dudley; domestic refuse trains from Northolt, Cricklewood & Bath to Calvert, Appleford & Forders; Manchester ‘binliners’ to Appley Bridge; china clay ‘Polybulks’ returning from Europe to Cornwall; the Lackenby to Corby ‘Tubeliner’; hot rolled coils from Ravenscraig to Llanwern; salt from Over & Wharton; Bickershaw & Point of Ayr coal; Fawley petroleum; Teesport to Stanlow oil; Old Oak Common fuel tanks; Ashton-in-Makerfield bitumen; Amlwch chemicals; Heysham to Haverton Hill ammonia; newspaper & parcels traffic...and a varied selection of Speedlink wagonload services. 

David Maxey provides the commentary for this fascinating trip down memory lane. There’s an impressive variety of traction too. Included in the eighteen different loco classes are 08202, 20006, 25069, 26003, 31308, 33008, 37222, 40044, 45006, 47484, 50011, 56003, 58009, 73101, 85019, 86005, 87101...and 76007 & 76010 tackling the Worsborough incline!