LBRJ Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 Back around the early years of this century the mains gas around the Newquay area was installed/upgraded. The pipe itself (the long yellow plastic stuff) was delivered to St Blazey yard for onward road transport to the actual sites. The rather open question is what sort of bolster wagons would most likely have been used for this traffic? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Davexoc Posted January 19, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 19, 2020 I would guess at BDA or a derivative of, like BEA or possibly BTA which were the ones used on the steel pipe runs Hartlepool to Scotland. Any idea on what diameter those pipes were? They tend to coil some of the smaller stuff up, but I don't think it would be within the loading gauge.... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LBRJ Posted January 19, 2020 Author Share Posted January 19, 2020 Thanks for that.. I dont know much at all about such wagons, but the BDA appears to be about the right shape and length! I think the pipes were about 12 (maybe 18) inch diameter, and 30 foot long. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dvdlcs Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 Not related to the original query, but there is a construction site not far from me that had a significant quantity of similarly sized pipes to what LBRJ stated delivered, although I suspect these are for water rather than gas. They came in a fleet of tarp-top containers, 42U1 for those who know/care about such things, and were unloaded by crane after removing the tarp from three sides of the container top. The pipes are bundled together by a rectangle of wood inset from each end, and are/were possibly strapped together too. For the original query, would bolster wagons have been used to carry such small diameter pipe? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dungrange Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 1 hour ago, dvdlcs said: although I suspect these are for water rather than gas. That would depend on the colour - the pipes used are otherwise the same. Pipes for gas works tend to be yellow, while the ones for water tend to be blue. I think 300 mm (1') diameter pipes seem to be the most common. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted January 20, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 20, 2020 1 hour ago, Dungrange said: That would depend on the colour - the pipes used are otherwise the same. Pipes for gas works tend to be yellow, while the ones for water tend to be blue. I think 300 mm (1') diameter pipes seem to be the most common. They are officially colour coded so it is definitely yellow for gas and blue for water. Green has been used in the past for cable (i.e data type cable in residential areas) but some round is now being laid with pink (!!) cable. There are also official requirements regarding use of colours for marking when surveying sites or planning out work - yellow for gas, red for electricity, and blue for water. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wickham Green Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 1 hour ago, Dungrange said: .................. Pipes for gas works tend to be yellow, while the ones for water tend to be blue. .............. I guess it's compulsory ........................ OK - The Stationmaster beat me to it ! Could pink ducting signify fibre optic rather than electric data cable p'raps ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted January 20, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 20, 2020 1 hour ago, Wickham Green said: I guess it's compulsory ........................ OK - The Stationmaster beat me to it ! Could pink ducting signify fibre optic rather than electric data cable p'raps ? The pink is a new one on me and I presume it is actually fibre optic cable, But where we used to live fibre optic cable was installed in green conduit so maybe the colour has changed or maybe pink is used where the actual cable is buried rather than being put in conduit? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Davexoc Posted January 20, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 20, 2020 5 hours ago, The Stationmaster said: The pink is a new one on me and I presume it is actually fibre optic cable, But where we used to live fibre optic cable was installed in green conduit so maybe the colour has changed or maybe pink is used where the actual cable is buried rather than being put in conduit? I hope it is shocking pink, otherwise it might confuse the local mole and bird populations.... Back on topic, 30' lengths would be a bit short on BDAs, so could they have been transported in OBAs or similar? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LBRJ Posted January 20, 2020 Author Share Posted January 20, 2020 If one bit is going to be wrong, its my memory of the pipes... They could have been 40 or 50 feet long sections, and 18 inch diameter but they were definitely transported on something like "BDA" wagons - I wish I had paid much more attention at the time, but how many times do we end up saying that! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dungrange Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 The problem is that if they were 50 foot long, they would have been a very long load for onward road transportation. An articulated tractor unit may pull a trailer with a 40' or even a 45' container, but that is about as long as you're going to get on the roads in this country. I don't think 44 tonne articulated vehicles were road legal until 2001, so I'm not even sure that 45' containers were common before then, so I'd be surprised if the pipes were any longer than 40'. Personally, I'd have thought it may be more likely that there were two shorter lengths on the same wagon and the BDA type would seem a plausible suggestion. I worked on a construction site for a while 25+ years ago and at that time, I think the plastic water / gas pipes were supplied in six metre (20') lengths, but as you say, I didn't pay too much attention at the time and I haven't been on a construction site in the last 20 odd years. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 I’ve seen a picture of these recently - deffo BDAs, but I can’t remember if they had the shorter 2 axle runners with them as they were too long Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 Couldn’t find it, did find a picture of 37674 pulling OBAs loaded with two pipes each in 97 though. Think this was a drainage thing rather than gas Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nat37670 Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 Excuse mega low res of the photos, but here is the loaded and empty train from St.Blazey in the same spot near Liskeard. No runner wagons. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LBRJ Posted January 26, 2020 Author Share Posted January 26, 2020 Ahh good man for posting those from what is now the very depths of Cornish history*! I thought someone somewhere would have a picture related to the job in question.....And it just shows you how crap ones memories actually are!! * just realised in another thread that its 15 years since they re-doubled the line at Burngullow....... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dungrange Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 I note that there seems to be five pipes per wagon, three on the bottom and two on the top. Given that the bottom layer seem quite close to the edge of the wagons, I'm assuming that means that they are either 600 mm (2') or 750 mm (2'6") diameter pipes. They also look to be about as long as the distance between bogie centres (40'). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted January 26, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 26, 2020 7 hours ago, Dungrange said: They also look to be about as long as the distance between bogie centres (40'). 13 metre sticks probably. Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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