Paper Mill rolling stock

[Pinza-C55]

Hi everybody, I am trying to model in the Trainz 2019 rail simulator the former paper mill at Hylton on the Sunderland - Penshaw line which was connected to Ford Works sidings by a rope worked incline. The mill was damaged by fire and never reopened but luckily BritainFromAbove has some excellent photos taken in 1948 but one item of rolling stock has piqued my interest. In this view in the bottom right hand corner on the River Wear wharf the is a small wagon with what looks like a kind of crucible or barrel - does anyone know what this was ? There's what appears to be a steam crane on the spur beside the bridge and a steam loco right of below the bales of what I assume was grass.

 

https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/EAW014475

[Ian Smeeton]

Interesting track plan which seems to have varied a bit over the years, see the map links below.

 

https://maps.nls.uk/view/120934734

https://maps.nls.uk/view/120934731

 

Looking at the 1926 photo here:

 

https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW016434

 

and here:

 

https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW016427

 

it seems to have been a real swithback of an operation.

 

No idea about the wagons or loco though.

 

Regards

 

Ian

 

 

[bécasse]

I wonder if it is the remains a small Sentinel "balanced" engine. The "live" loco visible might well be a Sentinel too, although it is difficult to be certain viewed from the cab end.

[Pinza-C55]

Thanks for the replies. I'm not sure what a "balanced" Sentinel unless you mean a "coffee pot" locomotive ?

I forgot that I have a book which has a view of the mill taken from the river in 1883 and it says the quay was built in 1880 "at a cost of £900 including £572 0s 10d for the Black Hawthorn 0-4-0ST shown here and £76 for 2 tipping and 4 chaldron wagons".

This is what I have done so far, seen from the river - 

The second view shows the wagon turntable which seems to have been abandoned by the time the mill closed but I'd already built it so it may as well stay !

 

[Mol_PMB]

The thing apparently with the barrel on it is very short - only about half the length of the fairly normal 4-wheel low-sided wagons also on the wharf.

If it is a locomotive, could it be some sort of early Simplex or Planet petrol loco? The ends of the vehicle could be the bonnets of such a loco, but the apparent barrel doesn't fit that theory.

Something broadly like this, although there were many variations in detail:

I'm doubtful that the barrel represents any sort of boiler - it would be far too large for a loco or crane of that size.

I'm also not sure what a 'balanced' Sentinel is, and I can't see anything resembling this in John Hutching's tome on Sentinels.

 

As for the other loco, this looks like a conventional small industrial saddle tank to me. There were some Sentinels with a cylindrical casing that looked a bit like a boiler, but as far as I'm aware they all had the actual boiler and chimney within the cab. The loco in the image is clearly discharging smoke from a chimney at the opposite end from the cab.

 

 

You could probably find out a lot more by asking a question on the Industrial Railway Society group here:

https://groups.io/g/IndustrialRailwaySociety/topics

You'll need to join the groups.io (free) but you don't need to be a member of the Society.

The members here are extremely knowledgable and will be able to provide a list of all the locos that worked at this mill, and probably point you towards photos of them too.

I asked some questions on the group a couple of years back, and got such helpful answers that I ended up paying to join the IRS proper, which I have enjoyed ever since.

 

Mol

Edited June 22 by Mol_PMB
added IRS recommendation

[Pinza-C55]

Progress is slow but I've made a few improvements. The loco is Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 ST "Burdale".

 

 

[Steamport Southport]

Balanced Sentinel. The ones with the curved bodies.

 

https://sdjr.co.uk/locomotives-stock/7109-joyce

 

 

 

Jason

[Artless Bodger]

Looking good, it is a complicated layout to be sure (especially compared to mills I knew). Getting coal to the boiler house seems quite a faff - as an indication, Aylesford reckoned about 1 ton of coal per ton of paper, but they used only imported woodpulp. Ford used esparto which would have to be cooked and probably broken so I'd expect a greater energy requirement. Not sure if the wharf was used for grass / pulp import as there is a 1949 photo showing esparto being unloaded from a ship into open wagons at the Corporation Quay in Sunderland https://www.searlecanada.org/sunderland/sunderland203.html#9.

 

Building papermills on sloping sites was quite typical historically as the stuff (pulp dispersion) could be moved from one stage of preparation to the next by gravity. 

 

Apologies for a bit of pedantry here - it looks as though your simulator programme has used steel coil as a default for paper reels (aka webs) from the size of the core and the arrangement of the strapping.

 

High quality paper reels would typically be wrapped for protection in transit, with end caps (paper discs) often printed with the company name and grade. https://www.alamy.com/the-publishing-house-of-the-newspaper-news-of-the-world-on-bouverie-street-near-fleet-street-receives-a-paper-delivery-the-area-around-fleet-street-was-for-centuries-the-center-of-english-press-image236306017.html?imageid=06EB3146-7639-45B9-8488-4605E9060E73&p=800823&pn=1&searchId=272dd6e27be80f0646298aa1a563cafd&searchtype=0

and

https://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.com/2015/02/aylesford-newsprint-in-administration.html

 

Later on (1960s onwards perhaps), the 'rougher' grades like fluting (corrugating medium) and liner would be just secured with 2 circumferential steel straps (e.g. Signode) with the cores visible. Cores are paperboard tubes (usually - flour and sugar bag paper at Aylesford was wound on reusable steel cores) with internal diameter to suit the winder / unwind mandrel size, typically 3", 4" and 6".

 

I can remember seeing wrapped reels loaded in open merchandise wagons with straw dunnage.

 

Before the advent of clamp trucks with rotatable clamps, most reels would be stored and transported 'on the roll'. With suitable scotches reels could be stacked 2 or 3 high or more depending on diameter. High reach clamp trucks made tall end on stacks possible.

 

Beware of some publicity photos of newsprint being delivered to Fleet Street as the lorry sheets have been removed for effect.

 

Printings and writings would probably be sent to printers in sheet form on pallets (often ream wrapped), as many printers would have been using sheet fed presses, web presses were / are used mainly for high volume work, e.g. news and magazines, paperback books, packaging. 

[Pinza-C55]

On 26/06/2024 at 19:48, Artless Bodger said:

Looking good, it is a complicated layout to be sure (especially compared to mills I knew). Getting coal to the boiler house seems quite a faff - as an indication, Aylesford reckoned about 1 ton of coal per ton of paper, but they used only imported woodpulp. Ford used esparto which would have to be cooked and probably broken so I'd expect a greater energy requirement. Not sure if the wharf was used for grass / pulp import as there is a 1949 photo showing esparto being unloaded from a ship into open wagons at the Corporation Quay in Sunderland https://www.searlecanada.org/sunderland/sunderland203.html#9.

 

Building papermills on sloping sites was quite typical historically as the stuff (pulp dispersion) could be moved from one stage of preparation to the next by gravity. 

 

Apologies for a bit of pedantry here - it looks as though your simulator programme has used steel coil as a default for paper reels (aka webs) from the size of the core and the arrangement of the strapping.

 

High quality paper reels would typically be wrapped for protection in transit, with end caps (paper discs) often printed with the company name and grade. https://www.alamy.com/the-publishing-house-of-the-newspaper-news-of-the-world-on-bouverie-street-near-fleet-street-receives-a-paper-delivery-the-area-around-fleet-street-was-for-centuries-the-center-of-english-press-image236306017.html?imageid=06EB3146-7639-45B9-8488-4605E9060E73&p=800823&pn=1&searchId=272dd6e27be80f0646298aa1a563cafd&searchtype=0

and

https://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.com/2015/02/aylesford-newsprint-in-administration.html

 

Later on (1960s onwards perhaps), the 'rougher' grades like fluting (corrugating medium) and liner would be just secured with 2 circumferential steel straps (e.g. Signode) with the cores visible. Cores are paperboard tubes (usually - flour and sugar bag paper at Aylesford was wound on reusable steel cores) with internal diameter to suit the winder / unwind mandrel size, typically 3", 4" and 6".

 

I can remember seeing wrapped reels loaded in open merchandise wagons with straw dunnage.

 

Before the advent of clamp trucks with rotatable clamps, most reels would be stored and transported 'on the roll'. With suitable scotches reels could be stacked 2 or 3 high or more depending on diameter. High reach clamp trucks made tall end on stacks possible.

 

Beware of some publicity photos of newsprint being delivered to Fleet Street as the lorry sheets have been removed for effect.

 

Printings and writings would probably be sent to printers in sheet form on pallets (often ream wrapped), as many printers would have been using sheet fed presses, web presses were / are used mainly for high volume work, e.g. news and magazines, paperback books, packaging. 

 

Regarding the boiler house, if you look at the 1926 photo this was in the centre of the mill, with its chimney. By the 1946 photo they had demolished the houses and created a spur from the incline to a new coal loader and boiler house with the earlier chimney demolished.

The mill was opened in 1836 and was actually on a mainly flat site. The 1862 map shows no connection to the railway and I believe Ford Works signalbox and the sidings were built in 1872 with the sidings feeding the "Esparto Chutes" which fed the grass to the sheds below. I don't understand why they didn't simply build a branch adjacent to the main line from Hylton station which would have had an easy gradient but there you go, they did strange things in the old days.

No apologies needed. there are about 700,000 assets for the simulator but everything is an approximation. There were no rolls of paper available as wagon loads as in the photos so I used "scenery" paper rolls and placed them in the wagons for my photos.

The Esparto Grass being unloaded at Corporation Quay would be presumably loaded into rail wagons for haulage to Ford Works and processing.

Thanks for the photos and links, they were very useful.

Edited 20 hours ago by Pinza-C55
Additional information.