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 June 27 by Pinza-C55
Additional information.

[Artless Bodger]

Just a thought....

I've been looking a the photos on Britainfromabove, mainly out of interest in the layout of the mill, what building was for what process etc as it seems a jumble compared with more modern mills of my aquaintance. On some photos, someone has put flags mentioning a cable worked incline from the exchange sidings down to the mill, and there does indeed appear to be a kip and also what maybe cable pulleys / rollers on posts inside of the curved track, however there does not seem to be a suitable winding house. So - perhaps the wagon with the tank was a water counterbalance wagon? It might be made from an old stuff chest placed on a suitable chassis.

In the 1926 photo there also seems to be some sort of overhead cableway associated with the esparto bale stack - otherwise I can see no way of building nor unloading from the stack which is very high.

Some wagons in the 1948 photos have wrapped reels of paper on them and also some wood pulp bales. In the exchange sidings at least one open is pale inside, reminding me of 5 plank opens delivering china clay to Aylesford.

From the maps it seems the original mill had a tramway from the wharf, later with the arrival of the railway on the hillside above, sidings were provided, later linked down to the mill, by the rope worked incline, hence the need to build a counterbalance wagon (plenty of water available in a papermill), using whatever was available on site. By the 1940s perhaps the incline was electrically hauled, obviating the need to the counterbalance wagon which got dumped at the end of the wharf siding? Just conjecture, bits an pieces were often repurposed in mills, in the 1980s at Aylesford there was a little 4 wheel wooden railway bogie or chassis, which looks identical to one prominent in photos of the construction of the mill in the early 1920s.

 

I've looked for any info on UK Paper mill On-line History Project (https://www.ukpapermills.org.uk/), (the keymaster is my erstwhile manager). Unfortunately there is little available there, however is does provide the following information for 1923: Four machines, 100 ins., 90 ins., 72 ins. and 60 ins. E.S. Writings, Printings, Fine News, Music and Cartridges. E.S. refers to engine sized (size added before sheet formation), in comparison with tub sized (formed sheet passed through a tub of size and re-dried).

 

[Pinza-C55]

There was indeed a cable worked incline but as far as I know it was powered rather than "self acting" which is where the loaded wagons going downhill pull the empty wagons uphill. For it to be self acting it would need to be double track or have a passing loop, neither of which it had. The mill and sidings closed in 1971 but I first started exploring the railway in summer 1972 by which time the sidings had been lifted. However the winding mechanism which I think had a concrete structure underneath the tracks still existed though it was partly flooded. I believe the winding house was the corrugated roof building just above the building with the W shaped roof which I believe was one the 2 Esparto Grass sheds. If you look at the sidings the one nearest the mill had 2 timber boards across them and I believe these were hatches to allow the grass to fall into the chutes down to the sheds. I believe the main purpose of of the incline was to deliver loaded coal wagons to the mill which is why the power house and coal unloader was moved, possibly to get more coal after expansion of production. I used to have a book with a photo of a wagon going down the incline and it was similar to an LNER D.100 20 ton wagon in the second link.

 

https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EAW014476

 

https://www.steve-banks.org/prototype-and-traffic/181-br-period-rolling-stock

 

Here's the incline in my simulation with a coal wagon descending. Unfortunately I don't know any way to simulate the rope haulage though I have the rollers on the track.

 

 

Edited July 2 by Pinza-C55
Additional information and photo.

[Artless Bodger]

Some interesting info there, thank you.

 

Looking at the photo you link, the wagon with the cylindrical tank on it is just visible, it's not big and seems to be on supports, so perhaps a mobile mixing tank? We had ones like it at Aylesford for making up additives for special grades or trials, just not rail mounted.

 

I do wonder it the heavily braced posts around the inside of the incline track are supports for the haulage cable rollers?

 

 

I'd be very interested if you have any links to on-line information about the mill please as it seems a veritable palimpsest of a site, especially with such a long history. I've no experience with esparto mills, just wood pulp, rag and recycled papers, though I think esparto processing was similar to rag (dust, cut, cook, break, beat)?

 

Thanks.

[Pinza-C55]

4 hours ago, Artless Bodger said:

Some interesting info there, thank you.

 

Looking at the photo you link, the wagon with the cylindrical tank on it is just visible, it's not big and seems to be on supports, so perhaps a mobile mixing tank? We had ones like it at Aylesford for making up additives for special grades or trials, just not rail mounted.

 

I do wonder it the heavily braced posts around the inside of the incline track are supports for the haulage cable rollers?

 

 

I'd be very interested if you have any links to on-line information about the mill please as it seems a veritable palimpsest of a site, especially with such a long history. I've no experience with esparto mills, just wood pulp, rag and recycled papers, though I think esparto processing was similar to rag (dust, cut, cook, break, beat)?

 

Thanks.

 

I think you're correct about the cable roller supports since the incline was on a curve.  I don't know anything about paper mills except what I've learned on this thread but I did look at this Wikipedia page on Esparto  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esparto and this caught my eye "Most paper made from esparto is usually combined with 5% to 10% wood pulp.". There's a factory on the 1959 OS maps shown simply as "Works" and "Prefabricated Building Works" which was in Washington in the "V" of the Leamside  Line and Consett line and a local history told  me it was Calders & Grandidge Timber Yard and that it opened in the 50s and closed in the mid 70s. It's not too much of a stretch to say it might have supplied wood shavings and sawdust to the Ford mill ? I've had a stab at building it as seen below.

 

 

 

 

 

Edit* I've just found photos of cable roller supports.

 

https://www.hows.org.uk/personal/rail/incline/bow.htm#:~:text=The bowes railway is the,leads down to Black Fell.

Edited July 3 by Pinza-C55
Additional information.

[Artless Bodger]

Those photos of the Bowes incline are really interesting thank you.

 

Some stuff about esparto here https://edwardlloyd.org/esparto.php

And wood pulp here https://edwardlloyd.org/edwardlloydltd.php

Papermaking from the same site https://edwardlloyd.org/paper-making.php

[Pinza-C55]

After I posted about the Bowes Railway incline I decided to check the Trainz Download Station for "Roller". The TDS has nearly 700,000 "Assets" but you have to use multiple search terms so it seems that I hadn't used that one before. Lo and behold I found the exact same vertical rollers used on the Bowes incline ! I worked out from the BritainFromAbove photo that they were spaced at 25 foot intervals and they simply clip to the track. Apparently their author has a method for attaching a cable to the wagon but I haven't figured that out yet so in this photo the wagon is attached to an Invisible Loco which allows me to drive it up and down the incline.

 

 

[Artless Bodger]

This is looking really good.

 

I had not realised how capable simulation programmes had become, since my only experience was a demonstration at the club I used to attend.

[Pinza-C55]

3 hours ago, Artless Bodger said:

This is looking really good.

 

I had not realised how capable simulation programmes had become, since my only experience was a demonstration at the club I used to attend.

 

 Thank you !The great thing about simulations is that you are unconstrained by size so I have done this simulation of the 20 mile Malton & Driffield Railway. The bad thing is that it's easy to lose your work so I did a very detailed simulation of the 2 mile Easingwold Railway and lost it completely during a computer rebuild. It was about a months work.

 

 

 

I've found a hot metal ladle wagon on the DLS and it looks quite similar to the mystery wagon - I like your idea that it was something to do with mixing, I thought maybe Acid which I imagine might be used in paper making.

 

 

[Artless Bodger]

22 hours ago, Pinza-C55 said:

Acid which I imagine might be used in paper making.

Acids are certainly used for descaling equipment - Ford mill must have hard water (limestone area - quarry, cement works etc), which is good for fine grades, but when using alkali for pulping can lead to severe scale deposits, so acid cleaning is necessary at intervals. Our rag boiler cans at Overton, and the entire deink plant at Aylesford (both using alkali and in hard water districts) had to be descaled regularly. Size baths at Overton too - a chemical called Descale 10 used at each machine shut.

 

I'm impressed by your Malton - Driffield simulation, obviously a lot of hard work has gone into it. Set me looking for more about the Burdale tunnel too. Thanks.