RMweb Gold Rhubarb Loop Posted February 4, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 4, 2014 Guys, In Great Western Branch Line Termini Volume Two by Paul Karau there are a couple of photographs of the branch goods at Ashburton hauled by 4405 in 1949 credited to R. J. Doran. The train comprises of 4 containers, 3 on conflats and 1 in some kind of medfit, and a sheeted china clay wagon. I seem to remember reading, possibly in the Great Western Journal article that the branch goods only took wagons for Ashburton from Buckfastleigh, any wagons for other destinations would be picked up on the return journey. What I've been pondering for some time is why there would be 4 containers at Ashburton (the only crane was in the goods shed) and even more puzzling is the lone china clay wagon. So did wagons sometimes travel via Ashburton or could containers be treated like normal vans at one end of their journey? Also what is the china clay wagon doing there? It's completely white so surely it has to be clay?! I'd love to hear people's thoughts. Cheers, Alex Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 My observations Containers do not have to be handled as containers at both ends of the journey. Maybe it was more convenient to have them loaded in the shed at one end and then discharged as containers, or vice versa. Clay - or umber? just used as a sheeted wagon? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
edcayton Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 The containers could have been for a big house move (or even part of a farm move), and a mobile crane brought to the goods yard. Ed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy M Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 The Ashburton umber traffic has been discussed previously on RMWeb (maybe on the old site). I'll see if I can trace it. Andy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cary hill Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Umber traffic: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=48371 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Umber went to Tamworth for brown paper manufacture, according the the Karau book. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim V Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 No comment on the gunpowder(?) wagons in the same book? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 No, but plenty of quarries around as a possibility. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Rhubarb Loop Posted February 4, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 4, 2014 Thank you for all the responses. I can't believe I hadn't picked up the mysterious umber traffic before. Andy M suggests that it was typically dispatched in bags or barrels, clearly on at least one occasion it warranted a whole china clay wagon for the traffic. The wagon is heavily weathered white suggesting constant use in clay traffic, I have to admit I've not yet studied the photo in detail to see if I can cofirm the wagon diagram. Yes, some kind of baulk move warranting the containers would be sensible. In nearly every other photograph I've seen of Ashburton the wagons are vans, minerals or the occasional bolster (plus of course the cattle wagons. So this train caught my eye especially. Like Combe Barton I imagined the gunpowder wagon was for local quarry activity. It would be interesting to know when the movement of umber and gunpowder ceased, if at all, prior to closure. Cheers, Alex Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted February 8, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 8, 2014 Have you got the Peter Kay history of the line, Alex, published in 2000 (by the author)? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Rhubarb Loop Posted February 10, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 10, 2014 Have you got the Peter Kay history of the line, Alex, published in 2000 (by the author)? Yes, thanks Captain. The "centrefold" of 1470 in BR Lined Green shunting at Ashburton after closure to passengers is especially tasty! Alex Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Mind If I but in gentlemen with a totaly unrelated story but it has to do with Ashburton and one of my favourite GWR branchlines. A freind and myself, I would say about 8/10 years ago now, went to Ashburton while on holiday in Devon and lookingc for the old station site. Anyway, we were directed to the end of a cul-de-sac on a private housing estate where we found the old track bed, a genuine length of GWR fencing wire, and a rail chair just a few yard to the station side of the road over bridge. So, leaving our wives in the car we set off up to where the station still stands (now a garage) and went in where a young mechanic asked us if he could be of any help "Not really" I said, "We've just come to look at the old station" where we were imediately informed "Sorry mate this is a garage, there ain't a station in Ashburton" !!! However, the old engine shed was still standing and so was Tucker & Sons Maltings so I took a few photo's of it and built it when I got back home. Needles to say, when we got back to the car we were faced by two very irate wifey types ! Allan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 My pix of Ashburton in Decay (August 2010) are here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/40075-ashburton-in-decay/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 What I've been pondering for some time is why there would be 4 containers at Ashburton (the only crane was in the goods shed) and even more puzzling is the lone china clay wagon. Just had a thought today. Now there aren't that many pix of any type of freight as a train at Ashburton. There's wagons around, there's the cattle trains, but not your ordinary day to day freight. So was this train photographed because it was unusual? Was it someone's house move? I can't remember seeing any other pix of container traffic at Ashburton. At the time film was expensive, as was processing. If you were shooting trains at the time, first choice locos,second choice passenger, much lower choice freight. So that pic is unusual and someone cost justified it. So really don't think it's typical of the normal traffic. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 There are a couple of photos of 4555 at Ashburton during freight only days on this page of the Cornish Railway Society website. This page also contains some early preservation images, which are nostalgic. The Peter Kay book arrived on Saturday last. An excellent purchase, thanks CK for mentioning it. I suspect I missed that one because it is privately published. Quite. The one in the Karau book is the only one showing containers. The centre spread of Peter Kay's book shown 1961, after passenger closure, with a variety of vans and opens. [EDIT} And the cover, same day. Which brings me back - was the container train an unusual working and that's why it was photographed? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 But what we're saying is that containers weren't normal traffic at Ashburton. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Rhubarb Loop Posted February 18, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 18, 2014 I've spent a lot of time studying every photograph I can of Ashburton. Observed wagons are nearly all ventilated vans and minerals (as you'd expect) with the odd cattle van and bolster wagon. This is the only visit of containers (and 4 of them from memory) that I've seen recorded. I think the best theory so far is Paul's. While the GWJ article suggests only traffic for Ashburton went beyond Buckfastleigh, I'm sure that if it made shunting there easier, or perhaps there were no vehicles to pick up from Buckfastleigh on the return allowing an early run back to Hackney, then they'd go for a ride to Ashburton and back. One thing I've noticed in the aforementioned Peter Kay centrefold is that all the vans appear to have similar trading labels, presumably for animal feed traffic. It would be interesting to see a close up op one of these, I'd love to know what they looked like! Alex Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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