Mendip Rail
Encyclopedia
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
. It is composed of the rail-operation divisions of Aggregate Industries
Aggregate Industries
Aggregate Industries, a member of the Holcim Group, is an aggregates, construction and building materials group, with its base in the United Kingdom. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Holcim in 2005.-History:...
(formerly Foster Yeoman
Foster Yeoman
Foster Yeoman Limited, based in the United Kingdom, is one of Europe's largest quarrying and asphalt companies, owned by Swiss construction materials conglomerate Holcim.-Company history:...
) and Hanson Aggregates
Hanson plc
Hanson plc is a British based international building materials company, headquartered in Maidenhead. Traded on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index for many years, the company was acquired by a division of German rival Heidelberg Cement in August 2007.-History:Hanson...
(previously ARC).
The company operates aggregate
Construction Aggregate
Construction aggregate, or simply "aggregate", is a broad category of coarse particulate material used in construction, including sand, gravel, crushed stone, slag, recycled concrete and geosynthetic aggregates. Aggregates are the most mined material in the world...
s trains from the Quarries of the Mendip Hills
Quarries of the Mendip Hills
The Mendip Hills are the most southerly Carboniferous Limestone Upland in Britain and are found in northern Somerset.They are composed of three major anticlinal structures, each with a core of older Devonian sandstone and Silurian volcanic rocks...
in South-West England to London and South-East England. The Foster Yeoman quarries are at Torr Works
Torr Works
Torr Works quarry, is a limestone quarry at East Cranmore, near Shepton Mallet on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England. It is also known as Merehead Quarry....
and Dulcote Quarry
Dulcote Quarry
Dulcote Quarry, was a limestone quarry at Dulcote, near Wells on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England. The quarry measures around from West to East and around from North to South, with an area of , which is surrounded by of woodland. The floor of the quarry is to above Ordnance Datum.The site...
, while Hanson has plants at Batts Combe Quarry
Batts Combe quarry
Batts Combe quarry, is a limestone quarry on the edge of Cheddar village on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England.It has been operating since the early 20th century and is owned and operated by Singleton Birch Ltd...
and Whatley Quarry
Whatley Quarry
Whatley Quarry, is a limestone quarry owned by Hanson plc, near the village of Whatley on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England.The quarry exhibits pale to dark grey Carboniferous Limestone with small area of overlying horizontally bedded buff-coloured Jurassic oolitic limestone forming an angular...
.
The company operates four Class 59/0
British Rail Class 59
The Class 59 Co-Co diesel locomotives were built and introduced between 1985 and 1995 by Electro-Motive Division of General Motors for private British companies, initially Foster Yeoman...
diesel locomotives owned by Aggregate Industries
Aggregate Industries
Aggregate Industries, a member of the Holcim Group, is an aggregates, construction and building materials group, with its base in the United Kingdom. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Holcim in 2005.-History:...
and four Class 59/1
British Rail Class 59
The Class 59 Co-Co diesel locomotives were built and introduced between 1985 and 1995 by Electro-Motive Division of General Motors for private British companies, initially Foster Yeoman...
locomotives owned by Hanson Aggregates
Hanson plc
Hanson plc is a British based international building materials company, headquartered in Maidenhead. Traded on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index for many years, the company was acquired by a division of German rival Heidelberg Cement in August 2007.-History:Hanson...
.
Mendip Rail owns Merehead Traction Maintenance Depot (Merehead TMD) where the above eight rail locomotives are allocated. They can also be seen at Hither Green TMD
Hither Green Traction Maintenance Depot (TMD)
Hither Green Traction Maintenance Depot or Hither Green TMD is a rail depot used for the maintenance and servicing of freight trains. It is a hub for moving freight around southeast England. Hither Green TMD is owned and operated by DBS. The official depot code is HG...
or Eastleigh Works
Eastleigh Works
Eastleigh Works is a locomotive, carriage and wagon building and repair facility in the town of Eastleigh in the county of Hampshire in England.-History under the LSWR:...
where they receive heavy maintenance.
Foster Yeoman
Foster YeomanFoster Yeoman
Foster Yeoman Limited, based in the United Kingdom, is one of Europe's largest quarrying and asphalt companies, owned by Swiss construction materials conglomerate Holcim.-Company history:...
first purchased its own fleet of 140 12-ton wagons in 1923, to take advantage of the fact that the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
line ran adjacent to Dulcote Quarry
Dulcote Quarry
Dulcote Quarry, was a limestone quarry at Dulcote, near Wells on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England. The quarry measures around from West to East and around from North to South, with an area of , which is surrounded by of woodland. The floor of the quarry is to above Ordnance Datum.The site...
. When the Torr Works
Torr Works
Torr Works quarry, is a limestone quarry at East Cranmore, near Shepton Mallet on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England. It is also known as Merehead Quarry....
opened in the 1960s, a rail terminal was constructed to support the new quarry and was opened in August 1970, served by a spur from the East Somerset branch line
Branch line
A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line...
which joins the main line at Witham
Witham Friary
Witham Friary is a small village and civil parish located between the Somerset towns of Frome and Bruton. It is in the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the ancient Forest of Selwood.- History :...
. Further expansion was soon needed with an additional chord being added between the terminal and the branch line in 1973.
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
shunting
Shunting
Shunting is an event in the neuron which occurs when an excitatory postsynaptic potential and an inhibitory postsynaptic potential are occurring close to each other on a dendrite, or are both on the soma of the cell....
and mainline locomotives were used initially, but in 1972 Foster Yeoman bought the first of several Class 08
British Rail Class 08
The British Rail Class 08 is a class of diesel-electric shunting locomotive. From 1953 to 1962, 996 locomotives were produced, making it the most numerous of all British locomotive classes....
shunting engines. The company also has a General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
EMD SW1001
EMD SW1001
The EMD SW1001 was a diesel locomotive for industrial switching service built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division between September 1968 and June 1986...
switching locomotive which was purchased in 1980.
As a result of poor reliability of the various locomotives used by British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
to haul stone trains from the West Country (with availability of the Class 56
British Rail Class 56
The British Rail Class 56 is a type of diesel locomotive designed for heavy freight work. It is a Type 5 locomotive, with a Ruston-Paxman power unit developing 3,250 bhp , and has a Co-Co wheel arrangement...
locomotives from May 1984 as low as 30%, and only 60% of trains running on time), Foster Yeoman began negotiations with British Rail to improve service. Having already supplied its own wagons (with a reliability level of 96%) Foster Yeoman suggested to British Rail that it could operate its own locomotives (which would be the first privately-owned engines to run on British rail tracks). British Rail's problem was the hard tie-in and control of the Rail Unions, but nevertheless BR accepted the principle.
Foster Yeoman issued a tender document which request 95% reliability. General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
' bid was ultimately successful, in particular because their proposed design, derived from the EMD SD40-2
EMD SD40-2
The EMD SD40-2 is a C-C locomotive produced by EMD from 1972 to 1989.The SD40-2 was first introduced in January 1972 as the mid-range offering in EMD's six-axle "Dash-2" series, competing against the GE U30C and the MLW M630...
, was equipped with the well-proven Super Series creep control, which allows superior traction at very low speeds. This, it was found, would enable a single locomotive to haul Foster Yeoman's 4,300 tonne stone trains, whilst two Class 56
British Rail Class 56
The British Rail Class 56 is a type of diesel locomotive designed for heavy freight work. It is a Type 5 locomotive, with a Ruston-Paxman power unit developing 3,250 bhp , and has a Co-Co wheel arrangement...
or Class 58
British Rail Class 58
The British Rail Class 58 is a class of Co-Co diesel locomotive designed for heavy freight. Introduced in 1983, they followed American practice of modularisation. From new they were painted in grey Railfreight Sector livery, instead of BR blue...
engines would be needed to move the same load. This fact also enabled Foster Yeoman to reduced its requirement from the original six locomotives to four.
La Grange, Illinois
La Grange, a suburb of Chicago, is a village in Cook County, in the U.S. state of Illinois. The population was 15,608 at the 2000 census.-History:...
, were shipped across the Atlantic in January 1986. The JT26CW-SS, newly-designated as British Rail Class 59
British Rail Class 59
The Class 59 Co-Co diesel locomotives were built and introduced between 1985 and 1995 by Electro-Motive Division of General Motors for private British companies, initially Foster Yeoman...
/0, had a cab layout taken from the Class 58
British Rail Class 58
The British Rail Class 58 is a class of Co-Co diesel locomotive designed for heavy freight. Introduced in 1983, they followed American practice of modularisation. From new they were painted in grey Railfreight Sector livery, instead of BR blue...
, to make driver assimilation easier, and to meet the British loading gauge
Loading gauge
A loading gauge defines the maximum height and width for railway vehicles and their loads to ensure safe passage through bridges, tunnels and other structures...
a considerable amount of redesign work and various compromises were required from the original GM prototype. Once in the United Kingdom, further tests were undertaken before Foster Yeoman's new locomotives entered service in February 1986. They were officially named in a ceremony at Merehead on 28 June 1986.
The Class 59s delivered 99% reliability, leading Foster Yeoman to order a fifth engine in 1988. In their first ten years of operation the five locomotives between them hauled over 50 million tonnes of aggregates away from Merehead.
The four former-Yeoman locomotives still operated by Mendip Rail are:
- 59001 Yeoman Endeavour
- 59002 Allan J Day (formerly Yeoman Enterprise)
- 59004 Paul A Hammond (formerly Yeoman Challenger)
- 59005 Kenneth J Painter
59003 Yeoman Highlander was exported to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in 1997, renumbered as 259 003, and operated by Yeoman/Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
(DB), pulling stone trains. It has since been sold on to Heavy Haul Power International where it is still working on coal trains and pulls the highest train weight of any locomotive presently in Germany.
On 26 May 1991 Kenneth J Painter (59005) (with assistance from Yeoman Endeavour) set the European haulage record, with a stone train weighing 11,982 tonnes and 5415 feet (1,650.5 m) long. However the so-called 'mega train' experiment was not very successful, as a coupling in the centre of the train broke.
Hanson ARC
The four Class 59/1 locomotives owned by Hanson AggregatesHanson plc
Hanson plc is a British based international building materials company, headquartered in Maidenhead. Traded on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index for many years, the company was acquired by a division of German rival Heidelberg Cement in August 2007.-History:Hanson...
(parent company of the former owner ARC) are similar to the Class 59/0 locomotives of Foster Yeoman and were built by General Motors Diesel Division at its London, Ontario
London, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...
plant in 1990. The main differences are a revised layout for the headlights and marker lights, and modifications to the suspension to permit the maximum speed to be increased to 75 mph (33.5 m/s) (if required in the future) with the fitting of yaw damper
Yaw damper
A yaw damper is a device used on many aircraft to damp the rolling and yawing oscillations due to Dutch roll mode. It involves yaw rate sensors and a processor that provides a signal to an actuator connected to the rudder...
s.
The four Hanson locomotives operated by Mendip Rail are:
- 59101 Village of Whatley
- 59102 Village of Chantry
- 59103 Village of MellsMells, SomersetMells is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, near the town of Frome.The parish includes the village of Vobster which had a coal mine of the same name on the Somerset coalfield and quarry, both of which are now disused. The old quarry is now used as a diving centre...
- 59104 Village of Great ElmGreat ElmGreat Elm is a village and civil parish between Mells and Frome in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Hapsford.-History:...
Merger and operations
To better manage their fleet availability and scale needs, Hanson ARCHanson plc
Hanson plc is a British based international building materials company, headquartered in Maidenhead. Traded on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index for many years, the company was acquired by a division of German rival Heidelberg Cement in August 2007.-History:Hanson...
and Foster Yeoman
Foster Yeoman
Foster Yeoman Limited, based in the United Kingdom, is one of Europe's largest quarrying and asphalt companies, owned by Swiss construction materials conglomerate Holcim.-Company history:...
founded Mendip Rail in 1993. The assets are still owned by the parent companies and the staff seconded to Mendip Rail.
The eight locomotives display four different liveries:
- old Foster Yeoman liveryLiveryA livery is a uniform, insignia or symbol adorning, in a non-military context, a person, an object or a vehicle that denotes a relationship between the wearer of the livery and an individual or corporate body. Often, elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or corporate body feature in...
(predominantly silver) - new Foster Yeoman livery (silver and blue, Yeoman logo)
- Hanson livery (silver and blue, Hanson logo)
- Mendip Rail livery (silver, green and orange, MRL logo)
Mendip Rail's class 59s
British Rail Class 59
The Class 59 Co-Co diesel locomotives were built and introduced between 1985 and 1995 by Electro-Motive Division of General Motors for private British companies, initially Foster Yeoman...
work services between various destinations which have changed over time according to demand and specific contracts. They have worked regularly over southern railway tracks, for example to the former Foster Yeoman terminals at Eastleigh
Eastleigh
Eastleigh is a railway town in Hampshire, England, and the main town in the Eastleigh borough which is part of Southampton Urban Area. The town lies between Southampton and Winchester, and is part of the South Hampshire conurbation...
and Botley
Botley railway station
Botley railway station is a railway station in Botley, Hampshire.-History:Botley station was opened in 1841 by the LSWR. Botley was once the junction for the Bishops Waltham branch which was opened in 1863 and finally closed to freight in 1962...
, as well as delivery aggregates for construction work on the Thames Barrier
Thames Barrier
The Thames Barrier is the world's second-largest movable flood barrier and is located downstream of central London. Its purpose is to prevent London from being flooded by exceptionally high tides and storm surges moving up from the sea...
, Second Severn Crossing
Second Severn Crossing
The Second Severn Crossing is a bridge which carries the M4 motorway over the River Severn between England and Wales, inaugurated on 5 June 1996 by HRH The Prince of Wales to augment the traffic capacity of the original Severn Bridge built in 1966...
, Channel Tunnel
Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the United Kingdom with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is deep...
and most recently Heathrow Terminal 5, which required 3 million tonnes of stone.
Mendip Rail hauls about 4.5 million tonnes of stone from Torr Works each year, and about 2.5 million tonnes from Whatley Quarry.
September 12, 2000
While working the 6A20Train reporting number
A train reporting number is used by railway staff in Great Britain to identify a particular train service. It consists of:* A single-digit number, indicating the class of train* A letter, indicating the destination area...
Whatley Quarry
Whatley Quarry
Whatley Quarry, is a limestone quarry owned by Hanson plc, near the village of Whatley on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England.The quarry exhibits pale to dark grey Carboniferous Limestone with small area of overlying horizontally bedded buff-coloured Jurassic oolitic limestone forming an angular...
to Acton
Acton, London
Acton is a district of west London, England, located in the London Borough of Ealing. It is situated west of Charing Cross.At the time of the 2001 census, Acton, comprising the wards of East Acton, Acton Central, South Acton and Southfield, had a population of 53,689 people...
(West London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
) stone train, 59103 Village of Mells
Mells, Somerset
Mells is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, near the town of Frome.The parish includes the village of Vobster which had a coal mine of the same name on the Somerset coalfield and quarry, both of which are now disused. The old quarry is now used as a diving centre...
and the first ten hopper wagons derailed
Derailment
A derailment is an accident on a railway or tramway in which a rail vehicle, or part or all of a train, leaves the tracks on which it is travelling, with consequent damage and in many cases injury and/or death....
at 23:20 on 12 September 2000 between Great Elm
Great Elm
Great Elm is a village and civil parish between Mells and Frome in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Hapsford.-History:...
Tunnel and Bedlam Tunnel on the single track branch line to the Hanson Quarry at Whatley. The locomotive and the first two hoppers rolled and 59103 came to rest on the parapet of a small bridge on the driver's side (left by direction of travel) with the trailing bogie
Bogie
A bogie is a wheeled wagon or trolley. In mechanics terms, a bogie is a chassis or framework carrying wheels, attached to a vehicle. It can be fixed in place, as on a cargo truck, mounted on a swivel, as on a railway carriage/car or locomotive, or sprung as in the suspension of a caterpillar...
partially torn off by the following hopper car. The locomotive was pulled upright on 19 September 2000 and removed to Whatley Quarry where an initial assessment of the damage was made and repairs made to make the locomotive safe for removal by road.
October 6, 2008
Shortly before 5.30pm on October 6, 2008 a mainline train which had earlier departed the Whatley QuarryWhatley Quarry
Whatley Quarry, is a limestone quarry owned by Hanson plc, near the village of Whatley on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England.The quarry exhibits pale to dark grey Carboniferous Limestone with small area of overlying horizontally bedded buff-coloured Jurassic oolitic limestone forming an angular...
depot, bound for Westbury
Westbury-sub-Mendip
Westbury-sub-Mendip is a village in Somerset, England, with a population of about 800, situated on the southern slopes of the Mendip Hills from Wells and Cheddar.The parish boundary is formed by the River Axe-History:...
, was hit from behind by a runaway train on the quarry branch line at Bedlam, near Great Elm
Great Elm
Great Elm is a village and civil parish between Mells and Frome in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Hapsford.-History:...
.
The runaway was a shunter with 16 loaded stone wagons attached, weighing a total of 1700 short tons (1,517.9 LT). It had been engaged in marshalling another train in the quarry siding
Rail siding
A siding, in rail terminology, is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line or branch line or spur. It may connect to through track or to other sidings at either end...
s when there was a brake
Brake
A brake is a mechanical device which inhibits motion. Its opposite component is a clutch. The rest of this article is dedicated to various types of vehicular brakes....
failure which affected the whole train. The shunter's crew had attempted to stop it by applying the locomotive's secondary brake but this was overcome by the momentum
Momentum
In classical mechanics, linear momentum or translational momentum is the product of the mass and velocity of an object...
of the moving wagons. The Driver's Safety Device (deadman's pedal
Dead man's switch
A dead man's switch is a switch that is automatically operated in case the human operator becomes incapacitated, such as through death or loss of consciousness....
) in the shunter was disabled by a feature that allowed the driver to leave his seat to observe the passage of the train in certain circumstances. Trap points, which might have prevented the runaway from leaving the sidings and joining the branch line, had not been reset after the departure of the mainline train.
Whilst it had been travelling at only 4 mph (1.8 m/s) at the time of the brake failure, the shunter and wagons ran away down a gradient and had reached a speed of 25.5 mph (11.4 m/s) by the time they collided with the mainline train (which was travelling at 10 mph (4.5 m/s) in the same direction), over 1 mi (1.6 km) down the line. The shunter's crew abandoned the locomotive before the impact and there were no serious injuries as a result of the accident.
The shunter, which by the time of the impact had already suffered damage due to passing through a tunnel which was too low for it, was derailed, as were the first five stone wagons; four of the wagons completely left the line and travelled down a steep embankment. The shunter suffered significant, but not irreparable, damage, but there was only minor damage to the mainline locomotive. A section of track was completely destroyed.
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch
Rail Accident Investigation Branch
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch is a government agency that became operational on 17 October 2005. Its primary role is the investigation of rail accidents in the United Kingdom and the Channel Tunnel in order to find a cause, not to lay blame. The agency has operational centres in The...
reviewed the accident but decided that it did not need to undertake a full investigation. However it did recommend that an additional brake be added to the shunter and similar locomotives, and that the use of self-restoring trap points be considered in the quarry sidings.