Abandoned wagons and rolling stock on the network

[Oxfordblues]

I don't believe the wagon owners take the issue of abandoned rolling-stock remotely seriously. They have no further use for the vehicles, but:
1. The wagons are now too woebegone to move by rail without extensive maintenance
2. The cost of removing them by rail exceeds the scrap value
3. There's usually no road access to collect them by road or break them up on site
4. They don't attract any siding-rent or demurrage charges`
5. Nobody is pressuring the owners to take action
6. No individual at DBC, Freightliner, Network Rail, etc is responsible for clearing abandoned equipment
7. Vegetation growth will eventually obscure the wagons and they can be quietly forgotten until unearthed by archaeologists in 100 years' time!

 

[AlterEgo]

There are 2 x GUV type vehicles, a drop sided wagon and an HAA wagon that have been at Bletchley for over a decade. They must have been there at least 20 years

The depot there still has a Mk1 rusting away in it which had been there since at least 1992. It is exactly here: https://goo.gl/maps/qoiSxLG5f3eQSCeW8

You can see it from the road. It used to be visible, very clearly in the 90s but literally has trees growing through it now! https://goo.gl/maps/PwJPZKd62Ajrwe3E7

 

[DarloRich]

The depot there still has a Mk1 rusting away in it which had been there since at least 1992. It is exactly here: https://goo.gl/maps/qoiSxLG5f3eQSCeW8

You can see it from the road. It used to be visible, very clearly in the 90s but literally has trees growing through it now! https://goo.gl/maps/PwJPZKd62Ajrwe3E7

I know - I go past them every day

The area has just been cleared so they may not be there for much longer.

 

[AlterEgo]

I know - I go past them every day

The area has just been cleared so they may not be there for much longer.

I think they have written off that little area tbh, it will be interesting to see if it goes!

 

[_toommm_]

There’s the abandoned Royal Mail PCVs at Hellifield. I know they were originally stored there so that WCRC could use the bogies, but I don’t think they’ve ever been used so they may aswell be abandoned.

 

[Malaxa]

There was an EWS MHA [?] dumped loaded with decades of vegetation growing out of it, outside Romford station. In recent years it migrated to the rear of the nearby Network Rail depot, still fully loaded.

 

[DustyBin]

They were there 25 years ago that I know of, I was told they were the leftovers of a derailment, true story or railway story I don't know, I'm pretty certain they were vacuum pipe only so probably well over the 25 years

I first spotted them in the late 90s and they looked to have been there for some time even then! The derailment story sounds plausible as IIRC the one that's now completely covered in vegetation is actually upside down....

Edited to add that they're both completely covered, but one of them you could no longer make out when I last looked.

 

[Green tractor]

There’s the abandoned Royal Mail PCVs at Hellifield. I know they were originally stored there so that WCRC could use the bogies, but I don’t think they’ve ever been used so they may aswell be abandoned.

Some did get taken to Carnforth a year or 2 ago, once they have used all the wheel sets etc from those I would presume another batch will follow.

 

[trebor79]

Can't remember where exactly, but somewhere around Burton I can recall when travelling around 1999-2004 there was half a dozen 100te tanker waggons in a heap at the bottom of an embankment (on the left hand side if travelling north). Obviously the remains of a significant derailment years before and too difficult to recover. I wonder if they're still there?

 

[diligentdave]

Don't forget all the TPO vehicles in Willesden yard.

 

[DBS92042]

Don't forget all the TPO vehicles in Willesden yard.

Its a HEA rather HAA, and I believe its now acting as the bufferstop and has a tree growing from it.
There's also the collection of wagons and RES Mk1s outside Willesden PRDC/Willesden Brent that have been there a good while now (20 years?)

They haven't been forgotten

 

[meepmeep]

Cut up on site when they turned the short cripple siding it squatted on at Primrose Hill into a full length electrified 11 car Pendolino siding before Covid.

I am told the 11 car pendolino berth was put in to replace a siding removed on the up side close to Euston.
Apparently the new siding has never been used.

It was there back in the late 80s when I started commuting. Think it was there when my father worked in London in the late 70s.

Don't forget all the TPO vehicles in Willesden yard.

I wonder if the post office owns those?

 

[3973EXL]

Don't forget all the TPO vehicles in Willesden yard.

I wonder if the post office owns those?

There are no actual "TPO" vehicles in the Brent.

The vehicles there are ex RES vans & PCVs.

 

[meepmeep]

There are no actual "TPO" vehicles in the Brent.

The vehicles there are ex RES vans & PCVs.

It brings up an interesting question. Who does own all these wagons? I bet no one knows now

 

[3973EXL]

It brings up an interesting question. Who does own all these wagons? I bet no one knows now

RES was part of EWS which is now DB Cargo

 

[meepmeep]

RES was part of EWS which is now DB Cargo

Sorry, I was wondering more about all the other wagons that are not easy to pin back to RES

 

[JKF]

I remember many years ago seeing an abandoned SR parcels van at Park Royal sidings, near North Acton tube station.
According to Vintage Carriages Trust it's been scrapped http://www.cs.rhrp.org.uk/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=5154

That’s a shame, a lot of those have been used as donor vehicles to provide the frames and wheels for recovered vintage coach bodies, that one would have been ideal given the top half was already gone! I guess condition and cost of removal would have been prohibitive.

 

[DBS92042]

Sorry, I was wondering more about all the other wagons that are not easy to pin back to RES

I presume also DB as they're ex RfD and/or EWS (depending on their age)

 

[DarloRich]

I think they have written off that little area tbh, it will be interesting to see if it goes!

Noted this evening that the trees growing through the drop sided wagon have been cut down! I think they might be gone soon

 

[gc4946]

was last month when i passed

There used to be an abandoned brake van at Ancaster (on the Skegness line, east of Grantham) back in the mid 2000s not sure if it's still there now?

Vintage Carriages Trust identifies the brake van as B952442 built 1954 http://www.ws.rhrp.org.uk/ws/WagonInfo.asp?Ref=15398

​

There was an old wagon on the bay platform at Maidstone for years, I don't know if it is still there.

Not having visited Maidstone, is this the wagon you're talking about?
(source: Vintage Carriages Trust) http://www.ws.rhrp.org.uk/ws/WagonInfo.asp?Ref=15349

 

[Paul Jones 88]

Vintage Carriages Trust identifies the brake van as B952442 built 1954 http://www.ws.rhrp.org.uk/ws/WagonInfo.asp?Ref=15398

​

Not having visited Maidstone, is this the wagon you're talking about?
(source: Vintage Carriages Trust) http://www.ws.rhrp.org.uk/ws/WagonInfo.asp?Ref=15349

Yes, indeed, I first saw it in 1997 and it was still there in 2009, last time I was in Maidstone.

 

[Railcar]

Not as long as some other examples but somewhere on the Brighton Main Line (possibly directly north of Balcombe Tunnel?) there’s a ballast wagon which has been dumped in a siding ever since I started travelling that way for work in mid 2016.

Directly north of the Haywards Heath tunnel is that ballast wagon. It has been there for several years and contains (yes, you've guessed it) ballast (seen last Thursday April 14th 2022)

 

[Signal_Box]

There used to be what I believe was a Motorail wagon on the left as you came out of Euston, just before you enter Primrose Hill Tunnel.

It was there all the years I commuted into London. It even survived Railtrack's remodel of the Euston throat. Maybe HS2 works has finally gotten rid? Not sure as I am a long way North now

At the North end of Camden CS yes.

 

[headshot119]

There's a Freighliner liveried HHA or similar which ran away lying at the side of either the Cwmgwrach branch, or the Onllwyn branch (I think it's the former)

 

[306024]

The Shenfield Shark is going to be hard to beat here........ I think that a few years ago there was an attempt to move it that ended in defeat.

There was. A wheelskate was even fitted but removed a few weeks later.

I wonder if there's still a bloke out there somewhere who shunted it in there?

Sadly the controller responsible for it being at Shenfield passed away last year. It used to cause him wry amusement to see it still there. Here is his story:
Engineering work on the Southend line had overrun the previous two Sundays, causing mayhem to the Monday morning peak service. It was clear there was to be no repetition. All was going to time until the ballast train with this Shark started to move. It had a seized axle. Rules were hastily amended, and the Shark skidded to Shenfield to clear the line. A quick track inspection and the morning peak was saved, along with possibly a few jobs.

 

[317666]

There was a line of cement wagons dumped at Cambridge for many years, presumably they were removed as part of the construction of Platforms 7 and 8.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

Vintage Carriages' Trust Railway Heritage Register Wagon Survey Project identifies this wagon as ex-Southern Railway 25T brake van S55945 http://www.ws.rhrp.org.uk/ws/WagonInfo.asp?Ref=16184
I searched the database under "Present location" and brought up this result

My word, that's a blast from the (my) past ! Made a note of 55945, amongst many other brake's, at Woking back in 1975 ! For those who don't know, the Up yard was by then the domain of the Engineers, so was always full of ballast trains and their various wagons, which included many former traffic brake vans that had been converted for ballast work. Always found them interesting...

 

[Towers]

Sadly the controller responsible for it being at Shenfield passed away last year. It used to cause him wry amusement to see it still there. Here is his story:
Engineering work on the Southend line had overrun the previous two Sundays, causing mayhem to the Monday morning peak service. It was clear there was to be no repetition. All was going to time until the ballast train with this Shark started to move. It had a seized axle. Rules were hastily amended, and the Shark skidded to Shenfield to clear the line. A quick track inspection and the morning peak was saved, along with possibly a few jobs.

Brilliant story! Thank you for sharing it

 

[4SubAsociation]

There are 2 x GUV type vehicles, a drop sided wagon and an HAA wagon that have been at Bletchley for over a decade. They must have been there at least 20 years

Those where very recently put up for disposal on Network Rail email group for disposals. On anoter forum there was interest apperetly.

Another location that had quite a few abandoned wagons which was disposed of in 2018 was Ripple ane. Had a few SR Full brakes there + other bits. Also in the Peterbrough North area there was a RRA wagon x3 Ferry wagons and a Vanwide. Two wagons are still there. The rest where recovered by Andrew Briddon

 

[uww11x]

I don't believe the wagon owners take the issue of abandoned rolling-stock remotely seriously. They have no further use for the vehicles, but:
1. The wagons are now too woebegone to move by rail without extensive maintenance
2. The cost of removing them by rail exceeds the scrap value
3. There's usually no road access to collect them by road or break them up on site
4. They don't attract any siding-rent or demurrage charges`
5. Nobody is pressuring the owners to take action
6. No individual at DBC, Freightliner, Network Rail, etc is responsible for clearing abandoned equipment
7. Vegetation growth will eventually obscure the wagons and they can be quietly forgotten until unearthed by archaeologists in 100 years' time!

Re point 6. This depends where the wagons are stored. If stored on Network Rail infrastructure, Network Rail can ask for them to be moved at any time.