Ecclesfield Oil Terminal

[Iskra]

Does anyone have any information on this former rail facility in North Sheffield please?

Firstly, why was there an oil terminal here in the first place? Currently, they tend to be by the sea and it's not a particularly strategic location being on the Hallam Line.
What was the facilities main purpose?
Is there any information on the track layout? Or rail operations that took place within the Terminal- was there a shunter for example?
Where did trains come and go from, and how frequently? What loco classes were used and what rolling stock?
Is anyone aware of any traces of this facility left today- I went past it today and thought I could see an old retaining wall, but that was all I could see.

The only information about this facility that I can find comes from the few photo's of it (or near it on the web).

37040 and 37048 power through Ecclesfield

In April 1985, Class 37s nos. 37040 and 37048 power past Ecclesfield West signalbox and head towards Sheffield with a loaded MGR working from Dodworth colliery. This was a relatively short-lived diagram that came into operation following the closure of the Barnsley to Wath line via Stairfoot and...

www.flickr.com

15/04/1983 - Ecclesfield West, South Yorkshire.

Best viewed Original size. 37264 (ED) at Ecclesfield West arriving light from the down direction as 0S69 11:30 WFO from Tinsley Depot to Ecclesfield West prior to working 6S69 12:37 WFO empty oil tanks to Grangemouth Oil Refinery - 15/04/1983 (11:58). © 2018 - 53A Models of Hull Collection...

www.flickr.com

17/01/1983 - Ecclesfield East, Chapeltown, South Yorkshire.

Best viewed Original size. Tinsley allocated Type 3 37077 at Ecclesfield East working a down loaded coke train from Smithywood coking plant - 17/01/1983 (12:20). © 2018 - 53A Models of Hull Collection. Scanned from the original 35mm colour transparency; photograph by Garry Cartwright. - - -...

www.flickr.com

Thanks for any information or assistance on this one.

Just as an aside, I believe the B17 Steam Locomotive new build project may be located on this same site (or very near to it) now.

 

[Rail Ranger]

Oil trains ran to Ecclesfield from Stanlow (near Ellesmere Port) for many years. They were routed over Woodhead. Torksey near Lincoln was also served from Stanlow.

 

[Gloster]

I think it was a distribution depot that received refined fuel, which was then taken out to the various customers. It appears to have been served from Total/Fina’s Lindsey refinery, or possibly Conoco’s Humber at times as rival companies often cooperated, but to have ceased being served in the 1980s.

 

[Rail Ranger]

I strongly suspect that Ecclesfield oil terminal was a victim of 38-tonne lorries being allowed on the roads in the early 1980s.

Flickr photo of a class 40 approaching Ecclesfield on a train from Stanlow: https://www.flickr.com/photos/128738365@N03/22247227119

 

[Iskra]

I strongly suspect that Ecclesfield oil terminal was a victim of 38-tonne lorries being allowed on the roads in the early 1980s.

Flickr photo of a class 40 approaching Ecclesfield on a train from Stanlow: https://www.flickr.com/photos/128738365@N03/22247227119

Great photo thank you!

And thanks to @Gloster & @Rail Ranger for the info too

 

[Rail Ranger]

A picture of the Stanlow-Torksey tanks at Wharncliffe Wood on the Woodhead line in 1976: https://www.flickr.com/photos/auchlander/5124314312/

 

[The Crab]

Does anyone have any information on this former rail facility in North Sheffield please?

Firstly, why was there an oil terminal here in the first place? Currently, they tend to be by the sea and it's not a particularly strategic location being on the Hallam Line.
What was the facilities main purpose?
Is there any information on the track layout? Or rail operations that took place within the Terminal- was there a shunter for example?
Where did trains come and go from, and how frequently? What loco classes were used and what rolling stock?
Is anyone aware of any traces of this facility left today- I went past it today and thought I could see an old retaining wall, but that was all I could see.

The only information about this facility that I can find comes from the few photo's of it (or near it on the web).

37040 and 37048 power through Ecclesfield

In April 1985, Class 37s nos. 37040 and 37048 power past Ecclesfield West signalbox and head towards Sheffield with a loaded MGR working from Dodworth colliery. This was a relatively short-lived diagram that came into operation following the closure of the Barnsley to Wath line via Stairfoot and...

www.flickr.com

15/04/1983 - Ecclesfield West, South Yorkshire.

Best viewed Original size. 37264 (ED) at Ecclesfield West arriving light from the down direction as 0S69 11:30 WFO from Tinsley Depot to Ecclesfield West prior to working 6S69 12:37 WFO empty oil tanks to Grangemouth Oil Refinery - 15/04/1983 (11:58). © 2018 - 53A Models of Hull Collection...

www.flickr.com

17/01/1983 - Ecclesfield East, Chapeltown, South Yorkshire.

Best viewed Original size. Tinsley allocated Type 3 37077 at Ecclesfield East working a down loaded coke train from Smithywood coking plant - 17/01/1983 (12:20). © 2018 - 53A Models of Hull Collection. Scanned from the original 35mm colour transparency; photograph by Garry Cartwright. - - -...

www.flickr.com

Thanks for any information or assistance on this one.

Just as an aside, I believe the B17 Steam Locomotive new build project may be located on this same site (or very near to it) now.

I remember seeing "Ecclesfield" being allocated a 9F on the roster board at Birkenhead shed in 1967. It may well be that the 9F picked up an oil train at Stanlow.

 

[Magdalia]

When private car ownership grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s the distribution network (what would now be called the supply chain) for petrol was very different from now. Petrol was sold from a multitude of garage forecourts, mostly small businesses, not supermarkets. There was no motorway network to speak of and lorries were not so big.

Petrol was distributed from refineries, which were on the coast because oil was imported, to local oil depots by rail. From local oil depots to garage forecourts was with small non-articulated road tankers.

I strongly suspect that Ecclesfield oil terminal was a victim of 38-tonne lorries being allowed on the roads in the early 1980s.

This, combined with the expansion of the motorway network and the shift of petrol sales to supermarkets, drove the switch to going directly from refinery to retail outlet by road.

 

[mailbyrail]

I worked as a relief shift manager at BP Ecclesfield numerous times in the early 80s.
Rail was the only means of supply to bring in refined fuel which was then discharged into the storage tanks before being loaded into road tankers for delivery to the customer. The main fuels were 2 star and 4 star petrol, derv, gas oil, kerosene.
Trains would come in loaded, mostly from Stanlow refinery but intercompany arrangements and demand did lead to variations. Operations seemed so familiar at the time but become blurred looking back as nothing seemed very exceptional at the time. The loaded train would be split into, I think, two, depending upon the fuels on board and the length and then shunted into the depot for unloading into storage tanks which were a short distance away across a public road away from the sidings. BR provided an on-site shunter (person) but the train loco did the marshalling.
Stanlow was owned by Shell and Ecclesfield by BP Oil. Until the 1970s there had been a joint marketing arrangement by the two companies which was split 60:40 between Shell & BP. BP ended up with the refineries at Grangemouth, Llandarcy and Grain and Stanlow provided much of the BP fuel in Northern England. This led to the strange situation where some BP delivery depots were 'dry' as the fuel was stored in a Shell depot and loaded through a Shell gantry into a BP road tanker for delivery. Others were 'wet' like Ecclesfield and received their fuel from a Shell refinery but BP operated the depot.

 

[Iskra]

When private car ownership grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s the distribution network (what would now be called the supply chain) for petrol was very different from now. Petrol was sold from a multitude of garage forecourts, mostly small businesses, not supermarkets. There was no motorway network to speak of and lorries were not so big.

Petrol was distributed from refineries, which were on the coast because oil was imported, to local oil depots by rail. From local oil depots to garage forecourts was with small non-articulated road tankers.


This, combined with the expansion of the motorway network and the shift of petrol sales to supermarkets, drove the switch to going directly from refinery to retail outlet by road.

I worked as a relief shift manager at BP Ecclesfield numerous times in the early 80s.
Rail was the only means of supply to bring in refined fuel which was then discharged into the storage tanks before being loaded into road tankers for delivery to the customer. The main fuels were 2 star and 4 star petrol, derv, gas oil, kerosene.
Trains would come in loaded, mostly from Stanlow refinery but intercompany arrangements and demand did lead to variations. Operations seemed so familiar at the time but become blurred looking back as nothing seemed very exceptional at the time. The loaded train would be split into, I think, two, depending upon the fuels on board and the length and then shunted into the depot for unloading into storage tanks which were a short distance away across a public road away from the sidings. BR provided an on-site shunter (person) but the train loco did the marshalling.
Stanlow was owned by Shell and Ecclesfield by BP Oil. Until the 1970s there had been a joint marketing arrangement by the two companies which was split 60:40 between Shell & BP. BP ended up with the refineries at Grangemouth, Llandarcy and Grain and Stanlow provided much of the BP fuel in Northern England. This led to the strange situation where some BP delivery depots were 'dry' as the fuel was stored in a Shell depot and loaded through a Shell gantry into a BP road tanker for delivery. Others were 'wet' like Ecclesfield and received their fuel from a Shell refinery but BP operated the depot.

Thank you both for the insight!

 

[mailbyrail]

One of the other big changes was that up until the 1950s a lot of petroleum products were carried in oil company owned tanks on wagon-load services and tripped into small rail served oil depots. There were numerous of these around the country. In some cases wagon-load fuel was unloaded directly from the tank wagon into road tankers in the railway goods yard for delivery to the oil company's customer. In other cases, the fuel was transfered into small storage tanks. Once you know what you are looking at, you can still see some of these depots up and down the country transformed into other uses.

In the 1960s, BR was able to offer the advantages of block trains which required the oil companies to invest in larger, more automated depots. These depots had large tank farms which held several days' stock. Most of the small depots closed but a small number were upgraded by the oil companies and handed over to their distributors who were tied to a single oil company but traded under their own name. These companies usually supplied heating oil - gas oil and kerosene/paraffin - but in some cases diesel oil (red 'tractor derv') for agriculture. Some of the larger distributors continued to be rail served whilst others were supplied by road from their main oil company depot.

One complicated arrangement involving all aspects applied in Uttoxeter where I worked for a few years.
There had been a small Shell-BP operation out of the railway goods yard but with the construction of a pipeline from Stanlow to Kingsbury a large pipeline-fed depot was was built for petrol and diesel fuel The depot was linked to the Uttoxeter-Leek railway line which brought in fuel oil, not petrol or derv. The branch closed but the link to the oil depot remained, more often than not used to store oil tanks in latter years.
The former small oil depot remained open but was handed over to Kennings who delivered small loads in the local area to houses and farms. This was separate from the main Shell-UK oil terminal but Kenning vehicles loaded at the main gantries - although they continued to load paraffin/kero directly from rail tankers in Uttoxeter goods yard, right up until the final closure of the goods depot in the late 1980s.
Shell became the terminal operator when the split occurred and BP operated an adjacent 'dry' depot, picking up fuel from the Shell gantries.
BP withdrew from Uttoxeter around 1990 and concentrated deliveries on Kingsbury. Eventually Shell closed their depot as well and the site is now housing.