BSRO 1000-1007, PXO Bogie Bolster, Built 1940-1945, converted 1964-1969
The PXO wagons numbered BSRO (British Steel Rotherham) 1000 to 1007 are shown with original build dates of 1940-45 in
Modern Private Owner Wagons (where the quotes are taken from).
British Steel have owned two dozen [former railway owned bogie bolster wagons], which were acquired between 1964 and 1969 and used to move steel billets between their various plants in the Rotherham area until withdrawal in the late 1970s. BSRO 1000 - 1007 were rebuilt from War Department Warflat wagons, being 40ft long with diamond-frame bogies centred at 30ft and a carrying capacity of 51t.
I wasn't expecting to find any photos of Warflats at Rotherham, but searching for "steel Warflat" on flickr brought up some images of internal user wagons taken as recently as 2020! There are several photos of them within this photostream:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kimctomcat/49467936172/in/photostream/ (Photos: Mick Cottam)
Numbers visible are WGF 8024, WGF 8031, WGF 8035, WGF 8042, WGF 8049, WGF 8063, WGF 8067, WGF 8072, WGF 8078
This WGF 8xxx number series derives from internal use at MoD sites. For example, here is WGF 8118 at Quainton in 2012:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/15038/7901874328/ (Photo: 15038)
The Buckinghamshire Railway website explains that "WGF 8118 was received from the nearby Central Ordnance Depot's Military Railway at Bicester in 2002." Other preserved warflats carry similar numbers, such as WGF 8041 at Barrow Hill:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dan700/33739479570/ (Photo: Dan Adkins)
The wagons photographed at Aldwarke might not be the original BSRO 1000 - 1007 wagons, and could have been purchased much later from internal use at MoD sites, but either way it's interesting to see them there! One of the wagons has a maintenance date of 2014 on it, suggesting when they were last in regular use on the internal steelworks railway.
Paul Bartlett's site has more photos of Warflats at Aldwarke that come up under a search for "Warflat Aldwarke"
https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/?q=aldwarke warflat
This page has some more info on the history of these Warflat wagons and explains the WGF code means "Wagon General Flat" in Army internal use:
http://www.railalbum.co.uk/railway-wagons/military/ww2-50-ton-warflat-1.htm
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BSRO 2000-2015, PXO Bogie Bolster, Built 1949-1950, converted 1964-1969
The other 16 wagons were all former Bogie Bolster Ds, dimensionally identical at 52 ft long, with bogies centred at 40 ft and a carrying capacity of 42.5 t. BSRO 2008 - 2015, built at BRELs Derby and Wolverton works to diagram 1/470, had LMS diamond-frame bogies and five fixed bolsters, while BSRO 2000 - 2007, built at the Teesside Bridge Engineering Works, Darlington, to diagram 1/472, had LNER-type diamond-frame bogies and adjustable end bolsters. Livery of this entire fleet was black with white lettering.
Diagram 1/470 Bogie Bolster D's are illustrated here in BR traffic:
https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/bdobrlmsdiamond
With the diagram 1/472 Bogie Bolster D's pictured here:
https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brbogiebolsterdunfitplate
Paul Bartlett's site has photos of various internal user Bogie Bolster D's at Aldwarke:
https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/?q=aldwarke bolster d
Most of them seem to be pre-nationalisation designs, with one BR version pictured in 1994:
https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/paulbartlettsrailwaywagonphotographs/h6fc6f01b#h6fc6f01b
That one appears to be from the numerous diagram 1/472, with the low sides and ends removed and replacement bolsters fitted. Again, it would be hard to positively identify it as a wagon from the BSRO 2000 - 2015 series, but it gives an idea of what they looked like.
A huge variety of internal users are seen at United Engineering Steels (as it then was) at Aldwarke and Roundwood in 1994:
https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/uesrotherham
The vintage of many of them is illustrated by the builders plate for wagon 504, a former Bogie Bolster C built in 1959 as B 923093:
https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/uesrotherham/h526b1081#h526b1081
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I've been delving into the history of British Steel Rotherham, which was formed of two former steelworks, the Parkgate works (which had expanded to a new site at Aldwarke) and the "Steel, Peech and Tozer" site at Templeborough / Ickles.
When British Steel was formed in 1967, the Parkgate works had blast furnaces and mills operational. The traditional open-hearth furnaces had been closed, replaced by a "Kaldo converter" at Aldwarke, where an electric arc furnace had also been built. Roundwood, and later Thrybergh, mills also formed part of the complex. This film from the mid 60s (when Aldwarke was opened) is very interesting:
https://www.yfanefa.com/record/954
(It's also on YouTube as "Parkgate Iron & Steel Company, Rotherham"). At that time an electric arc furnace was opened at Aldwarke, but also a
Kaldo converter which made steel from molten iron brought across from Parkgate to Aldwarke on the internal railway in ladles (seen at 8:19 in the video), to which scrap was added. The bridge across the railway at Aldwarke gave access from Thrybergh and Aldwarke (on the east side) to Parkgate and Roundwood on the west side. The Roundwood site is still there, but Parkgate is now the location of the "Great Eastern Retail Park." Later in the film (at 14:56) a lorry can be seen passing under the railway on Aldwarke lane, transferring ingots from Aldwarke to Parkgate for rolling.
A quick history of the sites involved:
1823 Parkgate Ironworks established
1953 Roundwood "11 inch continuous bar mill" opens
1964 Aldwarke "New Site" opens (with electric arc furnace and Kaldo oxygen steelmaking)
1976 Thrybergh Bar Mill opens
1985 Original Parkgate site closed
2004 (approx) Roundwood 11 inch mill closed
Historical summary:
https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Park_Gate_Iron_and_Steel_Co
This drone footage gives a good overview of the area, initially looking east across the railway towards Aldwarke and Thrybergh Bar Mill (which is further away at top left). The open area is for incoming scrap / slag processing. At 1:45 the internal railway bridge across the main line can be seen, with Aldwarke exchange sidings beyond. Crossing the bridge from Aldwarke and turning left would have led to Parkgate (near the current retail park in the distance beyond the trees). The camera pans around to the Roundwood site at 2:00. Although the 11 inch mill is closed (now the "Oil and Gas service centre"), Roundwood is still part of the Steelworks, as "Bright Bar Rotherham."
Rotherham steelworks | Channel: Connor
Pictures taken within the last few years of steelmaking inside the Aldwarke and Thrybergh sites:
https://www.viktormacha.com/galerie/liberty-speciality-steels-rotherham-376/
Plenty of interesting shots of the Aldwarke internal rail system by "Yorkshire Steelworker":
https://www.flickr.com/photos/40928931@N05/
With movements between Parkgate / Aldwarke / Roundwood / Thrybergh taking place on the internal rail system, one possible use for the BR-registered bogie bolsters would have been movements between the two separate parts of British Steel Rotherham. The acquisition dates for the bogie bolsters (1964-1969) coincide with the opening of the new arc furnaces and other changes at both sites, and the formation of British Steel.
Moving away from Parkgate / Aldwarke along the GC line towards Sheffield, the other part of British Steel Rotherham was the "Steel, Peech and Tozer" works at Templeborough / Ickles. This was previously the site of 14
open hearth furnaces that produced steel from
pig iron (from Scunthorpe) and scrap. These furnaces can be seen in a 1959 promotional film "Steel Rhythm" on YouTube. In the 1960s, at the same time as a new electric arc furnace (EAF) was being opened at Aldwarke, the open hearth furnaces at Templeborough were replaced with no less than six EAFs, as seen in another video on YouTube: "Project Spear - Templeborough Melting Shop."
Historical summary:
https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Steel,_Peech_and_Tozer
In this 1970 view, the Ickles works is on the left, with the long black sheds of Templeborough works in the distance on the left side of the railway. The location is between Rotherham Central and Tinsley East Jn:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/blue-diesels/35615866730/ (Photo: John Senior / Models of Hull Collection)
Comparing it with this 1969 OS map, the photo is taken roughly from the 418 marker at the top right of the map (from the window of a train on the Midland line near Masborough as it crossed over the top of the GC line).
https://maps.nls.uk/view/188918583
A couple of photos of the sidings at Templeborough works in 1982, taken near the control tower marked on the OS map above where it says ROMAN FORTS (site of). Photos by Roy Burt / Gordon Edgar Collection:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/12a_kingmoor_klickr/50206141283/ (are those former warflats over on the left?)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/12a_kingmoor_klickr/50206529586/
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BSRO 95650 Built: 1969, Distington Engineering, PXO Bogie Hot Ingot Wagon
The hot ingot wagons are a bit of a mystery, and I can't find any photos of them.
From Modern "Private Owner Wagons" again:
...built by Distington Engineering was the single 107 t glw hot ingot transfer wagon, owned by British Steel, Rotherham. The wagon had a 23 ft 6 in long flat floor, supported by very deep, heavily reinforced frames, on which could be loaded a 66 t steel ingot, and a specially-shaped, removable cover, which measured some 11ft 9 in above rail height. The wagon was fitted with two four-wheel primary coil suspension bogies centred at 15 ft 6 in, but had only a hand-brake, its operation being restricted to a maximum speed of 20mph.
Distington Engineering also built hot metal "torpedo" wagons, as seen in this
RMWeb thread which also shows an advert for the kind of "ladle car" used to move hot metal between Parkgate and Aldwarke.
It's worth noting that a 66 ton ingot is huge compared to the typical sizes produced at Aldwarke, which are advertised as available in sizes from 5 to 13 tons. It's possible that the hot ingot wagon was reserved for special movements (e.g. Aldwarke to Parkgate) of over-sized ingots, which may have been too heavy for the bridge over the main line on the internal railway or road movement.
I did find a few photos of the ingot bay at Aldwarke, but these wagons look like they are used purely for short distance internal moves of regular-size ingots (Photos by Roy Burt / Gordan Edgar collection):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/12a_kingmoor_klickr/50213920472/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/12a_kingmoor_klickr/50213894487/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/12a_kingmoor_klickr/50207542042/
Ingot casting has been retained at Aldwarke alongside a modern continuous bloom caster. Ingot casting is convenient for smaller batches of specialist steels (for example ingots can be remelted to produce high purity steel for aerospace use).
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BSSC 95651-95652 Built: 1971, International Combustion, PXO Bogie Hot Ingot Wagon
Two further hot ingot wagons, both owned by British Steel, Scunthorpe, were built in 1971 by International Combustion Limited. At some 40 ft long and 13 ft 6 in high, they were much larger than the earlier vehicle, and could carry 73t, the centre of the floor being enclosed by a heavily insulated box-like structure resulting in a glw of 127 t. Two four-wheel BSC 'Axle-Motion' bogies were fitted, centred at 30ft, but there was no continuous brake as the wagons were restricted to a maximum speed of 10 mph, when loaded, and 30 mph when empty.
All three hot ingot wagons were very restricted in their operations, being confined to inter-works transfer movements within their respective areas, which on occasion were required to traverse British Rail metals.
It's not clear what the need would be for movement of very large hot ingots over British Rail metals at Scunthorpe, but the layout of the internal railway in the 1970s would have been more complicated than the current one, with more mills and more entrance/exit points from BR into the works. The 127 ton glw suggests the two Scunthorpe wagons (like 95650) were designed for special movements of very large ingots, much larger than the typical ingot sizes used in the works.
There are some photos of other regular ingot wagons in use at Scunthorpe:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/155601626@N07/51795582887/ (Photo: Idle Drifter)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/69947186@N08/6382296321/ (Photo: DeanM66A)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/40972435@N08/22397403864/ (Photo: VRLH)
At Scunthorpe, ingot casting was eventually phased out in favour of continuous casting, but some of the wagons were retained for moving billets:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/antonywj/34515209523/ (Photo: Tony Jenks)
The closest I can find to the covered ingot wagons are in the USA, as seen in this blogpost about ingot trains:
https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2018/06/ingot-train.html
This 200 ton ingot transfer car in the USA (click on small picture to enlarge) is an absolute monster with four bogies:
"Steel Mill Ingot Transfer Car, used to transfer large ingots between cast houses and forges over mainline right-of-way."
https://steelmillmodelerssupply.com/product/ingot-transfer-car/
www.flickr.com
