The last coal train?

[Jacob Didcote]

Is the Onllwyn washery even operational? The Global Centre for Rail Excellence bought the site back in 2022 so I doubt if the washery is still in use. I assume the coal from Aberpergwm must be washed somewhere but its own washery was dismantled when British Coal closed the mine so quite where that's happening is a bit of a mystery.

Maybe they're exporting the coal unwashed.

Nope! I believe the last train from Onllwyn was 14/06/22. Nant Helen, where the coal came from, was shut in 2021 so the stockpiled was obviously being removed between 2021 and the final train.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Ratcliffe on full song today which requires 750-1000 Tonnes/hour so will running a few more coal trains before planned closure in September.

 

[Killingworth]

Not sure where the Hope Valley cement works gets coal from now, think it used to be Cwmbargoed until very recently. It should be using coal until planned closure about 2042.

 

[Freightmaster]

Not sure where the Hope Valley cement works gets coal from now, think it used to be Cwmbargoed until very recently.

Immingham.



MARK

 

[Killingworth]

Immingham.



MARK

And I bet it comes by rail so plenty more coal trains to come. As there surely will be in other parts of the country?

 

[littledude]

And I bet it comes by rail so plenty more coal trains to come. As there surely will be in other parts of the country?

Where else in the country? When Scunthorpe transfers over to EAF operation the coal and coke from Immingham will finish. The only coal by rail will be Immingham to Earles.

 

[norbitonflyer]

And I bet it comes by rail so plenty more coal trains to come. As there surely will be in other parts of the country?

The OP was writing about domestically produced coal. There will indeed be trains of imported coal for some time to come

 

[Chester1]

The OP was writing about domestically produced coal. There will indeed be trains of imported coal for some time to come

Post 67 highlights that there are other uses of coal apart from to generate electricity or in blast furnaces. Quite a lot of people think North Sea oil and gas will go because of net zero because oil and gas are not used in chemical processes....

 

[Dan G]

Ratcliffe on full song today which requires 750-1000 Tonnes/hour so will running a few more coal trains before planned closure in September.

Anyone know if Ratcliffe-on-Soar is still receiving new coal? When did the most recent coal train go there?

 

[VauxhallandI]

I’m concerned about what the future holds for Ivor

 

[Bezza49]

Apparently using coal mined locally is bad for the environment, but letting another country do it and then importing it into the UK is fine.
Also, jobs don't matter if they are mining coal. Unless its the early 80's, then it really matters.

 

[mac]

Apparently using coal mined locally is bad for the environment, but letting another country do it and then importing it into the UK is fine.
Also, jobs don't matter if they are mining coal. Unless its the early 80's, then it really matters.

Stupid system we seem to have

 

[littledude]

Anyone know if Ratcliffe-on-Soar is still receiving new coal? When did the most recent coal train go there?

The last coal train into Ratcliffe was the 16th January, arriving from Immingham as 6M81

 

[8stewartt]

It’s not over until the fat Tory sings…..

 

[TPO]

Stupid system we seem to have

Totally.

I am thankful that the Westminster govt stood behind the Aberpwergwyn mine when the greennie muppets recently tried to have their licence removed.

Not only would closure of that mine remove 160 jobs, it would also make not a jot of difference to energy consumption. The anthracite from that mine is the cleanest (low sulphur, low impurities) of any in Europe which is why it's mainly crushed into fine powder and used for filtration systems..... I struggle to understand the mentality of those who tried to claim that shutting it would "save" so much carbon dioxide when most of it will never be burnt anyway!

TPO

 

[HSTEd]

Not only would closure of that mine remove 160 jobs, it would also make not a jot of difference to energy consumption. The anthracite from that mine is the cleanest (low sulphur, low impurities) of any in Europe which is why it's mainly crushed into fine powder and used for filtration systems..... I struggle to understand the mentality of those who tried to claim that shutting it would "save" so much carbon dioxide when most of it will never be burnt anyway!

Almost all of that anthracite will eventually end up in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.

Even if it avoids being burned it will eventually be disposed of, and in an environment with any significant quantity of oxygen in it it will eventually oxidise away to nothing.

If it continues indefinitely even comparatively small (by modern standards) production will eventually exhaust a carbon budget for very large amounts ofw arming.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

The last coal train into Ratcliffe was the 16th January, arriving from Immingham as 6M81

One unit been on full load tonight but that only needs 200T/hr. Suspect they will offer to generate until the current stocks run out and unless govt gives them a stay of execution thats the last coal train.

 

[crosscity]

The last coal train into Ratcliffe was the 16th January, arriving from Immingham as 6M81

6M61 (arr Ratcliffe at 11:12) also ran from Immingham on 1st Jan, and Doncaster Decoy on 22nd Jan and 5th Feb.
I assume there's been a sufficient stockpile at Ratcliffe to keep the power station going since then.

 

[Bald Rick]

One unit been on full load tonight but that only needs 200T/hr. Suspect they will offer to generate until the current stocks run out and unless govt gives them a stay of execution thats the last coal train.

And it didn‘t need to be on, as there is plenty of cheaper power going spare at present, not least around 20GW of Gas generation that’s been sat doing nothing for almost a week. One suspect they are burning simply to get rid of their stockpile, as that is going to be cheaper than transporting it away in 5 months time.

This week has been remarkable for power geenration, it has seen the highest ever combined wind and solar output, the lowest ever fossil fuel output, the lowest ever Gas output, and consequently the lowest ever CO2 emmissions (down at 9g/kwh for a time yesterday, which is only 2% of the average emissions of the grid a year ago). And power prices were negative for most of the weekend. I imagine anyone on Octopus agile with an EV has been very happy.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

And it didn‘t need to be on, as there is plenty of cheaper power going spare at present, not least around 20GW of Gas generation that’s been sat doing nothing for almost a week. One suspect they are burning simply to get rid of their stockpile, as that is going to be cheaper than transporting it away in 5 months time.

Uniper the owners ran up set two to full output this afternoon outside of ESO instructions so they will have a counterparty they are selling to whose happy with their price. Conversely last night the ESO instructed them onto the system probably as they needed reactive power due to high wind output to manage voltage when overnight load is lower.

This week has been remarkable for power geenration, it has seen the highest ever combined wind and solar output, the lowest ever fossil fuel output, the lowest ever Gas output, and consequently the lowest ever CO2 emmissions (down at 9g/kwh for a time yesterday, which is only 2% of the average emissions of the grid a year ago). And power prices were negative for most of the weekend. I imagine anyone on Octopus agile with an EV has been very happy.

Got to pick your half hour to charge up though as the system price varied widely through the day although Octopus as an owner of renewable assets doesn't have to link what they want to charge to the system price if they had surplus power. The problem though is the transmission system can't shift all the power that was available from Scotland so had to constrain some of it off and then instruct fossil fuel stations on to compensate. The way system works is if it was any of Octupus sites (main targets were Moray East and Seagreen so possibly not) they would have been compensated but of course the replaced energy is now not so green!

 

[littledude]

6M61 (arr Ratcliffe at 11:12) also ran from Immingham on 1st Jan, and Doncaster Decoy on 22nd Jan and 5th Feb.
I assume there's been a sufficient stockpile at Ratcliffe to keep the power station going since then.

Both of those trains after the 16th January were empty wagons for storage in Ratcliffe. The last loaded departure from Immingham was on the 16th

 

[crosscity]

6M61 (arr Ratcliffe at 11:12) also ran from Immingham on 1st Jan, and Doncaster Decoy on 22nd Jan and 5th Feb.
I assume there's been a sufficient stockpile at Ratcliffe to keep the power station going since then.

Both of those trains after the 16th January were empty wagons for storage in Ratcliffe. The last loaded departure from Immingham was on the 16th

Thanks for the information.

Since 2018 I've tried to get one photo of a fully-laden coal train arriving at a working power station, but have failed miserably!
I went to Ratcliffe power station on 18Jan as a consolation, just to get some photos of it still working (it was wall to wall blue skies all day). I got some photos at the junction.
A few days later I was a bit miffed finding out 6M61 ran, but now I don't feel so irritated!

In theory I just missed 6M81 on 16Jan, but in practice I wouldn't have got a photo of it actually arriving at Ratcliffe. It would have been dark coming back from the rather secluded vantage point of the actual junction - I just wouldn't have attempted getting there.

There was also a limestone train from Tunstead on 9th Feb. Was this loaded?

(For anyone who is interested my Ratcliffe photos can be seen here https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBbjoC)

 

[Trainbike46]

Apparently using coal mined locally is bad for the environment, but letting another country do it and then importing it into the UK is fine.
Also, jobs don't matter if they are mining coal. Unless its the early 80's, then it really matters.

you seem to have missed that all but one of the coal power stations in the UK have closed, and that the final one is closing this year.

Similarly, both steelworks are planning for a future without coal - so coal demand in this country is evaporating, and is already mostly gone, and the little that is left will soon be gone. The UK won't be using imported coal at all soon.

 

[43066]

you seem to have missed that all but one of the coal power stations in the UK have closed, and that the final one is closing this year.

Similarly, both steelworks are planning for a future without coal - so coal demand in this country is evaporating, and is already mostly gone, and the little that is left will soon be gone. The UK won't be using imported coal at all soon.

There was a viable commercial case for keeping a small cottage industry type coal mining operation in Wales open for the heritage rail sector (many locos work best with Welsh coal), but that was kiboshed by the Welsh government for political reasons, AIUI.

Hence those railways will now have to import lower quality coal from abroad at greater cost, both financially and to the environment, than had they been able to source it from within the UK. I suspect that’s what @Bezza49 was getting at.

 

[willgreen]

you seem to have missed that all but one of the coal power stations in the UK have closed, and that the final one is closing this year.

Similarly, both steelworks are planning for a future without coal - so coal demand in this country is evaporating, and is already mostly gone, and the little that is left will soon be gone. The UK won't be using imported coal at all soon.

Coal has use in other industries - such as cement; in recent years coal trains have run to the cement works at Oxwellmains, Hope and Penyfford, and I may have missed others.

 

[tiptoptaff]

There was a viable commercial case for keeping a small cottage industry type coal mining operation in Wales open for the heritage rail sector (many locos work best with Welsh coal), but that was kiboshed by the Welsh government for political reasons, AIUI.

Hence those railways will now have to import lower quality coal from abroad at greater cost, both financially and to the environment, than had they been able to source it from within the UK. I suspect that’s what @Bezza49 was getting at.

The loss of large-scale mining at Ffros-y-Ffran is what killed the heritage sector's coal use. The volume used by the heritage sector was relatively small, and it was only viable financially when it was siphoned off the main mining operation at the washery (it was mainly exported as a fine powder, and circa a few hundred tonnes were kept as reasonable size for use by heritage railways)

The coal from F-y-F was the best coal available for steam.

 

[ajay1071]

Some on this site seem to state the reason for the demise of the Ffros-y-Fran open cast site was down to political reasons but it was more to do with the local vehement opposition with regards to dust pollution in the surrounding arears.

 

[tiptoptaff]

Some on this site seem to state the reason for the demise of the Ffros-y-Fran open cast site was down to political reasons but it was more to do with the local vehement opposition with regards to dust pollution in the surrounding arears.

And the Welsh Gov's decision to pander is purely a political one.

 

[MCG]

And the Welsh Gov's decision to pander is purely a political one.

"Pander"? Or respond to their constituents' complaints?

 

[tiptoptaff]

"Pander"? Or respond to their constituents' complaints?

Pander.

Its what they do here.

See also: Relief road