Seaton-on-Tees Branch
As for the name of the branch, there was a lively internet debate among railway enthusiasts as to whether the line be referred to as Seaton-on-Tees or Seaton Snook. The former seems to be the official categorisation and won the democratic vote. [Note 2.]
The whole of Seaton Common, which the branch line skirts to the south, is a haven for wildlife and the site of a lost chapel or chantry. [Note 3.]
Zinc manufacture
Before the branch railway line arrived there had been a community which had developed on this spit of coastline 150 years ago. First it was cottage industry activities such as fishing, cockling, wildfowling and salt-panning. In addition to Seaton Snook, the community here called the place Canch End; it having been suggested as being given by cocklers and deriving from conch, the general name used locally for a variety of sea shell common in the vicinity. (1) Then came the Industrial Revolution and with it rapid factory building on Teesside and increased commerce on the River Tees. Although the Ordnance Survey map for 1920 shows an 'acid' works with two sidings, the plant also had its own internal narrow-gauge rail network. The factory had opened in 1906 and was owned by the Central Zinc Company.
While the estuary and its mud flats was being developed to support new heavy industry - the eventual petro-chemical complex known as Seal Sands [See also Seal Sands Branch.], eclipsed only in size in Europe by Rotterdam - this meant the Snook was propelled into the modern era with great haste. Breakwaters were urgently required at each side of the mouth of the Tees and to house the labour force to build the North Gare and in 1881 eight cottages were erected on the Snook by the Tees Conservancy Commission. It can be assumed the builders did not enjoy their task, for it seems they nicknamed the area Pity Me. (2) Before that, in 1861, only one house existed, called Snook Cottage, inhabited in 1871 by a shepherd. By 1911, 49 houses existed. Other workers were accommodated on houseboats on the beach. It is believed the original cottages survived the more modern terrace which dominated the community. [Note 3.]
Slag for protective sea walls and the North Gare breakwater was delivered to a wharf at the Snook and unloaded on to a railway line, which is likely to have preceded or paralleled the zinc works and may have been narrow gauge.
Scrap metal
Although there was no railway involvement, the Laing's dry dock at neighbouring Graythorp launched a 606-foot tall 'super rig' for the North Sea oil and gas industry. Amazingly none of the 35,000 tonnes of metal used to fabricate the Burmah oil platform were delivered by rail. It left during the long, hot summer of 1976 after what has been regarded as the most monumental piss-up of all time. Oil production peaked at 130,000 barrels per day and is planned to continue until 2025. (3)
No further orders followed and the yard fell moribund until taken over by Able UK, but that ushered in controversy over the importation of 'ghost ships', dragged across the Atlantic for disposal. The usual NIMBY attention-seekers saw a Guardianista cause to follow, but the muesli-chompers met their match in Able's Rottweiler steaks gnawing boss. Hazardous or not, the American vessels succumbed to the oxy-acetylene sabre-wielding cohorts of Peter Stephenson. An illustrious French aircraft carrier even found entente cordiale equalled au revoir. Some of this scrap metal was actually transported from the dry dock for processing elsewhere - by rail.
(1) Chris Cordner, 'Woe betide the kids who faced the dunes', Hartlepool Mail, 23/7/13
(2) Chris Cordner, 'Families who settled in Seaton Snook area', Hartlepool Mail, 2/4/13
(3) Andrew Levett, 'When our "super rig" sailed for the Shetlands', Hartlepool Mail, 31/7/13
Note 2. Definite article and pluralisation. Locally, the term referring to the area of sand dunes between Seaton Carew common and sand dunes between Seaton Carew and the power station is known correctly as Seaton Snook, but more commonly as Seaton Snooks. The reason being the local peculiarity of Poolies/Hartlepudlians to pluralise most inanimate places and add in front the indefinite article. . Thus the private house Greenside
Note 3. The first workers at the factory were Germans and Belgians, as the production of zinc had ben pioneered on the continent. The outbreak of World War I abruptly terminated the German trainers' employment when they were interned. Cue urban legend. The notorious Bombardment of Hartlepool led to a story of dubious provenance that over-zealous police officers arrested the remaining foreign workers at the zinc plant and had them incarcerated in Durham Jail. They were only released when it became clear they were from Allied nations. (*)
Meanwhile, the Snook community grew and added a school, shops, club and mission. When the cottages were abandoned after 1950 they may have been used for storage until clearance in either 1966 or 1974 (historians can't agree).
(*) R. Smith, Hartlepool. Letter, Hartlepool Mail, 8/7/06
Meanwhile, the Snook community grew and added a school, shops, club and mission. When the cottages were abandoned after 1950 they may have been used for storage until clearance in either 1966 or 1974 (historians can't agree).
(*) R. Smith, Hartlepool. Letter, Hartlepool Mail, 8/7/06
Hartlepool Power Station
For several years there had been
rumours that a new power station was to be built at Seaton Carew and there was
as I recall the elation in Hartlepool and the East Durham coalfield when it was
announced that a site at Seaton Snook, at the mouth of the Tees, had finally
been given the go-ahead. With a seemingly unlimited supply of coal on the
doorstep it made sense. The miners were happy and the jobless of Hartlepool
hoped to train for the construction work. But the site had been chosen as it
was coastal and there was a ready supply of free water for nuclear reactors.
Reactors! Reaction was swift, angry, vociferous and to no avail, except letting
off another form of steam. The powers that be cocking a (Seaton) snook!
So what we have today – depending
on one’s opinion – is either a concrete monstrosity or post-industrial modern
masterpiece. Personally, having studied architectural appreciation and
utilitarianism for my ‘A’ level art exam, I can see a brutal beauty in the
design’s simplistic functionality. Its construction began in October 1968 and
the station began supplying electricity to the national grid in 1972 from its
gas-turbo generators, of which it has four. These are small fry compared with
the two advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR) with pre-stressed concrete pressure
vessels containing CO2 gas as primary coolant and eight boilers and gas
circulators. The main generating plant consists of two giant 666 (not exactly a
reassuring number, with its association with Satan!) megawatt turbo-generating
units. Originally the property of the Central Electricity Generating Board, the
station is now owned by British Energy [to
be checked]. Earlier power stations had been of the Magnox type, but
Hartlepool was built in parallel with another AGR plant at Morecambe.
Officially opened in 1976, five more of the same conception followed between
1976 and 1978. Start of power generation is hard to ascertain from records, but
the respected rail expert Dr Paul Shannon gives it as 1983. As for the future,
the current power station has been expected to be decommissioned in 2014 and a
new nuclear plant built at the existing location. Rather doubtful from the
shilly-shallying over the UK’s energy needs over the past decade or longer. If
we’re not careful the lights really will start going out (I’ll say no more as
this is a strictly non-political forum).
So what does a power station
constitute, you ask? Well, whether Magnox or AGR, all nuclear, gas or
coal-fired power stations are, in effect, giant kettles. All are designed to
use heat in order to boil vast quantities of water and produce steam –
super-heated steam which is blasted at very high pressure on to the blades of
industrial turbines. In turn, the turbines rotate magnets through coils of
copper wire to produce electricity. Traditional fossil-fuel fired stations burn
material such as coal, gas, oil and in the 21st Century biomass, but
nuclear stations create heat through a process known as nuclear fission. This
simply means split something: in this case, atoms of radioactive uranium. Safely
sealed inside a reactor, a neutron is caused to strike an atom, it splits it
and causes a massive release of heat energy. The split atom also releases two
or three neutrons from its nucleus, which goes on to split other atoms; these
release more neutrons, and so on. Hence the term ‘chain reaction’ and which is
not the subject of the Bee Gees’ composition of the same name performed by
Diana Ross. After a period in the reactors the fuel becomes exhausted and
requires removal and replacement by fresh fuel. It is the spent fuel which
leaves the power station and travels by rail.
THE TRAINS (Motto: There’s nuclear waste – and there’s nuclear waste)
Being an AGR, spent uranium fuel
rods from Hartlepool Power Station are moved by rail to the Cumbrian plant at Sellafield
for reprocessing or for safe storage. This is not classed as waste and if you
are of the mischievous sort who winds people up, just call it such to a power
industry worker. You’ll doubtless regret it as you will be given an hour-long
explanation about how all nuclear waste is categorised according to how
radioactive it is and the ways of dealing with low-level, intermediate and
high-level waste (‘waste’ here used for want of a better word), which does not include spent nuclear fuel. And
lastly you’ll be asked to imagine if all the electricity you use in your home
came from a nuclear power station the spent fuel this would create in serving
you for one year, 24/7, would be the weight of two £1 coins.
The nuclear industry prides
itself on its high safety margins and record. There has never been an accident
at a commercial nuclear facility in the UK that posed a hazard to the general
public. Similarly, radioactive waste has travelled more than eight million
miles in the UK, by road, rail and sea, without a single incident ever posing
an issue of radioactive safety. Consignments of spent fuel are carefully
planned and strictly regulated. They are transported in nuclear ‘casks’ (or
‘flasks’). These are 50-tonne containers made of forged steel at least 35cm
thick. They have been tested to withstand fire at 800 degrees C, water pressure
at a depth of 200m and even a head-on collision with a locomotive at 100mph.
This latter test wrote off the locomotive, while the flask suffered nothing
more than scratches and dents.
In case anyone reading this is
under any misapprehension that I believe all of what is in effect nuclear
industry propaganda, I’m media savvy enough to know neither fellow journalists
nor the public believes all of it. We hear occasionally of ‘clusters’ where
there is seemingly statistically above normal incidence of cancer. Where
nuclear trains pass by it is only normal to draw one conclusion. But being
deliberately vague, it is my suspicion that a small area of housing in Seaton
Carew with a ‘cluster’ may be the focus of what dowsers call a ‘black stream’,
whereby negative energy can have seriously harmful effects. Its proximity to
the railway being coincidental. Medics deride the notion of ‘cancer clusters’ but
the media loves it for the sheer loaded, contentious and scary headline
potential. Being commonsensical, if there was a real nuclear risk I would not
have chosen to live where I do since 1969, nor would neighbours, many of whom
work at the power station.
OPERATIONS
It’s hard to believe in the 21st
Century that initially nuclear flasks were transported to Sellafield in general
wagonload services during the mid-1960s as if they were any ordinary commodity.
It was normal practice to marshal one behind a steam locomotive. The FNA type
wagon designed for AGR stations required barrier rolling stock to provide the
required 20 feet between flask and loco and/or brake-van.
In 1988, the Railfreight Coal
sub-sector was created with nuclear traffic included within its remit.
Crewe-based Class ‘31/1’s were allocated to operate the services with redundant
HEA coal hoppers as barrier vehicles, modified and recoded RNA and coupled to
air-piped brake vans. This requirement for a brake-van at the rear of such
trains was abandoned in 1997.
Privatisation of the railways
brought enterprise and finance into a pathetically moribund industry. The
formation of Direct Rail Services (DRS), in 1995, an open access, wholly-owned
subsidiary of British Nuclear Fuels Limited, and now a subsidiary of the
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, allowed management scope to be inventive and
later expand into other rail-based spheres. The perception among some rail
enthusiasts was that every train modeller’s dream had been fulfilled by those
running the operation – an all-too-real train set writ large with heritage
motive power and some controversial cargoes. Of course, DRS jumped on the Class
‘66’-buying bandwagon, but still today it is the norm to see 1950s/60s-built
traction gracing the regular flask trains to Seaton-on Tees.
At Hartlepool Power Station, and
its Heysham twin, the incoming train discharges its load within the site. Even
the modern ‘66s’ have generally worked in pairs to minimise the risk of
disruption in case of failure (and possible subsequent hostile publicity). The
power station itself has a resident shunter (see below) for internal rail
traffic. On an open day in 1988, the popular and charismatic station boss Dr
Clive Smitten had a steam locomotive from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway
guesting and giving footplate rides on a sunny Sunday. Guess who had the honour
of being the only member of the public to have the last ride? Yes, me.
ANNUAL SUMMARIES
Trains normally run weekly while
the plant is operating and are identified as: 6E44 Sellafield – Seaton-on-Tees
and 6M60 Seaton-on-Tees to Sellafield.
1989. My first observation of traffic to Hartlepool Power Station
was on 1 February with Immingham’s Class ‘31’ 31101 doing the honours. Another
visit was made on 15 March by Crewe’s 31130.
1993. Maybe nothing ran subsequently, but I next saw a nuclear
working this year on 6 July hauled by Toton’s 31304.
1997. Again another big gap when one day I spotted an unidentified
Engineers’ ‘Dutch’-liveried Class ‘37’ southbound at 12.30 and northbound at
14.30.
1998. ‘37’: 37046, 37254, 37800/86.
1999. Apparently ‘official’ rail services to the power station were
inaugurated on 3 February. ‘20’: 20312
+ 20311. ‘37’: 37607 + 20307.
2000. ‘20’: 20306 + 20305 twice, 20314 + 20313. ‘37’: 37610 +
20312.
2001. ‘20’: 20306 + 20307.
2002. ‘20’: 20901 + 20903.
2003. 20301 Max Joule 1958 –
1999 /302/4/5 various combinations.
2004. Classes ‘20’ and ‘47’ were involved but these are what I saw.
‘37’: 37069/218/602/5/6/8. ‘66’: 66403/7.
2005. ‘20’ & ‘37’ in various combinations: 20301 Max Joule 1958 – 1999 /6/8/9/13;
37069/218/ 605-7/10-2. ‘33’: 37029 + 33207.
2006. ‘20’ & ‘37’: combinations of 20307/10/2/3 and
37038/69/87218/59/61/612. ‘47’: 47237/98/501/802. ‘66’: 66406/16/8/9.
2007. ‘20’ & ‘37’: combinations of 20302/3/7/8/10 Gresty Bridge /11 The 20 ‘Fifty’ /15 and 37087/194/218/29 Jonty Jarvis 8-12-1998 to 18-3-2005. ‘47’: 47237 + 47802. ‘66’:
66404/13/6.
2008. ‘20’: 20301 Max Joule
1958-1999 + 20304, 20302 + 20306. ‘66’: 66415 + 66430.
2010. These locos in various combinations (all DRS motive power can work with other company locos through DRS multiple working system). Class '37@: 37259, 37606/11. Class '57': 57003/7/11/2. Class '66': 66416/32.
2010. These locos in various combinations (all DRS motive power can work with other company locos through DRS multiple working system). Class '37@: 37259, 37606/11. Class '57': 57003/7/11/2. Class '66': 66416/32.
2011. ‘37’: 37069/87 Keighley
& Worth Valley Railway 40th Anniversary 1968-2008, 37194, 37229 Jonty Jarvis, 37682. ‘57’ 57003/7/9/11.
INDUSTRIALS [More
details to follow]
The power station has always had
a resident shunter, whose identity has changed several times. Apologies for the
vagueness of the notes.
* As a guest of the Branch Line
Society, Alex Betteny arranged for me to join his party on 29 July 2008. The
hire loco on site was supplied by RMS Locotec and was H058.
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