Central Ammunition Depot Eastriggs Railway

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CAD Eastriggs Railway
Route of the Central Ammunition Depot Eastriggs Railway
Route
Route length: 40 km
Gauge : 610 mm ( 2 foot track )

The Central Ammunition Depot Eastriggs Railway was a 40 km long narrow gauge railway with a track width of 610 mm (2 feet ) in the Central Ammunition Depot (CAD) Eastriggs (en) in Scotland .

history

Ammunition storage building R14 with lightning rods

The narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 610 mm (2 feet ) was part of a 200 km long narrow-gauge railway network, on which explosives, supplies and other goods were transported at four locations. In particular, ammunition was safely transported to remote, lightning and explosion-proof warehouses on the 445 hectare site. The network connected:

At the peak of the traffic volume, 34 locomotives were used on the narrow-gauge railway network.

Construction of the state ammunition factory, HM Factory, Gretna , began in November 1915 under the general supervision of S. Pearson & Son. At the same time, wooden buildings were also built in Gretna and Eastriggs to house the workers.

In 1990–2007, several million pounds were invested to dismantle most of the original rails and sleepers and replace them with new ones. Due to a rationalization program of the Ministry of Defense (MoD), however, the explosives storage facility was relocated to another location shortly afterwards, after which only the necessary security personnel were employed in Eastriggs.

On January 28, 2016, the Scottish company Gilmerton Land Services from Athelstaneford , North Berwick , East Lothian , which has decades of experience in demolishing unused infrastructure at military sites, announced that it had been awarded the contract to build the rails for the MOD ammunition depot in Eastriggs near Gretna Mining Green. She then offered the following track material for sale:

  • 40 km of track on the narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 610 mm (2 feet) and a weight per meter of 17.5 kg / m (35 lb / yd , "BS 35 M - Workington - 1985").
  • Including sleepers : New steel sleepers had already been installed on 90% of the route between 1990 and 2007, 10% of the route still had wooden sleepers. The tracks were in exceptionally good condition because they were hardly used.
  • Including 250 points
  • Offers for € 111.00 (£ 100.00) per tonne were accepted until the end of February 2016. The track material eventually sold for € 133.00 (£ 120.00) per tonne. The minimum order quantity was 5 tons per customer.
  • The track material should be dismantled by the end of July 2016. The buyer was responsible for the dismantling. Rail vehicles were not allowed to be used on the site. A weighbridge was on site.

Due to occupational safety, the site was not accessible to buyers until March 2, 2016. The dismantling of the narrow-gauge railway tracks was successfully completed on July 30, 2016. The managing director Sir David Kinloch confirmed that the entire narrow-gauge railway has been dismantled and the infrastructure such as cables and pipes that is no longer used has been removed. It was a very interesting location.

The buyer of the Eastriggs narrow-gauge railway infrastructure was A. Cowley and Sons , from Worksop , Nottinghamshire . She has received inquiries and orders for tracks and switches from the UK and overseas. Their managing director Adam Cowley spent part of the summer of 2016 on the Eastriggs property and was impressed by the size, landscape, coastal location and wildlife of the site. He was contacted by many interested parties after dismantling the narrow-gauge railway.

Parts of it were to be installed on a sugar cane plantation on the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico in order to build a private railway. In addition, a company from Dubai was interested in the track material for one of the route sections. A portion of the Eastriggs narrow-gauge railway track was to be used for a major heritage tourism project in London that would bring the Kempton Steam Railway (s) back into service, which was originally used to transport coal from the Thames in order to do so To operate steam pumping stations for the water supply of the capital.

Comments on the dismantling of the line

Alderman Richard Brodie, chairman of Eastriggs and Gretna Heritage , thought the sale of the Eastriggs narrow-gauge railway was myopic. While he may have given a short-term financial gain to the Department of Defense from the sale, opportunities for long-term use of the site have been limited. The preservation of the narrow-gauge railway would have kept open the possibility of a tourist attraction at the site of part of the largest factory in the world that existed here during the First World War.

Standard gauge siding to CAD Eastriggs

Richard Brodie, who is also one of the founders of the Devil's Porridge Museum in Eastriggs, which provides information on the history of the ammunition manufacturing and storage complex, said a great opportunity had been wasted. Maintaining the narrow-gauge network would have been ideal for guided tours through the depot and would have enabled visitors to enjoy the untouched nature that thrives there undisturbed. He called on the Ministry of Defense to consult local residents about the future use of the site, who were in the dark about this project. He also asked the Department of Defense to preserve the remaining loading docks and standard gauge lines at the western end of the depot connected to the Nith Valley Railway .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Grace's Guide: HM Factory, Gretna.
  2. ^ A b c Bryan Armstrong: Eye-brows raised by sale of 'historic' MoD railway. Parts of a 25-mile long narrow-gauge railway, removed from a large Solway Coast defense depot, are heading to locations worldwide. DnG 24 , September 10, 2016.
  3. ↑ David Kinloch: For Sale: 20 miles: narrow gauge railway line to include 250 turnouts.
  4. ^ Re: Sale of Narrow Gauge Railway line.
  5. ^ Recently-built narrow gauge railway for sale. In: Heritage Railway. 2016, No. 2, p. 17.
  6. ↑ Eastriggs completion. on brownfieldsitesolutions.co.uk as of July 30, 2016.

Coordinates: 54 ° 58 '17 "  N , 3 ° 9' 2.2"  W.