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Buried Electric train at South Gosforth

Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 6:43 pm
by Trestrol
This is one i hope Caledonian can shed some light on. You have posted on RMwed forum that theres a Tyneside electric train buried at the east end of Gosforth car sheds. Is this true and have you any more details????
http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index. ... ge__st__25

Re: Buried Electric train at South Gosforth

Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 9:37 pm
by redtoon1892
Not heard that before but knowing some of the dubious goings on in industry it wouldent surprise me, nobodys going to play squeak with a load of buried asbestos even if they do know about it.

Re: Buried Electric train at South Gosforth

Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 9:50 pm
by third-rail
i have been told there at least two buried there between the fan of rails at the east end and that the site is marked with do not dig here buried asbestos signs, wonder what the coach numbers are??????

Re: Buried Electric train at South Gosforth

Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 6:34 pm
by redtoon1892
Somewhere here Trestrol ?

Re: Buried Electric train at South Gosforth

Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 9:07 pm
by third-rail
i think the burial site is in the part with the white roofed building

Re: Buried Electric train at South Gosforth

Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:31 pm
by redtoon1892

Re: Buried Electric train at South Gosforth

Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 2:29 pm
by Caledonian
redtoon1892 wrote:Somewhere here Trestrol ?
Don't ever say I'm not good to you, I've just nipped out to check in relation to that photo...

The burial site isn't in the area next to the white roofed building, but in the cleared area which you can just about make out above and to the left of it, between nos. 4 and 6 roads.

We've no real idea as to exactly what's in there, it was a sort of "here be dragones" warning as the last BR staff hurried out the door. There's certainly one, and possibly two, Tyneside Electric cars buried there and my understanding is that although insulated with blue asbestos they weren't particularly toxic in themselves; they were just hand receptacles for the stuff when the rest were broken up.

Re: Buried Electric train at South Gosforth

Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 3:45 pm
by giner
I just have to smile at the prospect of future beings, say, 2,000 years from now should they discover these buried coaches. I wonder what they'll think?

Re: Buried Electric train at South Gosforth

Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 4:07 pm
by 52D
Never mind 2000 years hence send in the Time Team now im sure Tony Robinson would enjoy the dig.

Re: Buried Electric train at South Gosforth

Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 4:20 pm
by Caledonian
Just by way of minor clarification I'm talking about the small white-roofed building, not the larger one towards the bottom of the photo

Re: Buried Electric train at South Gosforth

Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 8:26 pm
by manna
G'Day Gents
Then there's the Class 27's buried in a tip near Glasgow, and the Furness loco that was surpossed to have fell down a disused mine that was under the line, somewhere in Cumbra!! Should keep the Time Team going for a while??
manna

Re: Buried Electric train at South Gosforth

Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 9:39 pm
by third-rail
can not imagine that the people that have houses less than 100 feet away will be happy knowing of a load of asbestos buried there,am i right in thinking that this as abestos came out of dmus as the emus where burnt i believe at tyne dock .
does anyone out there have a list when and where all the various units where scrapped,there was six various types

Re: Buried Electric train at South Gosforth

Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 4:58 pm
by richard
As long as it remains buried then there probably isn't a problem.

Unlike some waste it isn't going to leach into the water system. The risk comes when you breathe the fibres in. So the danger would be if it is disturbed.

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral. Actually it is a few different minerals that can form fibrous shapes. One of the most common is chrysotile. I've actually been to two open-cast chrysotile asbestos mines (one in Cyprus, the other in California), so I know what it looks like in hand specimen (rather pretty iridescent green veins). No breathing equipment or anything like that, but you took care not to disturb the dust/soil. Chrysotile is a relatively safe kind of asbestos but it is just serpentine - which outcrops in many places. In Cornwall it is the safer "lizardite" but in California it outcrops along the coastline as chrysotile. There was a case in the SF Bay Area where they did the air tests for a school with asbestos, and found more fibres in the playground than in the classrooms!

Earlier in the thread it was stated that it was blue asbestos. This is considered more dangerous and is an alkali amphibole called "riebeckite". This also has a safe form: All of the world's curling stones are made of riebeckite granite from a little island in the Hebrides...


Richard

Re: Buried Electric train at South Gosforth

Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 6:19 pm
by Bryan
There is also an Asbestos deposit under the site of the works car park of BREL York alongside Poppleton rd.
Now built on with Flats and offices.
Was the deposit moved or sealed?

Re: Buried Electric train at South Gosforth

Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 6:42 pm
by 37b
richard wrote:.................. All of the world's curling stones are made of riebeckite granite from a little island in the Hebrides...


Richard
That would be Ailsa Craig?
Dave