Where did all the coal go

[manna]

G'Day Gents
While looking for something else, it occured to me that, there was a lot of coal coming into Ferme Park, more than the local coal merchants could process. ie. 30 coal merchants, 5 wagons each per week=150, coal trains from Colwick 10 trains at 80 wagons per day! = 800 x 6 4,800 shortfall----4,650, were did they go???????? not all to the Southern region.
manna

[Mickey]

Deleted

[Bill Bedford]

G'Day Gents
While looking for something else, it occured to me that, there was a lot of coal coming into Ferme Park, more than the local coal merchants could process. ie. 30 coal merchants, 5 wagons each per week=150, coal trains from Colwick 10 trains at 80 wagons per day! = 800 x 6 4,800 shortfall----4,650, were did they go???????? not all to the Southern region.
manna

There is, and always was, a lot of industry in London and all the factories would need their coal supply.

[stembok]

There was an enormous demand for coal in London and the surrounding area for both industrial and household use .Lots of coal went down from Yorkshire by train, but also by coastal colliers from the north east to the Thames power stations. King's Cross seemed to get most of its loco coal - hard coals- from pits in the Doncaster area.

[Flamingo]

It's a very good question. I don't have an answer but besides the coal that came down the GN to Ferme Park there were also coal trains down the Lee Valley line to Northumberland Park and Temple Mills yards, some of which got diverted on the way to the gasworks at Ponders End and near Angel Road. A further huge amount probably as much as into Ferme Park came down the Midland main line from Toton to Cricklewood. Don't know about the WCML but there was also coal from South Wales via the WR to Acton etc. After it reached the various reception yards in and around London, some of the coal was redistributed to places south of the Thames. But what is really incredible is that almost all this vast tonnage was transported in low capacity loose-coupled short-wheelbase wagons. I think it was mentioned in probably the Modernisation Plan or if not that then in the Beeching Report that BR had over a million such wagons and that they only made one revenue earning journey every 10 days or so, the rest of their time was spent returning empty to the pits or waiting for their next load.

[manna]

G'Day Gents
Thanks for the replies, interesting, trying to work out where it all went, Ashburton Grove & Highbury yards, I know that Edgware station took up to five goods trains a day in the 30's (max 14 wagons per train) plus there was a fair few gasworks around, I wonder how much coal ended up at Kings Cross Goods, for there trip working, mind boggling!!!
manna

[52D]

From experience the London Power Stations were (are) sited on the river so the large amounts of coal required for them can easily be imported. I had a spell at Tilbury PS last year and the coal ship at the time had come from Vietnam. There were signs of a former rail connection but i think Mrs Thatcher effectively ruled out using British coal as a power station fuel for at least a generation. Even the stations that sit on top of vast reserves of coal have to import the stuff now.
The gas works mentioned by manna above all converted to North sea gas in the mid sixties and the clean air acts effectively killed off coal as a household fuel although in our house my father who was a miner got a coal ration weekly and it was a fight between me, him and the Jack Russell to get laid out on the mat next to the fire. Needless to say the Jack Russell always won.

[manna]

G'Day Gents
You can bet in another 100 years time that someone will ' discover' that Britain is sitting on a coal 'Bonanza', and the fat cats will get fatter???
manna

[52D]

Manna at the time of the closures this was mentioned quite a lot.
There was an enormous amount of coal removed from an opencast site next to the Rothbury Branch that had to be taken away by road as the branch had been lifted in the 1960s. To get that coal to where it was needed large lorries were routed over quiet country lanes whereas about three trains a week would have sufficed. Not to mention the thrill of seeing trains again on the Rothbury Branch.

[manna]

G'Day Gents
Common sense! is so uncommon, because morons rule
manna