Petroleum coke to Anglesey Aluminium, Holyhead.
This long established freight service began in 1971 when Rio Tinto Zinc opened an aluminium smelter at Holyhead. It ran from the Humber Oil Refinery at Immingham and conveyed petroleum coke. The anode coke was used in the electrolysis process to produce aluminium metal from the ore. A small fleet of 17 wagons were provided, they were coded PAB and numbered 12100-16. These wagons were of a quite unique design and the train ran at least weekly.
Following a refinery fire in Immingham on 16 April 2001 the train service was suspended and the wagons were stored at the Holyhead plant. Petroleum coke was then delivered by sea until the aluminium plant closed in 2009. The end came for these wagons on 25 January 2008 when they were removed from their wheel sets and transported by road to Locks scrap yard in Bangor.
47206 enters Llandudno Junction yard, where the wagons were examined, 14th July 1991.
47209 passes Llandudno Junction on a wet 26th May 1990.
47206 heads east through Colwyn Bay on 14th July 1991.
47224 near Abergele, 5th April 1990.
Passing through Prestatyn behind 47286, 4th February 1993.
37707 at Ffynnongroew, 24 4 1994.
37886 at Mostyn on the 30th of April 1995.
Loco failure sees 31556 assisting 37713 near Mostyn, 13 10 95.
The photos below by 'Corrie' show the removal of the wagons from Anglesey Aluminium on 25 January 2008 and their later disposal in a Bangor scrapyard
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