Gulf Oil Branch.

[patrick]

Gulf Oil Refinery Branch Line - YouTube

 

Wonderful two part documentary about the construction of a branch to a South Wales oil refinery in the late sixties.

[Robert Shrives]

Had time to watch this the other day.  It did look pretty muddy at times and a shame that no future use for it - cannot see a housing estate on the brown field  site of the refinery as being likely for many years with inbedded pollution.  I guess rail would be good to a preserved line before two long.  

[Mayner]

I wonder whether any film record exists of the construction of the Silvermines Branch which was built during the same era and involved quite substantial earthworks,  RTE filmed an Irish Language language documentary on the operation of the Silvermines-Foynes barytes ore trains in the late 60s which featured the loading & unloading of the trains.

It was interesting watching the earth moving operation, I "served my time" with a Dublin house builder and organised site development work using similar plant D8 dozers and Euclid motor scrapers during the late 70s early 80s.

As a general rule developers and contractors will avoid earthmoving during the winter months when the ground becomes saturated and instead concentrate on structures and bridges.

No doubt Dick Hampton was working on a cost plus basis and got paid extra for shifting the mud and "unsuitable material".

Some motor scraper operators/owners were larger than life characters the fighter pilots of the earth moving who wore cowboy boots and hats and smoked cigars while dozer and excavator operators tended to be much more stoic in nature.