NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART 19
The Cattewater Branch and Wharves (1)
Michael L. Roach
It was in 1956 that I acquired my first bicycle and rather than walking or catching the bus to Laira Shed I would cycle there regularly. In summer this would often be in the evening and the bike would give me the flexibility to go on to Friary Shed as well. I would also regularly cycle around the commercial docks of The Cattewater, Victoria Wharves, Sutton Harbour and Millbay Docks to view the ships moored up. Sutton Harbour has not received any boats bringing coal from the north-east for the gas works since the conversion to natural gas in 1971; and Millbay Docks now deals mainly and perhaps exclusively with cross-channel ferry traffic; leaving the Cattewater and Victoria Wharves to receive a regular stream of cargo ships. One of the main exports is china clay through Victoria Wharves. The main imports are oil and cement through Cattewater Wharves. The cement comes from Spain while the oil products come from all over Europe with some from British ports. At present there are six large oil refineries in the UK but this figure will reduce to five when the Petroineos refinery at Grangemouth closes in 2025 or 2026. Occasional loads of refined product are received from Stanlow on the Mersey and the refineries at Immingham. The refinery at Pembroke, on the south side of the Milford Haven estuary, sends regular ship-loads to the Cattewater. The refinery is owned by Valero Energy of San Antonio, Texas who have a depot and tank farm a short distance from Cattewater Wharves. After several months of watching I have not witnessed the Exxon Mobil refinery at Fawley send a single ship-load of oil to The Cattewater. The total capacity of the British oil refineries is 58M tonnes per annum.
It was in 1957 that I acquired my first camera and started photographing railways. Although a few years later I started taking an interest in other forms of transport and landscapes it was railways that were the subject matter of ninety percent of my transport photos right through the nineteen sixties and seventies.
The history of Plymouth goes back thousands of years but it was only in 1928 that it became a city. For the next 50 years the eastern boundary of the City was the River Plym which had been used for navigation in its lower reaches. As the river silted up the quays and wharves moved downstream to The Cattewater which is the name given to the last 1½ miles of the River Plym below Laira Bridge until it flows into Plymouth Sound. On the south side of The Cattewater is the village of Turnchapel which once had a branchline railway terminating on the edge of the village, closed to passengers on and from 10 September 1951. On the north side of the Cattewater lies a ridge of limestone which was extensively quarried over a long period to provide building stone for the area. The grey limestone can still be seen on many public buildings in Plymouth. This area of about half a mile east-west and quarter mile north-south was later developed as an area for heavy industry as the quarries declined. There were only a handful of houses in the area and most of these were demolished as the industries advanced. The industries that gravitated to this area comprised almost every type of smelly, polluting and undesirable industry imaginable; e.g. Chemical works, glue factory, tannery, oil depots, tar distillery, gas works, lime kilns, cement works, manure factory, refuse destructor, power station etc. The ones I particularly remember from the 1950s and 1960s are the glue factory because of the awful smells, the metal bashers who were putting together structural steel (still using rivets perhaps), and the tar distillery again because of the smell. The number of factories is now greatly reduced but the oil depots have lived on through all the changes.
The first railway to enter this area was the Plymouth & Dartmoor which opened in 1823 but not to The Cattewater at first, followed by the LSWR which worked the P&D from 1880 and later built its own freight-only branch through the area avoiding the existing factories and works – hence the need for sweeping curves and tunnels through the remaining outcrops of limestone. The Cattewater Branch started at Cattewater Junction just over half a mile from Friary Station on the route to Plymstock and Turnchapel. The Branch served numerous sidings and depots en-route and finished at the gates of the privately-owned Victoria Wharves. In steam days the normal motive power for the Cattewater goods was the B4 0-4-0 tank class a design dating back to 1890 and built at the LSWR's own Nine Elms Works. The LSWR built its own goods station a short distance before the line crossed Cattewater Road on a level crossing. The Cattewater as a harbour dates back to at least 1708. A short distance inland from Cattewater Wharves are a couple of major tank farms and oil depots. Sixty years ago they were owned by Shell/BP (jointly) and Esso but now they have been sold on to Valero of Texas and Greenergy, a leading supplier of biofuels, recently taken over by a firm called Trafigura in August 2024.
When I first started going along the public road past Cattewater Wharves in the late 1950s it was a fascinating place. There was the railway line wending its way between buildings and through a series of unlined tunnels and across the road going on to Victoria Wharves; sidings everywhere; and small groups of parked rail wagons. There was little security in those far off days and I was able to take photos almost wherever I wanted. Most of the photos shown here were taken in the vicinity of the level crossing where the Cattewater Branch crossed from the north side to the south side of Cattewater Road at the west end of the main Cattewater Wharf. On the Wharf itself a railway line ran along the edge of the wharf connected to the branch at both ends to allow direct transfer of goods from ship to railway wagon. Some of the maps on the NLS website show the situation in the 1860s before the Cattewater Branch was built and the only railway in the area was the Plymouth & Dartmoor.
It was in 1957 that I acquired my first camera and started photographing railways. Although a few years later I started taking an interest in other forms of transport and landscapes it was railways that were the subject matter of ninety percent of my transport photos right through the nineteen sixties and seventies.
The history of Plymouth goes back thousands of years but it was only in 1928 that it became a city. For the next 50 years the eastern boundary of the City was the River Plym which had been used for navigation in its lower reaches. As the river silted up the quays and wharves moved downstream to The Cattewater which is the name given to the last 1½ miles of the River Plym below Laira Bridge until it flows into Plymouth Sound. On the south side of The Cattewater is the village of Turnchapel which once had a branchline railway terminating on the edge of the village, closed to passengers on and from 10 September 1951. On the north side of the Cattewater lies a ridge of limestone which was extensively quarried over a long period to provide building stone for the area. The grey limestone can still be seen on many public buildings in Plymouth. This area of about half a mile east-west and quarter mile north-south was later developed as an area for heavy industry as the quarries declined. There were only a handful of houses in the area and most of these were demolished as the industries advanced. The industries that gravitated to this area comprised almost every type of smelly, polluting and undesirable industry imaginable; e.g. Chemical works, glue factory, tannery, oil depots, tar distillery, gas works, lime kilns, cement works, manure factory, refuse destructor, power station etc. The ones I particularly remember from the 1950s and 1960s are the glue factory because of the awful smells, the metal bashers who were putting together structural steel (still using rivets perhaps), and the tar distillery again because of the smell. The number of factories is now greatly reduced but the oil depots have lived on through all the changes.
The first railway to enter this area was the Plymouth & Dartmoor which opened in 1823 but not to The Cattewater at first, followed by the LSWR which worked the P&D from 1880 and later built its own freight-only branch through the area avoiding the existing factories and works – hence the need for sweeping curves and tunnels through the remaining outcrops of limestone. The Cattewater Branch started at Cattewater Junction just over half a mile from Friary Station on the route to Plymstock and Turnchapel. The Branch served numerous sidings and depots en-route and finished at the gates of the privately-owned Victoria Wharves. In steam days the normal motive power for the Cattewater goods was the B4 0-4-0 tank class a design dating back to 1890 and built at the LSWR's own Nine Elms Works. The LSWR built its own goods station a short distance before the line crossed Cattewater Road on a level crossing. The Cattewater as a harbour dates back to at least 1708. A short distance inland from Cattewater Wharves are a couple of major tank farms and oil depots. Sixty years ago they were owned by Shell/BP (jointly) and Esso but now they have been sold on to Valero of Texas and Greenergy, a leading supplier of biofuels, recently taken over by a firm called Trafigura in August 2024.
When I first started going along the public road past Cattewater Wharves in the late 1950s it was a fascinating place. There was the railway line wending its way between buildings and through a series of unlined tunnels and across the road going on to Victoria Wharves; sidings everywhere; and small groups of parked rail wagons. There was little security in those far off days and I was able to take photos almost wherever I wanted. Most of the photos shown here were taken in the vicinity of the level crossing where the Cattewater Branch crossed from the north side to the south side of Cattewater Road at the west end of the main Cattewater Wharf. On the Wharf itself a railway line ran along the edge of the wharf connected to the branch at both ends to allow direct transfer of goods from ship to railway wagon. Some of the maps on the NLS website show the situation in the 1860s before the Cattewater Branch was built and the only railway in the area was the Plymouth & Dartmoor.
Oil tanker Vally and Esso rail tankers at Cattewater on 6 August 1959. Vally is facing the opposite way to what has been normal for many many years. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Eighteen years later and there is a line-up of Esso tankers in the same place as 1959. All five tankers were built in 1964; the two at the left end were empty and had arrived from Penzance MPD. The three on the right had arrived from Inverness Harbour with Avgas. The wall in the foreground is built of the locally quarried limestone and the date is Saturday 11 June 1977. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Standard 14-ton oil tank wagon belonging to Shell/BP and first registered by the GWR in December 1940 at the Cattewater goods station on 23 May 1970. This is the type of wagon that would then have been used to carry oil products to numerous small rail-connected oil depots like Quintrell Downs. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Bridgeman has brought oil products to Cattewater Wharf on 2 September 1978. Note the bow thruster. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Unloading coal from Blackthorn on Sunday 28 October 1979. The coal was for Plymstock cement works which has since closed. The cement works was only about one kilometre away from the wharf as the crow flies, but probably twice as far by road. Note the rails set in the road surface. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
BGL 633 V is a new Foden less than three months old. Before leaving the driver executed a shake-down stop to remove any loose coal from the bodywork. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Belmond British Pullman at Westbury
Alan Peters
With the light fading the Belmond British Pullman hauled by DB 67021 calls at Westbury for a crew change, this was 1O92 the return trip from Bath Spa to London Victoria on 04/12/24. Copyright Alan Peters.
Many thanks, Alan - great to see.
Skippers on the St Ives Branch
Michael Adams and Michael Forward
Michael Adams and Michael Forward
Hello Roger, I hope you have all survived the storm. Your pictures today have prompted me to send these two pictures,firstly from Michael Adams taken at St. Erth on 16 July 1986 showing 142026 waiting to go to St.Ives. Copyright Michael Adams
Roger, Now my own shot of 142021 on 11 June 1986 which had come empty from Penzance and was reversing into the bay platform. Thanks and all the best, Michael Forward
Many Thanks to the two Michaels
GWR Traction in 1985
Roger Winnen
06.09.1985 - 7029 Clun Castle at St. Blazey. Copyright Roger Winnen
06.09.1985 - 7029 Clun Castle returns, seen passing Lostwithiel. Copyright Roger Winnen
09.09.1985 - 5239 on The Paignton Dartmouth service. Copyright Roger Winnen
09.09.1985 - 5239 on The Paignton Dartmouth service, with the 'Devon Belle' observation car on the rear. Copyright Roger Winnen
Winter sun at Carlyon
Jon Hird
In some winter sunshine, 43156 and 43092 hurry past Carlyon Bay with 2P15, the 12:50 Penzance - Plymouth on 09.12.2024. Copyright Jon Hird.