THE Ribble Steam Railway says it is reviewing its future resources for freight operations following oil company Total’s decision to switch bitumen deliveries to its Preston Docks site to road, writes Graeme Pickering (see Freight News, page 86).
November 30 is understood to be the official date for the end of the rail traffic flow from Haverton Hill on Teesside, Total stating that volumes of the material being processed at the plant no longer justify movement by train.
RSR formed subsidiary Ribble Rail specifically to deal with tank wagon movements between the Network Rail boundary of the Docks branch and the discharge point for Total when bitumen traffic returned to the line 20 years ago.