Railway at Westerloch, near Wick?

[Arthur Figgis]

Contemplating the map on my way to Wick last weekend, I noticed a
fairly substantial (~8km) narrow gauge railway shown to the north,
running inland from Westerloch:

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=333650&Y=958440&A=Y&Z=3

Does anyone know what it is/was/will be, and where I might find some
photos? Peat might seem an obvious use, but it seems to end in some
trees. Iron-age broch-building tramway?

I didn't get chance to investigate during my 45min at Wick.

[davy]

Post by Arthur Figgis
Does anyone know what it is/was/will be, and where I might find some
photos? Peat might seem an obvious use, but it seems to end in some
trees. Iron-age broch-building tramway?

A bit more modern than peat! Oil. Or gas. Pipe sections were delivered
to Georgemas Junct. by rail, moved by road to the "ng railway" where
they were put on trolleys and welded up into 5km lengths. The railway
then acted as a slipway for the launching of the pipeline: it was towed
out to sea (with the ends suitably sealed) and connected to the previous
length on the seabed.

The "John O'Groat Journal" had further details. A google might find
their web-site - if they have one... ;-)

(A similar post to this may appear when my ISP's server recovers from
its UPS failure)

[Michael Parry]

Post by davy

Post by Arthur Figgis
Does anyone know what it is/was/will be, and where I might find some
photos? Peat might seem an obvious use, but it seems to end in some
trees. Iron-age broch-building tramway?

A bit more modern than peat! Oil. Or gas. Pipe sections were delivered
to Georgemas Junct. by rail, moved by road to the "ng railway" where
they were put on trolleys and welded up into 5km lengths. The railway
then acted as a slipway for the launching of the pipeline: it was towed
out to sea (with the ends suitably sealed) and connected to the previous
length on the seabed.
The "John O'Groat Journal" had further details. A google might find
their web-site - if they have one... ;-)

There's a brief discussion at http://www.cyclingforums.com/t79662.html
including
----------------
There are three rail tracks, 2 the whole length of the track and a third
approx. halfway in land to the landward end. The Pipeline bundles are
built and pulled along the tracks. The pipe sections are welded together
supported on bogies and pulled along the track until there is a complete
7.5 km bundle, the bundle then floats off the bogies as it is towed
offshore.
---------------

[Arthur Figgis]

On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 21:26:47 +0100, Michael Parry

Post by Michael Parry
There's a brief discussion at http://www.cyclingforums.com/t79662.html
including
----------------
There are three rail tracks, 2 the whole length of the track and a third
approx. halfway in land to the landward end. The Pipeline bundles are
built and pulled along the tracks. The pipe sections are welded together
supported on bogies and pulled along the track until there is a complete
7.5 km bundle, the bundle then floats off the bogies as it is towed
offshore.
---------------

Aha, thanks to that I've got some details:
http://www.subsea7.com/PDF/Towed_Production_Systems.pdf

Bundle Fabrication Facility
Subsea 7’s UK pipeline bundle fabrication facility was custom built in
1979 and is utilised exclusively for the fabrication, testing and
launch of pipeline bundles in the North Sea. The site is located
approximately six miles north of the town of Wick in Scotland and
extends from the shoreline at Sinclair's Bay landward for 7.6 km in an
east-west orientation. The site which has received substantial CAPEX
investment over the years currently is fully equipped with two
fabrication shops, offices, stores, spool welding, pipe storage areas
with overhead cranes and four launch construction tracks, two of which
run for 7.6km

Some photos:
http://www.pascaud-offshore.nl/P-O%20Skene/photos/photo_1.html

Also
http://os.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=ARCHI&ARTICLE_ID=23264&VERSION_NUM=1
http://www.nrm.org.uk/html/EXHIB_PB/NORTH/html/lt010102.asp (Thurso is
further north, surely?)

Wow. No wonder it is so straight. Have any particularly extreme track
bashers managed to find a way of doing it yet?!

[Mike Laine]

Post by davy

Post by Arthur Figgis
Does anyone know what it is/was/will be, and where I might find some
photos? Peat might seem an obvious use, but it seems to end in some
trees. Iron-age broch-building tramway?

A bit more modern than peat! Oil. Or gas. Pipe sections were delivered
to Georgemas Junct. by rail, moved by road to the "ng railway" where
they were put on trolleys and welded up into 5km lengths. The railway
then acted as a slipway for the launching of the pipeline: it was towed
out to sea (with the ends suitably sealed) and connected to the previous
length on the seabed.
The "John O'Groat Journal" had further details. A google might find
their web-site - if they have one... ;-)
(A similar post to this may appear when my ISP's server recovers from
its UPS failure)

A bit more here with the cyclists

http://www.cyclingforums.com/t79662.html

Mike

[Dave Sallery]

Post by davy

Post by Arthur Figgis
Does anyone know what it is/was/will be, and where I might find some
photos? Peat might seem an obvious use, but it seems to end in some
trees. Iron-age broch-building tramway?

A bit more modern than peat! Oil. Or gas. Pipe sections were delivered
to Georgemas Junct. by rail, moved by road to the "ng railway" where
they were put on trolleys and welded up into 5km lengths. The railway
then acted as a slipway for the launching of the pipeline: it was towed
out to sea (with the ends suitably sealed) and connected to the previous
length on the seabed.

5km lengths! Surely Britain's longest ever trains :-)


Dave Sallery

Homepage: www.benmorfa.com (change b to p)

[David Jackson]

Post by Dave Sallery
5km lengths! Surely Britain's longest ever trains :-)

I've been searching for the copy of the John o'Groat Journal which I've
archived somewhere (probably in the loft), and for the photos I took on
my trip to the Wick area.

I watched two tugs pulling the pipeline off the railway (would that be
the largest hp for a loco? What's the hp of a sea-going tug?), and a
third tug was standing by to hitch onto the other end of the pipe as it
left the line so that the pipe could be kept straight in transit. It
seemed to be a very smooth, well-practised operation. My 5km comment
was from memory: the track was about 8km long so I suppose an 8km
"train" would have been possible.

[Dave Sallery]

On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 22:49:07 +0100, David Jackson

Post by David Jackson

Post by Dave Sallery
5km lengths! Surely Britain's longest ever trains :-)

I've been searching for the copy of the John o'Groat Journal which I've
archived somewhere (probably in the loft), and for the photos I took on
my trip to the Wick area.
I watched two tugs pulling the pipeline off the railway (would that be
the largest hp for a loco? What's the hp of a sea-going tug?), and a
third tug was standing by to hitch onto the other end of the pipe as it
left the line so that the pipe could be kept straight in transit. It
seemed to be a very smooth, well-practised operation. My 5km comment
was from memory: the track was about 8km long so I suppose an 8km
"train" would have been possible.

This is getting surreal! So we have Britain's longest and heaviest(?)
trains, which run on a narrow gauge railway. A railway which has no
locomotives but uses double headed (?) ships and carries traffic in
one direction only which is then sunk. Is it also the furthest north
railway in Britain?

Hope you find the photos


Dave Sallery

Homepage: www.benmorfa.com (change b to p)

[David Jackson]

Post by Dave Sallery
Hope you find the photos

I don't think I've actually got any. I've traced all the negs from that
trip and there's one in the sequence which is almost completely blank
which would fit in with that visit - we were there at about 21.30 on a
summer evening and I probably took a token shot to see if it would come
out. It didn't. Photos of Altnabreac I can do, but not the pipeline
site.

The web-site Arthur posted gives a pretty good idea of what happens, and
the photos are taken from much better viewpoints that anything I could
reach legally.

[Alan Norris]

On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 22:49:07 +0100, David Jackson

Post by David Jackson

Post by Dave Sallery
5km lengths! Surely Britain's longest ever trains :-)

I've been searching for the copy of the John o'Groat Journal which I've
archived somewhere (probably in the loft), and for the photos I took on
my trip to the Wick area.
I watched two tugs pulling the pipeline off the railway (would that be
the largest hp for a loco? What's the hp of a sea-going tug?),

According to this link http://www.smitwijs.com/fleet/specs_wolraad.pdf
about 19200 bhp. Mirrlees engined!

Alan

Clive Feather on Bill Foote, May 2002:
"This is complete nonsense and you are a complete idiot."

[David Jackson]

Post by Alan Norris

Post by David Jackson
I watched two tugs pulling the pipeline off the railway (would that be
the largest hp for a loco? What's the hp of a sea-going tug?),

According to this link http://www.smitwijs.com/fleet/specs_wolraad.pdf
about 19200 bhp. Mirrlees engined!

It'd take a few Sheds to match that pair of beauties. And they'd still
have to work against the one at the rear which is going slowly to keep
the pipe straight.

[g.harman]

Post by Dave Sallery

Post by davy
A bit more modern than peat! Oil. Or gas. Pipe sections were delivered
to Georgemas Junct. by rail, moved by road to the "ng railway" where
they were put on trolleys and welded up into 5km lengths.

5km lengths! Surely Britain's longest ever trains :-)
Dave Sallery

I suppose the finished pipe section is actually worthy of the name
Tube Train.

G.Harman

[David Jackson]

Post by Arthur Figgis
Does anyone know what it is/was/will be, and where I might find some
photos? Peat might seem an obvious use, but it seems to end in some
trees. Iron-age broch-building tramway?

A bit more modern than peat. Oil. Or perhaps it was gas, I can't quite
remember. The railway is/was used for "launching" pipelines. The pipe
sections were delivered by rail to Georgemas Junction, moved by road to
the ng railway site where the sections were placed on trolleys, welded
together and the long lengths were towed out to sea and connected to the
previous section on the sea-bed. I've got a copy of the "John o'Groat
Journal" somewhere which gives the details. Try a google for their
website, they just _might_ have one... ;-)