June 2010 Archives
RAIL RUNABOUT
IN PREVIOUS columns I
have looked though the eyes of the authors of a number of related books at the
railway services provided by the old Ulster Transport Authority and Northern
Ireland Railways. Recently I came
across a Colourpoint book written by Carrickfergus man Sam Somerville in 2006.
I knew Sam some twenty-five to thirty years ago when we attended the same
church.
He was very keen on trains even then so
it comes as no surprise to me to read that he was active in the Belfast
Telegraph-inspired campaign
to Save Our Railways of a decade or so ago or that he has written a book on
trains.
Sam’s book Rail Runabout looks at the changes in rail travel in Ulster in the years between 1975 and 2005. The book takes its title from the Rail Runabout – a seven-day ticket that allowed the holder to travel the length of the NIR rail network (and Dundalk). The author used this ticket to get fine photographs of NIR and the occasional CIE trains. Sixty of so these pictures – sadly in black and white only – record his progress from Londonderry and Portrush to Dundalk with a couple of diversions along the lines to Bangor and Larne.
Given the state of the railways in 1975
it’s a wonder that we have so much left.
The railways were in quite a dreadful and dilapidated state, not least
on the Derry and Larne lines. Many
stations, notably Waterside in Londonderry and York Road in Belfast suffered
from terrorist bomb attacks. Other
stations were closed and the lines were not joined up properly. By 2005 Great Victoria Street station
had been closed and reopened again after all the rail tracks in Northern
Ireland were integrated with new halts at Botanic Avenue, City Hospital,
Yorkgate and Mossley West.
As this terrific wee book makes clear the DRD is still heavily dependent on private cars and roads. This may be a short-sighted mistake as fuel will not always be so cheap or readily available. There is real scope for maintaining and even extending or reopening Ulster’s rail network. Thankfully much good work has been done on the Larne line. Today the rundown halts at Clipperstown and Downshire have been refurbished and enhanced with park and ride facilities at Carrick, Greenisland and on the Antrim/Derry line at Mossley West. There’s still work to be done, however, especially on the Derry line.
Every picture tells a story in this
fascinating volume. I like the
1985 one showing a train passing a set of old-fashioned signals as it leaves
Carrick station in the direction of Belfast. It’s a shame that the picture is
in black and white as the train is painted in bright Sealink colours promoting
the now-defunct Larne to Stranraer ferry service. These ferries were operated by British Rail prior to the
Stena takeover which eventually took the Stranraer ferry from Larne to
Belfast. In those days the train
waited for the ferry. Today you’re
on your own if the P&O ferry from Troon to Larne comes in late as I
discovered a couple of years ago. The train will take off and leave you
stranded on the platform. That’s something that NI Railways and P&O Irish
Ferries need to sort out if rail passengers are to get a good integrated
service to and from Scotland.
Half a century ago the major ports of most countries looked and sounded a lot different. They were noisier, smellier and more crowded. Ships discharged their cargoes over many days in port. Cargo handling had not changed much from the days of the sailing ships. The work was often dangerous and backbreaking for the men whose job it was to discharge and load the ships. This was certainly true in Belfast docks. Dockers were traditionally poorly treated; working down in the holds of ships in intensely harsh conditions when work was available and left to hang around street corners in the hope of work when ships were scarce. One of the earliest labour disputes of the last century was the Belfast Dockers’ strike of 1907. The dockworkers’ betrayal by the leadership of the National Union of Dock Labourers led to the foundation of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union which still exists as SIPTU.
The nature of dock work began to change in the mid-sixties as containerisation took over. This was s simple idea that revolutionised many aspects of cargo handling and reduced operating costs immensely. Instead of an infinite variety of boxes, crates, cartons, bundles and bags which required lots of different handling techniques most cargo now came in sealed metal containers of standard length and height.
When I first began to work in the Belfast docks in 1974, containers were new-fangled things. I worked for the Head Line (the Ulster Steamship Company) that until the late sixties had dominated the North Atlantic and Baltic trade into Belfast. By the time I joined the company the big fleet had all gone; only one vessel remained, the Fair Head. This had been converted into a container ship and leased to a Canadian company under the name of the Cast Beaver.
Port operators did not always welcome containerisation because it required a lot of investment in specialised cranes and handling equipment.. The Head Line used an ordinary swinging crane at York Dock fitted with a number of lifting beams designed to lock into the standardised holes in the corners of each container. It also used specially adapted forklift trucks for lifting off empty boxes and a ‘straddle-carrier’. This allowed containers to be laid out and stacked three-high in rows. However, this makeshift workaround did not last for long and the company gave up its attempt to operate its own container terminal in 1987. Belfast has now two container terminals at Victoria Terminal 3 and Herdman Channel.
The advantages of the container revolution are obvious: it takes much less time to load and discharge ships in port and to load and unload trucks and trains at freight terminals. The cargo is protected from theft and handling damage, as it is sealed into a container at the point of loading and only opened again at its destination.
The vast majority of containers come in two main lengths; 20 feet and 40 feet. A 40-foot box can carry up to 26 tonnes of cargo. These economies of scale have transformed the business of getting raw materials to manufacturers and finished goods to customers all over the world.
Containers are not really suitable for bulk produce like oil, grain, sheet steel and the type of newsprint on which your Carrick Biz is printed. They are perfect for exporting the type of goods produced by Northern Ireland’s major manufacturers; tyres from Michelin, drink from Diageo, tobacco products from Gallaher, Lycra from DuPont and diesel generators from F G Wilson.
The Larne-based manufacturer even builds special gensets that are built-in to 20-foot and 40-foot containers. These can be godsends to aid providers in the aftermath of hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disasters, as they are quick ways to restore electrical power to devastated areas.
A
downside of containerisation is its key role in both facilitating and maintaining trade
globalisation in the 1990s. The
good side of this is the huge availability of cheap consumer goods. Virtually every item in your house, the
shoes on your feet and the clothes on you back travelled in a container. Even the bricks that built your house
came over in a container. On the other hand, the costs of transportation and
communication costs has dropped so much that companies are able to relocate
manufacturing, assembly, and distribution sites throughout the world. That’s why so much stuff is made in
China these days. Twenty-six percent of all container shipments in the world
today originate in that country. Containers are here to stay.
Half a century ago the major ports of most countries looked and sounded a lot different. They were noisier, smellier and more crowded. Ships discharged their cargoes over many days in port. Cargo handling had not changed much from the days of the sailing ships. The work was often dangerous and backbreaking for the men whose job it was to discharge and load the ships. This was certainly true in Belfast docks. Dockers were traditionally poorly treated; working down in the holds of ships in intensely harsh conditions when work was available and left to hang around street corners in the hope of work when ships were scarce. One of the earliest labour disputes of the last century was the Belfast Dockers’ strike of 1907. The dockworkers’ betrayal by the leadership of the National Union of Dock Labourers led to the foundation of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union which still exists as SIPTU.
The nature of dock work began to change in the mid-sixties as containerisation took over. This was s simple idea that revolutionised many aspects of cargo handling and reduced operating costs immensely. Instead of an infinite variety of boxes, crates, cartons, bundles and bags which required lots of different handling techniques most cargo now came in sealed metal containers of standard length and height.
When I first began to work in the Belfast docks in 1974, containers were new-fangled things. I worked for the Head Line (the Ulster Steamship Company) that until the late sixties had dominated the North Atlantic and Baltic trade into Belfast. By the time I joined the company the big fleet had all gone; only one vessel remained, the Fair Head. This had been converted into a container ship and leased to a Canadian company under the name of the Cast Beaver.
Port operators did not always welcome containerisation because it required a lot of investment in specialised cranes and handling equipment.. The Head Line used an ordinary swinging crane at York Dock fitted with a number of lifting beams designed to lock into the standardised holes in the corners of each container. It also used specially adapted forklift trucks for lifting off empty boxes and a ‘straddle-carrier’. This allowed containers to be laid out and stacked three-high in rows. However, this makeshift workaround did not last for long and the company gave up its attempt to operate its own container terminal in 1987. Belfast has now two container terminals at Victoria Terminal 3 and Herdman Channel.
The advantages of the container revolution are obvious: it takes much less time to load and discharge ships in port and to load and unload trucks and trains at freight terminals. The cargo is protected from theft and handling damage, as it is sealed into a container at the point of loading and only opened again at its destination.
The vast majority of containers come in two main lengths; 20 feet and 40 feet. A 40-foot box can carry up to 26 tonnes of cargo. These economies of scale have transformed the business of getting raw materials to manufacturers and finished goods to customers all over the world.
Containers are not really suitable for bulk produce like oil, grain, sheet steel and the type of newsprint on which your Carrick Biz is printed. They are perfect for exporting the type of goods produced by Northern Ireland’s major manufacturers; tyres from Michelin, drink from Diageo, tobacco products from Gallaher, Lycra from DuPont and diesel generators from F G Wilson.
The Larne-based manufacturer even builds special gensets that are built-in to 20-foot and 40-foot containers. These can be godsends to aid providers in the aftermath of hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disasters, as they are quick ways to restore electrical power to devastated areas.
A
downside of containerisation is its key role in both facilitating and maintaining trade
globalisation in the 1990s. The
good side of this is the huge availability of cheap consumer goods. Virtually every item in your house, the
shoes on your feet and the clothes on you back travelled in a container. Even the bricks that built your house
came over in a container. On the other hand, the costs of transportation and
communication costs has dropped so much that companies are able to relocate
manufacturing, assembly, and distribution sites throughout the world. That’s why so much stuff is made in
China these days. Twenty-six percent of all container shipments in the world
today originate in that country. Containers are here to stay.
