Grain Refinery
The Hoo Peninsula’s
first oil refinery was that of Berry Wiggins. Opened in 1932 on the site of a
former airship base at Kingsnorth, it had an annual refining capacity of 190,000
tons at its zenith. However, this was to be bettered substantially by a nearby
complex owned by British Petroleum (BP). In the late 1940s, the Anglo-Iranian
Oil Company secured the Isle of Grain as the proposed site for a huge
oil-refining complex, one which would have nearly twenty-four times the annual
capacity of the Berry Wiggins operation. Construction began in 1950, with the
first crude oil being processed in 1953. From the outset, this complex could
refine 4,500,000 tons of crude oil annually, the majority of which was shipped
in from the Middle East. Smaller quantities of the product were also delivered
from Libya, Nigeria, Venezuela, and South America. In total, there were twelve
jetties available to serve sea vessels: nine of these could accommodate the
largest oil tankers of the era, such ships being up to 80,000 tons (dead
weight). Three jetties served smaller craft, the largest of which were generally
19,000 tons.
The oil industry became the saviour of the Hoo Peninsula branch line. Port
Victoria had already been in decline before the closure of its deep-water
railway pier in 1916, and the Southern Railway’s 1932-opened spur to
Allhallows-on-Sea had never been the lucrative venture originally envisaged.
First used to convey Royalty to and from boats, the route’s raison d'ętre was
now to serve oil flows. Furthermore, a new station was brought into use, simply
called ‘’Grain’’. A terminus, it consisted of a single prefabricated concrete
surface, with a platform face on either side. This replaced the
earlier-conceived Grain Crossing Halt and Port Victoria, formally coming into
use on 3rd September 1951. There was no form of weather protection in evidence on this
platform, but since it was merely used as an alighting point for refinery
workers, rather than the general public (although the latter could certainly use
it), this was trivial. The station itself was north-westward facing, and its
layout was controlled by an all-brick two-storey high signal box, positioned on
the ‘’up’’ side, at the London end of the platforms. This was of the typical
functional design of the period, near identical examples emerging at Belvedere
and Appledore during the same era. Immediately to the west of the station laid
four parallel ‘’loading’’ sidings. Here, pipes were suspended above the tracks
on gantries; when tanker wagons were stabled underneath, refined oil could be
transferred to them. It would appear likely that these rails were not in use
from the outset, instead appearing during the site’s expansion (which will soon
be touched upon). As of 1970, Britain's oil wells produced 83,000 tons of crude
oil, against imports which totalled 101,000,000 tons.
The final day of passenger working along the marshy route, to both Allhallows-on-Sea and Grain,
was on Sunday 3rd December 1961, but the refinery had continued to go from strength
to strength. Subsequent expansion of this already large complex between 1956 and
1960 increased the annual refining capacity to a staggering 11,000,000 tons (58
times the capacity of nearby Berry Wiggins). During the process, quite a maze of
lines had been created between the various oil drums. By 1956, the Anglo-Iranian
Oil Company had become BP, and four oil refineries were on offer:
Grain was the largest refinery of those listed, but its sheer size did not prevent its decline. By 1980, large quantities of refined oil was arriving from the United States, and in 1983, the refining apparatus at Grain was deemed obsolete. Whilst refining may have stopped, shipments to the site continued, and the purified product was stored within holding drums before despatch. The last rail oil flow from Grain ran in 1999, but storage drums were retained on the island, despite the sidings being allowed to fall into a state of dereliction. Since, the branch had acquired yet another new lease of life: container flows had commenced along the route in 1990, with the opening of Thamesport, and the former site of Port Victoria station had become a rail-served gravel works. The future of the western-most section of the branch from Hoo Junction had been secure since 1961; in this year, a spur opened to the Portland Cement Works at Cliffe, this of which itself became a gravel operation from 1969 onwards.
All photographic captions on this page have kindly been provided by David Morgan.
Isle of Grain Track Plan: November 1992
Isle of Grain track plan from November 1992, including connections with Thamesport. Diagram by David Morgan
28th December 1991
On the way to Grain: Class 33 Nos. 33063 and 33050 ''Isle of Grain'' (with TML logo above name) are seen
fronting the ''Crompton Constructor'' rail tour. This ran from Wolverhampton to Dover Western Docks, taking
in the Grain and Sheerness-on-Sea branches en route. In the background can be seen Grain power station.
© Wayne Walsh
8th May 2004
View north from ''B'' Gate Level Crossing. If you look along the right hand track it can be seen to pass through
a gap in the fence: this is the boundary between BP track and DB Shenker (formerly EWS) track. Just beyond
the fence the line splits into two where it used to run either side of the Grain Station island platform. The two
tracks to the left of the fence are the last remains of the BP Refinery Exchange Sidings which once occupied
the adjacent flat area. Caption: David Morgan; Photograph: David Glasspool
8th May 2004
This is ''B'' Gate Level Crossing which now gives road access to Thamesport. However, as the name suggests,
it once formed one of several gates giving access to the BP Refinery.
Caption: David Morgan; Photograph: David Glasspool
Return to the Kent Rail Homepage or alternatively, check for Updates.
Website & Copyright information - Links - Contact the Webmaster
All content is copyright © David Glasspool unless otherwise stated