Sheerness Steel
This is a large and interesting complex, located at the northern end of a tight
triangular junction with the Sheerness-on-Sea branch. First proposed in 1969,
the construction of Sheerness Steel Works was given the go-ahead in 1971,
building work beginning in that September on land largely occupied by Army
playing fields. The building cost was priced at £10,000,000 (£105,921,790 at
2008 prices), and included swallowing up a goods yard recently made redundant by
British Rail, in addition to a dock siding at Sheerness-on-Sea. The former was
in fact the remnants of Sheerness’ first terminus station, which had seen its
last passengers on 1st January 1922. It became dedicated to freight traffic
thereafter, and was formally closed on 6th May 1963.
The works, a private venture under Canadian ownership, commenced operation in
November 1972, and was designed to recycle scrap cars into steel coils and rods.
The latter were for use in reinforced concrete and the steel mill had the
capacity to process 180,000 tons of scrap metal per annum. It was envisaged that
the mill’s yearly capacity could be increased to 400,000 tons within four years
and, indeed, an additional £5,000,000 was invested in the works in 1975 to meet
this target. Steel was produced using the electric arc process, and the mill
remained a profitable venture until the second half of 1980. Much of the scrap
metal dealt with originated from Mayer Parry Recycling of Erith, this being
shipped down the Thames. Scrap metal and finished steel were also carried to and
from the works by rail, and for this operation, new wagon batches – tailor-made
for this type of traffic – were produced by ''Procor''. The rolling stock was
leased by the steel mill at a time when there were few privately-owned wagons
running on British Rail; indeed, this was one of a small number of works which
was not part of the nationalised British Steel.
On the sectorisation of British Rail in 1982, the works acquired two dedicated
Class 08 shunters: Nos. 08133 and 08216. These were turned out in the blue
livery of Sheerness Steel, matching the existing privately-owned wagons. The
locomotives were slightly modified for working in the yard: the front and rear
buffer beams were fitted with metal sheet extensions, which took the rear of the
shunters to just a few inches above rail level. The two shunters joined an
interesting collection of 0-6-0 domestic diesels on site, at least one of which
was remote-controlled. Withdrawal of the ex-BR locomotives occurred in 1995 and
one of them, No. 08133, survived into preservation. EWS has provided a shunter
since privatisation in February 1996.
For many years the Sheerness Steel Mill was owned and operated by Canadian-based
''Co-Steel'', but with this company's struggling finances, it was sold to ASW
Holdings Limited of Cardiff, Wales after a deal was finalised in December 1998.
The latter could only keep the operation going until July 2002, the company
subsequently going into receivership on 10th of that month - the end seemed nigh
for the works. However, in January 2003, Sheerness Steel was taken over by ''Thamesteel''
and the prospect of new jobs being created at the site arose.
Sheerness Steel Works: track plan incorporating Sheerness-on-Sea station and connection with the docks. Click
the above for a
larger version. Drawn by David Glasspool
1st August 2004
No. 08921 ''Pongo'' is seen parked outside the steel mill on 1st August 2004. The curvature of the tracks here is
severe, although no trouble for small wheelbase shunters. David Glasspool
1st August 2004
To the right of the previous picture, the lines are seen curving sharply around the perimeter of the buildings -
note the guide rails in place. These rails are curving round towards Sheerness-on-Sea station, and form one
side of the triangular junction with the branch line. David Glasspool
1st August 2004
In view is one of the works' domestic shunters, No L127 ''Bill''. In the foreground is the single-track line which
spurs off to the docks, crossing the main road in the process - it is marked by the warning lights and gate.
David Glasspool
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