An almost brand new 9F (Aussie blink/Spaceship) 2-10-0 92151 heads south with an afternoon ICI Billingham to Birmingham DRIKOLD train. DRIKOLD was solid blocks of Carbon Dioxide produced at ICI Billingham & used, amongst other things, in the refrigeration of food products – due to the blocks slowly vapourising or melting they were placed in thick brown paper bags & put into the refrigerated square containers seen on the train in the picture – the train was then given high priority over other traffic to get it to its destination as quickly as possible. DRIKOLD continued to be made at ICI Billingham until the mid/late 1970s.
Photograph courtesy of David P.Williams.
Hi,
I model railways and the Drikold containers look very interesting so I was wondering if anyone knew where they were sent to by rail? A post above mentions Blackpool and I have seen photos of them in York and in the west country, but did any go to Scotland. I model the Carlisle area so would be interesting in knowing if any business there used the product or if they containers would have passed through Carlisle heading for Glasgow or possibly for the ferry to Northern Ireland.
I worked in the Drikold plant from 76-91, first on days then on to shifts. What I remember was that it was freezing during the winter and cool during the summer well the ice was -79c. In the mid 80s they bought some machines from France for £750,000 which were placed in one little part of the building so they could do away with the purifying vessels which were over 40ft tall and full of charcoal which purified the raw CO2 gas and the seven very large compressors (one went to a museum because it was over 60 years old). The condensation section which turned the gas to liquid CO2 and the generating platforms where the ice was made plus the cooling tower went as well, so to make the dry ice all they needed was the liquid CO2 from no2 or no3 plant. In the end they were getting competition from Norsk Hydro which was backed by the Norwegian government and I.C.I couldn’t match their prices so the plant ceased production in 1994.
Remember seeing a number of Saltley 21A 9Fs on the Dri -Kold turn C1959, including 92157 and 92048 on a couple of occasions. A Birmingham engine on Teesside on a regularly diagrammed service was unusual enough to merit us a mention in the monthly Trains Illustrated at that time as I remember.
Yes Ian, now in Glasgow. I looked out for this train on most days at the time and only ever saw a 9F on it once. I was fortunate to have the camera with me at the time (March 1959). It”s believed that the train was heading for Birmingham which would make sense as the loco was shedded at 21A (Saltley). Despite this it was much more common for a York B16 to be in charge.
Would the David Williams who posted the photo be the one who lived on Junction road and attended Grangefield school? Although I used to train spot at this very place, I never ever saw this class of locomotive! Was I just unlucky or was this a one-off visit? I was under the impression that they were shedded further north to handle the coal and iron ore trains up to Consett. Have I got it wrong again?
The loco in the picture would be no more than two years old at that time. Two hundred and fifty one 9Fs were built between 1954 and 1960 with a life expectancy of 30-40 years. The last of the class built 92220 “Evening Star” was also the last steam locomotive built for British Railways in March, 1960, yet 5 years later it was withdrawn for preservation. By August 1968 steam had disappeared from B R. In the picture 92151 looks fairly presentable ,but the often atrocious external condition of the 9Fs and most other steam engines at the time , showed the increasing difficulties of recruiting motive power staff for and running a steam railway.
Great photo of the “Dri-Kold”with its 9F after all these years. Dri-Kold used to be used for portable refrigeration eg Eldorado ice cream packed in wooden boxes, which was sent all over the country. As well as the 9F engines I remember once seeing an ex LMS “Black Five”4-6-0 working this train on one occasion, not unknown, though certainly fairly rare visitors to this area. Before this the train was often worked by a York B16 locomotive, which used to go up Stockton bank light engine to Billingham in mid -afternoon.
This train usually ran as 4b44 from the east grid, as you can see it is carrying brakey lights. On lots of occasions this train came out of the east grid and ran through the beck branch and exited at north shore. Great picture Dave.
The time I worked on the grid 1955/56 most of the containers went to Blackpool others went to other parts of the country never to Birmingham. Yes Gordon usually a York B16 occasionally a V2