The Anonymous Widower

Sunrise On Ravenstruther Rail Freight Terminal In Scotland

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Railfreight.com.

This is the opening paragraph.

The long awaited rebirth of Cloburn Quarry has been celebrated onsite. The former coal handling depot in South Lanarkshire has been inaugurated as a new aggregates terminal, serving the continued growth of the UK infrastructure and construction industry. The onsite quarry will supply materials, with the facility to handle both outbound and inbound loads.

It is a fascinating article, which explains how Cloburn Quarry has opened a rail terminal to supply its customers by rail.

This Google Map shows the Ravenstruther Rail Freight Terminal.

It is very simple being a horseshoe shaped double-track with a connection to the West Coast Main Line.

• Trains would appear to be loaded and unloaded on the Western limb.
• The railway line across the top of the map is the West Coast Main Line..
• Glasgow is to the West with Carstairs station a few miles to the East.
• Glasgow Central and Carstairs stations are 28.7 miles apart.

If the business grows there would appear to be plenty of space to expand.

This second Google Map shows the relationship of the Ravenstruther Rail Freight Terminal and Cloburn Quarry.

Note.

1. In the top right corner of the map, the red symbol marks Carstairs station.
2. It is possible to pick out the rail freight terminal to the South of the pink arrow making Kingdom Park Homes.
3. Cloburn Quarry is the large brown-red scar in the bottom-right corner of the map.

It would appear that the quarry and the rail freight terminal must use heavy trucks along the A70 and A73 to move the aggregate between the two sites.

Operation Of The Quarry

According to the article, the quarry is a source of red granite, which can be used for dressing roads and rail ballast, which is distributed all over the UK and even to Europe.

Having a rail terminal on the West Coast Main Line, must be a big advantage.

As with the rail terminal at Penmaenmawr, which I wrote about in Penmaenmawr Quarry Rail Terminal Opens, this terminal will benefit with locomotive developments that should happen in future.

Both battery-electric and hydrogen-electric capable of using the electrification of the West Coast Main Line, would bring this freight terminal up a level in terms of zero-carbon operation.

It is also likely, that within a few years, there will be heavy eight-wheeler trucks and loading shovels powered by hydrogen to transport and load the aggregates.

January 18, 2022 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Cloburn Quarry, Decarbonisation, Quarrrying, Ravenstruther Rail Freight Terminal, West Coast Main Line