From the October 1972 issue of The Railway Magazine: A quarter-mile railway siding was laid in one week at Invergordon, with the project commissioned within three weeks of a meeting to discuss its feasibility. The development served the MK-Shand pipe-coating plant, marking a step forward in British Railways’ involvement with North Sea oil industry traffic.
Photo: British Railways, Scottish Region
Siding to North Sea oil pipe-coating plant at Invergordon
A QUARTER-MILE railway in the Scottish Highlands has been laid in one week, and commissioned within three weeks of a meeting to discuss the feasibility of the project. This development, serving the MK-Shand pipe-coating plant, Invergordon, Easter Ross, marks a major step forward in British Railways involvement in service to industry associated with North Sea oil.
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A new siding at Invergordon
The new siding joins the Inverness to Wick and Thurso line about one mile north of Invergordon Station. A meeting to investigate the possibility of laying this quarter-mile stretch of track was held on July 4 on the site. By July 7 a letter was on its way from BR to the county council’s planning officer. A BR order for the works was issued on July 10, and three days later the first top-soil was cut for the formation.
On July 16 the points for the connection were installed on the main line, and by July 20 the track was ready. The first wagons moved in next day and on July 25 the first train—carrying 90 pipes totalling 450 tons—pulled out. Loading of wagons had begun on Monday, July 24, the first piping having arrived at Invergordon by ship from Japan at the weekend.
Transporting pipes for the North Sea oil industry
The need for speed in providing the connection was caused by a tight timetable to be met for transport of 40ft.-long steel pipes from Invergordon to Tyneside, where they are being given a bitumastic coating. They then return by train to Invergordon where a final coating of cement raises the weight of each five-ton section of pipe to 11 tons, before shipping out to the Forties Oil Field.
A wrapping plant which will provide the initial bitumastic coating for the piping at Invergordon will be complete soon and then there will be no need to dispatch the pipes south, but the siding will be used to bring in 150 tons of bitumen a week by train in addition to other materials.
Growing rail traffic at Invergordon
There are already two major rail-connected industries in Invergordon—British Aluminium and Invergordon Distillers. The siding for the pipe-coating plant has increased freight activity for BR in an area which is now busier than before because of new industry. Also in connection with the North Sea oil, the small country station of Fearn, north of Invergordon, recently handled 7,250 tons of steel piles, delivered by train from Tees-side for the Highland Fabrication oil well drilling rig construction yard at Nigg Bay; and a special terminal has been set up at Craiginches, Aberdeen, for cement arriving by train.
