602 Shell Oil Tank

IRISH SHELL

OIL TANK WAGON 602

Builder	Charles Roberts & Co., Wakefield, England, 1910s (TBC)
Withdrawn	CIÉ, 1960s
Companies	CIÉ, RPSI
Preservation Career	1965 to present
Current Location	Whitehead Railway Museum
Current Status	On display

It is probable that 602 was built by a company who built tank wagons for many railway companies, British, Irish and further afield - Charles Roberts & Co. of Wakefield, England. By the design of it, the build date would be some time in the 1910s.

CIÉ did have wagons of this type, but of a later design, and which were built at Inchicore, but this isn't one of them. In fact, the Inchicore builds largely replaced wagons like 602.

The livery was very simple - just plain black all over, with white lettering.

Thanks to a grant from the Northern Ireland Museum Council, the former Irish Shell tank wagon has been restored for display in the new Whitehead Railway Museum.

Overhaul entailed removal of the tank from the underframe, the shot-blasting of both to remove years of accumulated rust, replacement of rotten timers and similarly rusted metal components, and re-painting into original livery for display.

Over the Christmas 2016 period, things started coming together for 602 in a bid to have it ready for the Museum opening in the spring of 2017. Following successful cutting and fitting of the wooden cradle, the oil tank went into the underframes on 29th December 2016.

In mid-January 2017, professional signwriters from AirForceOne Artwork were engaged to finish the lettering on the wagon.

It's 22nd January 2017 and 602 before it was shunted to its final display position in the Whitehead Railway Museum. (M.Walsh)

On 30/1/2016, unrestored and missing its bearings, which were removed for safe keeping at some time in the past, 602 finds itself at the front of the sheds for the first time in many years due to the building work on the Larne end of the storage sidings. (M.Walsh)

303, a similar wagon to 602, at Belfast's Maysfields goods yards in 1964. This is the Class B livery for wagons carrying less volatile heavy oils such as diesel or bitumen. (D.Coakham)

No.23 in 1971, awaiting collection by the RPSI from the Irish Shell terminal in Dublin, with a wagon of Class A livery, its silver tank and red lettering indicating it carries a volatile cargo of, say, petroleum. (A.Waldron)

Overhaul starts! The tank is lifted out of its frames on 24th September 2016. (M.Walsh)

The worst of the rust was needle-gunned off the frames outside by 8th October 2016. (M.Walsh)

Under the gantries on 5th November 2016, HEI have shotblasted the tank and the site squad have painted it in red oxide primer. Once the tank gets undercoated and the wooden cradle re-made and fitted to the frames, the tank will be able to go back in again. (M.Walsh)

8/11/2016: The frames have been shunted over the pit in Carriage Shed A-Road and cleaning and painting is virtually finished. The wooden cradle has been removed and pieces can be seen beside the frames. Some can be re-used, most were too far gone and will be re-made by HEI. The corners at the Belfast end are being alternately jacked up to permit bearing insertion; this has raised the height of the frames nearest the camera by around 4 inches back to where they should be and the slope to Larne can clearly be seen, the wagon's buffers at that end being only level with the spare Mk2 Bogie behind them. (M.Walsh)

21/12/2016: Looking towards Larne, two pieces of the wooden cradle have been made at Whitehead, the extreme Larne-end being from ex-Stables wood. The two Belfast-end pieces are original and - although perhaps ideal to replace them - there is nothing wrong with including some of the better old wood in a vehicle such as this that will not need to do anything energetic. (M.Walsh)

One of the two pieces required is sawed by James and Mark (E.Friel)

Both pieces have now been sawed, the profiles fit the tank ends. (M.Walsh)

The Larne-end gantry is used to lift the tank onto the frames which No.3BG has pushed into position. (M.Walsh)

After some juggling, the tank settled down neatly. Here the wagon is departing the sheer legs for the carriage shed. (A.Davidson)

The tank was been completed in black top coat on 5th January 2017. Once it dries, the securing straps can be added and then the signwriter can get to work to essentially finish the job. (M.Walsh)

Having carefully marked out guidelines in chalk, John from AirForceOne Artwork begins painting the lettering. (M.Walsh)

The lettering is all done! The wagon number 602 is on the end. The Tare Weight is the empty weight in Tons, Hundredweight, Quarters and Pounds. (AirForceOne Artwork)

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