Petrol Additives and Refinery Chemicals
Petrol Additives
Petrol has long been associated with firms producing 'additives', up to the 1950s carburine, benzene and benzole (all recovered from coal tar) and alcohol were not infrequently added to petrol. All of these additives raised the octane level, helping to prevent 'knocking' in the engine. The coal tar based additives were originally sold as a fuel in their own right but motorists found they worked better mixed with petrol, adding the benzole reduced the problems of 'knocking' in the engine (which was finally 'solved' by adding tetra ethyl lead or TEL from the mid 1920s, but the use of benzole continued into the 1950s). It was also discovered that a chemical made from bromine called dibromoethane (DBE) was very effective in preventing the build up of lead inside engines.
Several firms offered a benzole blend as this raised the octane rating of the petrol. The best known is National Benzole, set up after World War Two to sell benzole from plants established during the war. National Benzole was taken over by BP in 1957 (although again the brand remained in use). From the mid 1950s the use of coal tar additives declined, finally ending (I believe) in the 1960s)
Alcohol was a promising fuel in its own right (in the form of ethanol), the original Model T Ford of 1908 would run on either petrol or ethanol and up to the 1920s a lot of American farmers made their own to run their machinery (prohibition in the US saw many of the 'stills' they used destroyed by the police). The US oil companies then began a negative publicity campaign against alcohol (although in truth it was better than petrol in high performance engines), alcohol was thereafter sidelined in the USA. In France in the 1920s the Government decreed that all petrol had to have at least 10 percent alcohol added to it and Germany followed suit. By the mid 1930s every European country was offering motorists alcohol blended fuels. In Britain there were two popular alcohol blended brands in the 1930s, Cities Service Oil Co 'Citex Koolmotor' alcohol blend spirit had about 16 percent alcohol in the mix, most of the petrol was imported by some petrol and the alcohol were UK sourced. The Koolmotor alcohol blend seems to have disappeared just before or during World War Two. Cleveland's 'Discol' brand was about 25 percent alcohol. the alcohol was mainly supplied by the Distillers Company (the 'Discol' brand was a contraction of Distillers Company alcohol). Esso bought into Cleveland during the later 1930s and obtained a controlling interest just after the war (although the brand was still used).
Companies providing additives (and who used rail transport) include:
British Refined Motor Spirit Co.
This company, based in Bristol, sold benzole from 1903. The parent company (Butlers, see below under Oil Companies) definitely operated some rail tank wagons but I have not found a reference to benzole tanks (which would be Class A). I am not sure when they ceased trading under this name but in 1952 the parent company went into partnership with the local gas board to set up Bristol & West Tar Distillers, this in turn was bought by British Steel in 1970, regarding both of which see 'Lineside Industries - Coal Tar Distillers'. By 1965 Butlers had moved their own operation to their oil products plant centered on the new Rockingham Works at Avonmouth, where they operated under the name of Butlers Chemicals Ltd., but I believe they only used road transport.
British Benzol and Coal Distillation Ltd
This company was set up in 1929 as a joint venture between Bedwas colliery and various investors. Based at the Bedwas coal mine in Monmouthshire they built a large coke plant, selling the coke to steel works, the gas to local towns and processing the by-products themselves. By 1930 they operated at least one Class B 14 ton tank wagon. This business shut down in about 1985 as the demand for coke (its principal product) had ceased with the closure of the steel works. A firm trading under the same name operated some petrol stations in either 1960s or 70s and from the 1970s there was a nation wide association of domestic heating oil suppliers trading under the name, however I do not think these were connected to the original Bedwas operation (I could be wrong). The heating oil suppliers business was bought by Total Butlers in 2005.
Newcastle Benzole Co
This company was based at Priestman Ottovale Coke and Tar Works (part of the Priestman Collierys organisation), they are particularly worthy of note as they are claimed to be the first in the world to produce petrol from coal, known as Blaydon Benzole. The works replaced an older firm 'Blaydon Burn Coke Ovens' of 19th century origin in about 1930. They operated some Class A tanks in their livery, the company name above the red band and Blaydon on Tyne below. See also 'Oil from Coal and Other Synthetic Fuels' above..
Benzole Producers Ltd
I was not able to find this companies history, they had branches all over the country in the later 1960s (many associated with gas works), and the Government run Gas Council had a 2 percent stake in all of them in the mid 1960s. They built some branded Class A rail tank wagons in the early 1950s (these were still operating in the later 1960s), some of these were marked 'BENZENE' and others were marked 'BENZOLE' and the numbers were in the 800s and 900s. This organisation may have been connected with National Benzole but I am not at all sure of that.
Fig ___ Benzol Producers rail tanks
Distillers Company Limited (DCL)
Formed in 1866 by a group of Scottish whiskey distillers, they provided the alcohol for Cleveland petrol, the Discol brand in the Cleveland range was a contraction of Distillers Company Alcohol. I have not yet traced any photographs of the rolling stock used, they may have employed hired wagons or possibly wagons supplied from Cleveland's fleet but DCL did I believe operate Class A wagons (the sketch below is based on a preserved wagon).
Fig ___ DCL Class A tank wagon
ICI
ICI produced petrol from coal and later from creosote at their Billingham works, they also supplied benzole to Cleveland for blending with their petrol(they may also have supplied other firms with benzole). The sketch below is based on a photo of an ICI methanol tanker, the benzole tanks would have been similar (I have not yet been able to confirm the livery used for ICI benzole tanks, but the oil refineries also took in quantities of methanol).
Fig ___ ICI Class A tank wagon
ICI had a lot of elderly tanks with an inverted L of timber over the hand rail/tie-bar along the tank side, apparently to provide a walkway. These appear to be small barreled acid tanks. Some of these were still wooden chassis designs and operating on the main line in the 1960s. I believe these were 'acid' tanks, probably used for nitric and sulphuric acids but I am not sure what they carried or to where. Pre war they were a light colour, possibly white, and had the company name on the vertical plank of the inverted 'L' running along the side. Post war they were a dark colour with the ICI logo at one end and something I couldn't read at the other.
In the later 1940s ICI began to build a giant integrated chemicals plant at Wilton on Tees, part of which was an oil-cracking plant for processing petroleum oil. This came on stream in 1950.
Associated Ethyl from 1961 Associated Octel
See also 'Lineside Industries - Chemicals, salt and plastics industries' for more on this company and its rail operations. In the late 1930s the UK Government set up plants to produce tetra ethyl lead (TEL) and dibromoethane (DBE) (prior to this all supplies had been imported from the USA. The TEL plant was at Northwich in Cheshire and the DBE plant was at Hayle in Cornwall. In the early 1950s a new DBE plant was built at Amlwch, I think the Hayle plant closed at about this time. Somewhere about this time the plants were privatised as The Associated Ethyl Company Limited, the name changed to The Associated Octel Company limited in 1961. This company also set up a plant at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire in 1940 (I think this was another TEL plant). All these plants were rail connected. The Amlwch plant closed in 2003 but rail services had ended in the early 1990s, the traffic having switched to road (rather bizarrely on the grounds of 'safety').
To shift the TEL they have used a number of 'demountable' tanks (transported on railway company owned 'conflat' wagons) as well as rather some 'continental' looking rail tank wagons (with a platform on one end and built to full RIV ferry specifications, there are some wagons in the Continental ranges that would serve with a repaint of the tank body). Some of the containers did not have the difficult to replicate logo, an example is shown below. This horizontal type had a dove grey tank and is not difficult to model (the tanks from the W&T twin-gas tank kit make a fair starting point). Some of these tanks were carried on standard BR conflat wagons (I think some had purpose built chassis, still owned by BR, but these may just have been older pre-nationalisation container flats).
Fig ___ Associated Octel TEL demountable tank
This company used an octagonal logo on some containers and their tank wagons which is difficult to replicate. Early examples were orange and had the word Ethyl in them, by the early 1960 they were blue on a white background with Octel on them. The logo was only used on some of the demountable tanks, these were basically a vertical cylinder and hence not too difficult to model. They were white so a printed wrapper made on a computer could be used (these tanks also had a large orange and black data panel on the side which would be near impossible to do by hand in N).
Fig ___ Associated Octel blue logo
In 2007 Associated Octel became Innospec, it remains a world scale chemicals company specialising in fuel additives.
James Cosgrove & Sons
This company (based in Warrington) also operated TEL demountable tanks, built by BR in the 1950s. I could not trace the company history, they may have been a contractor used by Octel. Their tanks were slightly different, having rather more clutter on the top and the Fleetline 'sulphuric acid' tank might serve as the basis, see also 'Livery - Tank Wagons'. The small white lettering on the sides of the turquoise tank would be difficult (having said which they get very dirty very quickly so some serious weathering can cover up any messy bits). These tanks were supplied on purpose built chassis I believe, so the standard Peco chassis as recommended in the Fleetline kit can be used.
Fig ___ James Cosgrove & Sons TEL demountable tanks
Chemicals Used by Refineries
Phosphoric acid is an important industrial chemical, it was discovered in the 1850's and has been produced in considerable quantity. Phosphoric acid is used in a range of processes (see 'Lineside Industries- Chemicals') including petrol additives. It is often shipped as a clear liquid in specially lined tank wagons and drums (it attacks iron based metals and eats through glass) but in its pure form it is a solid transparent crystalline material originally shipped in jute bags but these days in lined steel drums. Peco offer a tank wagon in Albright & Wilson livery lettered for carrying phosphoric acid, this company was the market leader in this product. The model can be used on layouts from the mid 70s (when the tanks were purchased) until 2000 or shortly thereafter (when A&W was bought out by the French firm Rhodia). Note that phosphoric acid tanks are usually heavily stained with white in service.
Crude soda ash is a greyish white powder and has many uses in industry. The railways have supplied rolling stock reserved for this traffic since at least the 1920's and BR reserved and branded some of their COVHOP wagons and the open sand wagons fitted with two door restraining bars and a sheet supporter specifically for this traffic (see also 'Lineside Industries - Chemicals, salt and plastics industries for more on this stuff).
Fig ___ BR soda ash wagon
Caustic Soda (sodium hydroxide, sometimes called Lye) is a strong bleaching agent, requiring some care in handling. It is commonly supplied mixed with water and delivered in tank wagons to larger users, and is also supplied as white pellets in 10 lb cans. I believe some of the tank wagons used for caustic soda in the pre world war two era may have been of the 'hutched' type as shown below (although I am not certain on this).
Fig ___ Hutched chemicals tank
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