A general view of the yard taken from the roof of an EPB, This was the scrap road so anything on this road was scrapped within a week the 3 roads alongside were the longer term residents and was mostly DMU's
One of the long term residents was former Cardiff 116 which was still in Valley Lines livery.
51140 was C335 but had later been transferred to Tysley for the last couple of years of its life where it had been renumbered to T319
Another 415 which came straight out of service was NSE liveried 5455, most of these units still had their travel cards in the cabs showing they had been in traffic the week previously
Another 115 No51874 is seen in the yard
One day we got there and there had been a delivery of EPB's and many of them including 5196, if memory serves me right this unit had been transferred via the Nene Valley Railway where it had been used for filming an advert for Nat-West, if anyone can find it on the internet could you please let us know
How to scrap an EMU
On one of my trips we were fortunate enough to see them scrap a unit.
The unit to be scrapped was Class 413 4CAP 3303, the leading unit was uncoupled and pulled by and excavator into the asbestos shed where the material around the heaters were removed, a little while later it was pulled out the other end of the shed into the scrapping area.
Gwent Demo didn't use Oxy Acetylene to cut the units their preferred method was to rip the vehicle apart with an excavator.The excavator bucket had one of the bucket teeth extended and this was used like a finger in the dismantling process.
Once the vehicle was dragged out the excavator operator was using the bucket finger to hit the door handles this would allow the doors to fall open he would then use the bucket to pluck the doors off their hinges.
The vehicle was then pulled onto its side where the side was pulled off and the roof peeled back, the seats and interior were scooped out as if it were a boiled egg.
It was then righted and the remainder of the roof and the other side were removed leaving the cab to be the last remaining part of the structure which was soon plucked off the underframe.
The entire process to strip the body of the underframe took around 10 minutes
Its AC/DC not the rock band but the Metal is just as Heavy.
For me it is the only time I have seen a 25kv AC unit alongside a 750V DC unit
A class 101 Met-Camm unit 54372 is seen in the yard, it is coupled to other 101 Centre Cars and a couple of Mk1's
930997 was used as an Emergency Excersise Training Unit and renumbered from unit 5406, withdrawn 9-3-92 and used similarly to the earlier ones. It remained in blue/grey and spent some time stored derelict at Maidstone West prior to disposal. Coaches were renumbered into the departmental series as follows:- ADB977777 (14303), ADB977778 (15230), ADB977779 (15285) and ADB977780 (14356). Moved for scrapping from Bournemouth 21-4-94 to Gwent Demolition
One of the few 108's I saw here was the NSE liveried L755.
Most of the DMU's I saw here were former London based units
Article and all image by Amy Adams
In the mid 90's a new company came on the scene for scrapping former BR rolling stock.
The company specialised in scrapping multiple units taking DMU's and Southern Region EPB's, there were a few other types scrapped but they were one off's.
The company leased some roads in the old Hump Yard at Margam which is located near the steelworks at Port Talbot worked from that site for a few years until the scrapping contracts dried up.
Gwent Demolition Scrapyard
Located in Margam, South Wales
Class 115 with a large hole in it.
The scrapping hadn't started on 51673 but a little bit has been preserved.
The guys from the Midland Railway Centre had been down and they had removed body sides to stitch into their 127's which had been converted into parcels units
This was the view visitors were greeted with at Margam.
The building is the asbestos shed which was under construction and the mountain on the left is the scrap pile which was sorted and taken away to the companies main site in Newport for processing
A number of 2 car units were also scrapped there this is a 416 6302 in NSE livery and is coupled up to another 416 in Blue & Grey
Class 108 53982 became part of a Sandite/Route Learning set at Swansea, It was renumbered 977816 and was one of 4 sets and this was known as Set C
Departmental Stock
On one visit we saw fire damaged L751, apparently it had been coupled to another unit when a preservation group were removing something with a gas axe when fire broke out. The yard owner wasn't too pleased as they had to comply with strict environmental regulations
Another 115 is 51863 coupled to a heavily stripped 117 centre car.
At the time DMU preservation was taking off so it was quite common to see teams from different preservation groups down there every week
There was another Thumper scrapped at Margam this was 207001, saldy it was scrapped before I had chance to go down to see it
Another unit to give up its bodyside is 51875 from unit 441
All the shots so far shows regular service stock but a number of Departmental vehicles met their demise here
Fans of this site will recognise the next unit, its Departmental Hastings Unit 1066.
Made up from the unit 1002 the motor cars were sent to Margam
Left is 60002 later to become ADB9777376
Below is 60002, ADB9777376
Postal Unit 302 992 was sent to Margam.
This unit was converted for postal use with bodyside removed for roller shutter doors but was withdrawn before the conversion was finished. The roller shutters had never been fitted there was overspray in the door openings and the front hadn't been repainted