Rail Freight
Hinkley stone: No 66004 can be glimpsed in the distance with a 20-wagon train of stone from Whatley quarry at the jetty site on 21 May 2018. Richard Giles
OVER THE next six years, stone from the Mendips is needed for the construction of Hinkley Point C power station on the Somerset coast. Up to five trains a week are operating from the quarries to Avonmouth docks, from where the material is transferred by sea to the power station site. The west wharf branch on the docks has seen no rail movements for a number of years, but this is being revived and a new jetty is being built on the Bristol Channel to accommodate the flow. Arriving stone is being stockpiled pending completion of the jetty.
Avonmouth also imports stone from Belfast, which is moved by lorry from the wharf to a rail siding, from where it goes to Theale and West Drayton. Richard Giles
