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The last inbound bitumen trains brought out the crowds at Preston Docks, including social media and television personality Francis Bourgeois.
With more than five million followers across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, Francis, whose real name is Luke Nicholson, shot to fame in recent years with his social media videos which capture his joyous reactions to trains and railway rolling stock.
He has also authored a book, The Trainspotter’s Notebook, and hosts the digital series Trainspotting with Francis Bourgeois for Channel 4.
And the TikTok trainspotter was down on Preston docks on Monday, 20 January, to watch the final Colas bitumen train roll to Ribble Steam Railway and then on to the Total Energies plant on Riversway.
Total Energies said volumes of bitumen, which is a form of crude oil, had become insufficient to sustain the rail movements between Teesside refineries and Lancashire, with road haulage set to be the preferred mode of transport.
For more than two years, the movements, operated by Colas Rail Freight, have originated at Haverton Hill, near Billingham on Teesside.
Ribble Steam Railway hauled the tankers on the final section of line between the docks and the Total Energies plant.
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