 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(March 2020) |
 | |
 | |
| Company type | Limited company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Recycling |
| Founded | 1920 |
| Founder | Clarence Booth |
| Headquarters | Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England |
| Website | www |
C F Booth Ltd is a family-owned scrap metal and recycling business based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England.
Clarence Frederick Booth founded the business in 1920, as a metal purchaser and trader. Over the company's history, there have been a number of associated sites and businesses including: a rail served site in Doncaster (closed); and a site in Aston, near Rotherham, which concentrated on dismantling buses. [1]
Today the company's main site is the Clarence Metal Works, located on the residual southern section of the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway adjacent to the Rotherham Ring Road. Obtained in the 1960s, the railway embankment was removed and the ground level access allowed for easier dismantling of redundant diesel and electric locomotives. This work continues at present, although a number of the vehicles bought are now resold for preservation. Many wagons, carriages, underground and departmental stock are also processed here. C F Booth was involved in one of the most high-profile scrapping contracts for British Rail of all time, with the media descending on the site for the arrival and scrapping of several vehicles from the APT fleet in 1987. Rail vehicles can still be brought in through a connection to Network Rail, although much is now brought in by road. Cable and electrical equipment is also a significant part of the business, but the interest in the railway activities and the proximity of the railway sidings to roads give this side of the business a high profile.
The Clarence Works site is essentially a scrapyard for ferrous and non-ferrous metals, and non-ferrous Melting Shop. The company's gantry cranes and three Derrick cranes make the site quite distinctive. [1]
In 1989 the company introduced a copper alloy melting division, to service the foundry industry with copper-based ingots for re-melting purposes. Today it is one of the largest manufacturers of copper based products in the United Kingdom. The firm also provides machining services on large billet and slab metal sections, which supply customers in the marine, oil and gas and defence industries. [1]
In 2012 the company achieved the Queens Award for International Trade. [1] [2] Company turnover is circa £170 million. [3]
In 1987, Ken Booth bought Rotherham United F.C. out of administration. For 17 years, the Booth family owned the club, with Booth chairman. After the collapse of the ITV Digital deal, and with club debts at £3 million, the family sold the club for a nominal £1 in December 2004 to a group of supporters led by solicitor Peter Ruchniewicz, in returning for gaining ownership of the club's ground at Millmoor (located adjacent to the firm's main scrapyard, the Clarence Metal Works), the Tivoli nightclub in front of it and the Hooton Lodge training ground. [3]
The club paid the Booths £200,000 per annum in rent, and were responsible for the grounds maintenance and up keep. The club started a ground upgrade programme, but came into dispute with the Booth's over the lease period and additional fees, which included: 30 free tickets to every home match, with entertainment; advertising in the ground; and first call on away tickets and FA Cup final tickets. [3]
In May 2008, Rotherham United left Millmoor after talks with Ken Booth broke down. [4] The team moved to the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield until 2012, when the club moved into a new community stadium in Rotherham. Millmoor is currently unused apart from its car park which has been used by C F Booth as an overspill and storage area for former tube trains awaiting scrapping. [5] [6]
Some of the vehicles passing through the yard have been sold on for preservation. Examples include Class 06 No. D2420/06003 in 1984, [7] [8] Class 08 No. D3861/08694 in 2009, [9] Class 31 No. D5630/31206 in 2006 [10] [11] and Class 50 No. D426/50026 Indomitable in 1993 during Operation: Collingwood. [12] [13]
The British Rail Class 02 are a class of twenty 0-4-0 diesel-hydraulic shunting locomotives built by the Yorkshire Engine Company in 1960 and 1961 (D2860-D2869) for service in areas of restricted loading gauge and curvature such as docks. They had the door to the cab at the rear, with a railed veranda behind the cab; this feature was very unusual on British Rail locomotives, although it was used on many Yorkshire Engine Co. designs and is quite normal in North American practice.
The British Rail Class 06 is a class of 0-4-0 diesel-mechanical shunters built by Andrew Barclay Sons and Company from 1958 to 1960 for use on the Scottish Region of British Railways. They were originally numbered D2410–D2444 and survivors after 1973 were given the TOPS numbers 06001–06010.
The British Rail Class 12 is a diesel locomotive built primarily for shunting duties around London.
The British Rail Class 31 diesel locomotives, also known as the Brush Type 2 and previously as Class 30, were built by Brush Traction from 1957 to 1962. They were numbered in two series, D5500-D5699 and D5800-D5862. Construction of the first locomotive was completed in the final week of September 1957, and the handing-over took place on 31 October. The first Class 31 entered service in November 1957, after the launch of the Class 20 locomotive and was one of the Pilot Scheme locomotives ordered by British Railways to replace steam traction.
The Harry Needle Railroad Company (HNRC) is a railway spot-hire company, based at Barrow Hill Engine Shed in Derbyshire. Prior to 2010 the company also recovered valuable spares from scrapped railway vehicles, either on the vehicle owners' sites, or at the European Metal Recycling scrapyard in Kingsbury.
Woodham Brothers Ltd is a trading business, based mainly around activities and premises located within Barry Docks, in Barry, South Wales. It is noted globally for its 1960s activity as a scrapyard, where 297 withdrawn British Railways steam locomotives were sent, from which 213 were rescued for the developing railway preservation movement.
Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered metals, and non-metallic materials are also recovered for recycling. Once collected, the materials are sorted into types — typically metal scrap will be crushed, shredded, and sorted using mechanical processes.
Before the TOPS Class 97 was issued to self-propelled locomotives in departmental use, British Rail had such locomotives numbered in a variety of series, together with locomotives that were no longer self-propelled. See Also:
The British Rail Class 37 is a diesel-electric locomotive. Also known as the English Electric Type 3, the class was ordered as part of the British Rail modernisation plan. They were numbered in two series, D6600–D6608 and D6700–D6999.
The British Rail Class 50 is a class of diesel locomotives designed to haul express passenger trains at 100 mph (160 km/h). Built by English Electric at the Vulcan Foundry in Newton-le-Willows between 1967 and 1968, the Class 50s were initially on a 10-year lease from English Electric Leasing, and were employed hauling express passenger trains on the then non-electrified section of the West Coast Main Line between Crewe and Scotland. Initially numbered D400–D449 and known as English Electric Type 4s, the locomotives were purchased outright by British Rail (BR) at the end of the lease and became Class 50 in the TOPS renumbering of 1973.
A wrecking yard, scrapyard or junkyard is the location of a business in dismantling where wrecked or decommissioned vehicles are brought, their usable parts are sold for use in operating vehicles, while the unusable metal parts, known as scrap metal parts, are sold to metal-recycling companies. Other terms include wreck yard, wrecker's yard, salvage yard, breaker's yard, dismantler and scrapheap. In the United Kingdom, car salvage yards are known as car breakers, while motorcycle salvage yards are known as bike breakers. In Australia, they are often referred to as 'Wreckers'.
MC Metals was a metal recycling company based in the Springburn area of Glasgow, Scotland.
The British Rail Class 20, otherwise known as an English Electric Type 1, is a class of diesel-electric locomotive. In total, 228 locomotives in the class were built by English Electric between 1957 and 1968, the large number being in part because of the failure of other early designs in the same power range to provide reliable locomotives.
Vic Berry's Scrapyard was a large railway scrapyard situated in the former Great Central Railway Braunstone Gate goods yard in Leicester.
The British Rail Class 56 is a type of diesel locomotive designed for heavy freight work. It is a Type 5 locomotive, with a Ruston-Paxman power unit developing 3,250 bhp, and has a Co-Co wheel arrangement. Enthusiasts nicknamed them "Gridirons", due to the grid-like horn cover on the locomotive's cab ends fitted to nos. 56056 onwards. Under its Romanian railway factory nomenclature, the locomotive was named Electroputere LDE 3500, with LDE coming from Locomotivă Diesel-Electrică and the 3500 being the planned horsepower output.
The British Rail Class 504 was a unique type of electric multiple unit that ran on 1,200 V DC third rail with side-contact current collection. All other mainline UK third rails have the electric "shoe" on top of the rail. The type was used only on the Bury Line between Manchester and Bury. They were built in 1959 at Wolverton Works, and the body was a standard type used for several electrification schemes of the time, but the high DC voltage through a side-contact third rail was unique in Britain. The trains replaced the previous five-car units built by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR) for the route, which had inaugurated this electrification scheme in 1916.
British Rail's Class 27 comprised 69 diesel locomotives built by the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company (BRCW) during 1961 and 1962. They were a development of the earlier Class 26; both were originally classified as the BRCW Type 2. The Class 27s were numbered D5347-D5415.
British Rail Class D1/3 was a locomotive class commissioned by British Rail in England. It was a diesel powered locomotive in the pre-TOPS period built by Ruston & Hornsby at their Iron Works in Lincoln. In appearance, it was similar to British Rail Class 97/6, but with an 0-4-0 wheel arrangement.
British Rail Class D2/7 was a locomotive commissioned by British Rail in England. It was a diesel powered locomotive in the pre-TOPS period built by Hudswell Clarke with a Gardner engine. The mechanical transmission, using a scoop control fluid coupling and three-speed Power-flow SSS (synchro-self-shifting) gearbox, was a Hudswell Clarke speciality.
The Millmoor Ground, commonly known as Millmoor, is a football stadium in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It was the home ground of Rotherham County between 1907 and 1925, and then its successor Rotherham United until 2008. The stadium has had no professional tenant since, but has been in use again for local youth football since 2016. It has been described as "the spiritual home" of Rotherham United.