Talk:Ardrossan

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[edit] Shell Mex

"Shell-Mex developed an oil refinery in Ardrossan from a World War II aviation fuel canning factory, and the harbour was expanded for the company's tanker ships to berth. Local residents blocked plans in the 1960's for further expansion of the refinery, limiting the operations that could be carried out there. Operations at Shell-Mex in Ardrossan ceased in 1986."

Are you sure that the oil refinery was developed from the aviation fuel canning factory? I understood that was originally in the Inches which I believe is the town itself but was moved to Montfode when it was realised that it was not a good idea to be filling cans with aviation fuel in the middle of the town! Montfode appears to have mainly stored fuel oil for ships in the five(?) large tanks as well as more further inland. There seem to have been fuel tanks in the harbour in WWI for refuelling submarines and ships, these were taken over by Shell Mex in the 1920s as a distribution depot. I presume it was this that became a small oil refinery? --jmb 16:23, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

The Bunker Port

The Inches

I don't know about the fuel canning facility myself, but I do know that the Shell facility proposed reclaiming land in the 60's but residents nearby (I assume the houses facing onto the facility) objected. I think this might be one reason why Shell closed in later years, it's possible that it might still have stayed open, at least for a while longer. Would it be worth mentioning that in the hills above Ardrossan there were underground storage tanks? Douglasnicol 19:29, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

I get impression that the aviation fuel canning facility was quite small and separate from the tanks near the harbour. I don't know much about the refinery but it sounds as if it was an addition to the existing distribution depot.

I mentioned the underground storage tanks aty Montfode. There are three(?) semi buried tanks which probably held aviation fuel, there is a brick buildingnear there which probably became the replacement can filling facility (it is noticeably well ventilated as would be expected). There are then the remains of five buried (or semi buried) tanks above there which seem to have held fuel oil for shipping. About a mile inland there seems to have been another group of tanks that might have been on the surface or partially buried, it is hard to tell and strangely there does not seem to be a bund for them. (Sorry pictures are not too good, must replace them some time). --jmb 20:01, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

I confess it was myself that wrote that way back when I created the article, before I actually registered a username. To be honest, I can't recall where that claim came from as it was over 2 years ago now, but I do remember being slightly surprised at the time - as the town was/is some distance from the nearest airfield and given the poorer transport links in those days the fact that it was aviation fuel did seem odd. However, it was from a written history of the town so I'm afraid I didn't question it's legitimacy at the time.

On reading this discussion this morning I found this webpage on Ardrossan that suggests the harbour held fuel for submarines during the First World War, prompting Shell to move in during the 1920s. This is a far more realistic prospect, and the mention of "tanks together with the necessary pipelines and pumps" could be alluding to the tanks at Montfode.

I live a stone's throw away from the tanks and I really don't know anything about them, nor have I ever had a consistent explanation for them, though I always assumed the fact that they were buried/turfed over was to camouflage them from the air, meaning they served some sort of defensive purpose.

Given that I can't find the source of the claim in the article, and the far more convincing evidence, I'm all for it being changed. --Ayrshire--77 07:33, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

It does seem a strange place for the aviation fuel canning plant but the cans would be for sending abroad probably. Airfields tended to need much larger quantities of fuel and often had pipelines feeding them (many of these still in use). The cans were the flimsy ones that preceded Jerry cans. Perhaps they were loaded on ships to go abroad. Another thought, there were merchant ships that carried a single aircraft, I wonder if they carried fuel in cans as the aircraft would only make one flight from the ship. It could just be that they needed a plant near somewhere with storage facilities and Ardrossan had space and spare capacity at the time.

The later plant at Montfode has a siding off the railway line with a platform and loading ramp.

You could see traces of the route of the pipeline down from Montfode to the harbour, probably used for pumping fuel up there and then refuelling ships in the harbour. --jmb 09:32, 30 June 2006 (UTC)