Rail traffic from Britain's oil refineries increased fourfold in the 1960s as demand for petrol and other transport fuels mushroomed. BR signed long-term contracts with the major suppliers involving dedicated fleets of tank wagons and specialised terminals for the various grades of refined petroleum.Demand for the heaviest refined product, bitumen, grew in line with Britain's rapidly accelerating road-building programme. In the 1960s more than 500 two-axle wagons were built specifically for bitumen, with lagged tank barrels to help the load retain its heat during transit and often also with flame tubes to allow the barrels to be warmed before discharge. The earliest designs were vacuum-braked and had a typical capacity of 22.5 tonnes, but by the middle of the decade air brakes had become the norm and the capacity had risen to around 30 tonnes.
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