TheOneKEA wrote:

I presume then that the spur to Claydon LN&E Junction is nominally
intact to allow the refuse trains to be propelled into the down siding
and thence to the pits, correct?

The containers are removed by way of an overhead gantry crane (and the
empties replaced) which spans one of the reception roads. I'm not sure how
the Freightliner trains (the Cricklewood and the Dagenham Dock) are
processed but in the days when I used to go up there on the Northolt trains
the procedure was firstly to deposit the shunter, who would sling the points
to give access to the terminal, the train would then pull forward onto the
reception siding, the previous day's train empties would be stabled ahead of
it on the headshunt. The loco would uncouple from the arriving train, pull
forward over the crossover into the headshunt and couple to the empties. The
empties would then be taken out past the delivered train and back out onto
the 'main' line, leaving the shunter on site. The shunter would then reset
the road to bypass the terminal. The empty train would then propel back, to
collect the shunter from alongside the points, then proceeding forwards to
Aylesbury and Northolt.