Loco sheds and other railway buildings...
Discussion
Prompted by a few off topic posts in the 'period classics' thread I thought I'd start a fresh one in the appropriate corner of PH and post some photos that I've gathered together or taken myself over the years. For almost two hundred years locomotive sheds, depots and servicing facilities in the UK have come and gone in all shapes, sizes and architectural styles, some of the very early ones managed to survive long past their original usage while some were built in a rush and demolished within just a few years. Visiting these places as a kid was sometimes a rare treat depending on the attitude of the staff, 'bunking round' was often a game of cat and mouse before being chased out by shed foremen, but in many cases you could get round quite easily without too much fuss so long as you asked nicely and kept out of harms way.
I'll start off with my favourite, a place I worked at in my early days on the railway - Old Oak Common in west London, the main servicing depot for Paddington. It was built in 1906 under the charge of George Jackson Churchward to replace the aging wooden sheds at Westbourne Park (just outside Paddington where the Westway now passes over the mainline) and was done on a grand scale, the main shed was a large rectangular building with four large turntables inside sometimes called a roundhouse despite not being round, each with twenty eight stabling roads radiating from them, there was also a stores building attached and a separate admin block for the offices, the shedmaster and train crew. It kept working as a steam depot until late 1964 when part of it was demolished to make way for the new diesel servicing shed, this was built inside the footprint of the main building with the chaos of every day loco running and maintenance going on around it. The new shed was officially opened in March 1965 by which time the remains of the old building and three of the turntables had been removed, one of the tables was kept in place allowing the new diesel-hydraulic and diesel-electric locos to be stabled out in the open. To the north of the original roundhouse there was also a large maintenance workshop known as the 'Factory', this was left in place and converted internally to allow work to be carried out on the new diesel traction. To the south of the roundhouse there were two long carriage sheds built, one of which housed the new 'Blue Pullman' diesel units in 1960. Sadly, all of these building are now gone and the site is now part of the Crossrail project. When I worked there from 1983 to 1985 there were something like 1,200 staff on the books, consisting of drivers, secondmen (driver's assistants), guards, office staff, fitters, shunters and carriages cleaners etc. From the day it opened to the day it closed it serviced many different types of steam and diesel locos, namely the Kings, Castles, Granges, Manors, Halls, Prairie Tanks and Pannier Tanks of the steam era, the Westerns, Warships and Hymek diesel-hydraulics and the Class 08, 31, 47, 50 and 56 diesel electrics, as well as the Inter-City125 HST sets.
The layout and scale of the depot in 1906, Paddington is just under three miles away off to the right and about half a mile to the south is Woormwood Scrubs prison, before it opened the depot was to be called Woormwood Scrubs Engine Sheds but was changed to Old Oak as it sounded a little more picturesque....
From the demolition of the roundhouse in 1965 until closure it looked like this....
My very first visit to the depot was in 1971 when my grandad took me for a (long!) walk one Sunday morning from Hammersmith, this is what a typical line up around the turntable looked like at the time....
This shot was taken from the BR Staff Association hostel at the back of the depot, where many of the train crew lived (and drank!) at the time....
Twelve years later I found myself working there having transferred over from nearby Stonebridge Park, the hydraulic classes had all gone by 1977 so it was mostly just 08s, 31s, 47s and 50s at the time....
The new servicing shed taking shape while the old one is being demolished around it 1964 / 65....
This is the first photo I ever took at the depot as a nipper in September '73, showing the redundant Blue Pullman units in the yard adjacent to the two large carriage sheds I mentioned earlier....
During the transition from steam to diesel the roundhouse must have been an incredible place to work, the atmosphere and noise under that huge roof was quite something - this 1964 shot shows the first of the 'Western' class hydraulics, D1000 'Western Enterprise' in its unique 'desert sand' livery....
These are all from the 1964 to 1985 period covering the turntable area, the Pullman shed, the loco servicing shed and the Factory....
A rerailing operation practice session for Old Oak's breakdown crane crew in late '73 using withdrawn Hymek loco D7100....
This one shows the a Maybach MD855 engine from one of the Hymeks in the Factory....
The turntable was quite tricky to operate at times, once you'd got the rails lined up you had to push a locking bar into a slot to stop it from moving when the locos moved on and off it....
Just outside the depot entrance was (and still is) the Old Oak Cafe, scene of many an argey-bargey with the Kray twins-like brothers who ran it in its hey day....
For a while the prototype HST and the gas turbine APT-E were kept at Old Oak, this was taken in 1975....
My souvenir booklet from the open day in '72....
Up until 1977 the depot had its own signalbox controlling entry and exit from the entire complex....
To round off, these are the last shots I ever took at Old Oak when it was still a working depot, with privately owned but mainline running 'Western' D1015 'Western Champion' inside the factory in November 2007....
It was a fantastic place to work with some wonderful characters, most of whom like the depot itself are now long gone.
I'll start off with my favourite, a place I worked at in my early days on the railway - Old Oak Common in west London, the main servicing depot for Paddington. It was built in 1906 under the charge of George Jackson Churchward to replace the aging wooden sheds at Westbourne Park (just outside Paddington where the Westway now passes over the mainline) and was done on a grand scale, the main shed was a large rectangular building with four large turntables inside sometimes called a roundhouse despite not being round, each with twenty eight stabling roads radiating from them, there was also a stores building attached and a separate admin block for the offices, the shedmaster and train crew. It kept working as a steam depot until late 1964 when part of it was demolished to make way for the new diesel servicing shed, this was built inside the footprint of the main building with the chaos of every day loco running and maintenance going on around it. The new shed was officially opened in March 1965 by which time the remains of the old building and three of the turntables had been removed, one of the tables was kept in place allowing the new diesel-hydraulic and diesel-electric locos to be stabled out in the open. To the north of the original roundhouse there was also a large maintenance workshop known as the 'Factory', this was left in place and converted internally to allow work to be carried out on the new diesel traction. To the south of the roundhouse there were two long carriage sheds built, one of which housed the new 'Blue Pullman' diesel units in 1960. Sadly, all of these building are now gone and the site is now part of the Crossrail project. When I worked there from 1983 to 1985 there were something like 1,200 staff on the books, consisting of drivers, secondmen (driver's assistants), guards, office staff, fitters, shunters and carriages cleaners etc. From the day it opened to the day it closed it serviced many different types of steam and diesel locos, namely the Kings, Castles, Granges, Manors, Halls, Prairie Tanks and Pannier Tanks of the steam era, the Westerns, Warships and Hymek diesel-hydraulics and the Class 08, 31, 47, 50 and 56 diesel electrics, as well as the Inter-City125 HST sets.
The layout and scale of the depot in 1906, Paddington is just under three miles away off to the right and about half a mile to the south is Woormwood Scrubs prison, before it opened the depot was to be called Woormwood Scrubs Engine Sheds but was changed to Old Oak as it sounded a little more picturesque....
From the demolition of the roundhouse in 1965 until closure it looked like this....
My very first visit to the depot was in 1971 when my grandad took me for a (long!) walk one Sunday morning from Hammersmith, this is what a typical line up around the turntable looked like at the time....
This shot was taken from the BR Staff Association hostel at the back of the depot, where many of the train crew lived (and drank!) at the time....
Twelve years later I found myself working there having transferred over from nearby Stonebridge Park, the hydraulic classes had all gone by 1977 so it was mostly just 08s, 31s, 47s and 50s at the time....
The new servicing shed taking shape while the old one is being demolished around it 1964 / 65....
This is the first photo I ever took at the depot as a nipper in September '73, showing the redundant Blue Pullman units in the yard adjacent to the two large carriage sheds I mentioned earlier....
During the transition from steam to diesel the roundhouse must have been an incredible place to work, the atmosphere and noise under that huge roof was quite something - this 1964 shot shows the first of the 'Western' class hydraulics, D1000 'Western Enterprise' in its unique 'desert sand' livery....
These are all from the 1964 to 1985 period covering the turntable area, the Pullman shed, the loco servicing shed and the Factory....
A rerailing operation practice session for Old Oak's breakdown crane crew in late '73 using withdrawn Hymek loco D7100....
This one shows the a Maybach MD855 engine from one of the Hymeks in the Factory....
The turntable was quite tricky to operate at times, once you'd got the rails lined up you had to push a locking bar into a slot to stop it from moving when the locos moved on and off it....
Just outside the depot entrance was (and still is) the Old Oak Cafe, scene of many an argey-bargey with the Kray twins-like brothers who ran it in its hey day....
For a while the prototype HST and the gas turbine APT-E were kept at Old Oak, this was taken in 1975....
My souvenir booklet from the open day in '72....
Up until 1977 the depot had its own signalbox controlling entry and exit from the entire complex....
To round off, these are the last shots I ever took at Old Oak when it was still a working depot, with privately owned but mainline running 'Western' D1015 'Western Champion' inside the factory in November 2007....
It was a fantastic place to work with some wonderful characters, most of whom like the depot itself are now long gone.
I've been enjoying the Architecture the Railways Built series on "Yesterday" channel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Architecture_the...
Good photos above. Clever how they can fill a toppled diesel with helium and then lift it back onto the onto the rails with one hand....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Architecture_the...
Good photos above. Clever how they can fill a toppled diesel with helium and then lift it back onto the onto the rails with one hand....
Gosport railway station was a terminus station designed by William Tite and opened to passenger and freight trains in 1841 by the London and South Western Railway. It was closed in 1953 to passenger trains, and in 1969 to the remaining freight services.
This post was brought to you by the Gosport Tourist Board.
Thanks for the comments gents, a few more photos from Old Oak then I'll move on to some other locations when I've found the pics I'm after....
1977....
The end is nigh....
Edited to add : thankfully the turntable survived the slaughter and was donated to the Swanage Railway.
1977....
The end is nigh....
Edited to add : thankfully the turntable survived the slaughter and was donated to the Swanage Railway.
Edited by P5BNij on Sunday 7th March 17:15
MoggieMinor said:
Some stunning photos there P5BNij. Those diesel hydraulics were scrapped way before their time. Especially the Westerns.
The problem with the diesel hydraulics - even the Westerns - was that it proved impossible to fit them with ETS (Electric Train Supply), which was essential for hauling modern air conditioned coaches. The 50s which replaced the Westerns were fitted with ETS from new (they didn't have steam heat fitted).York Roundhouse in 1970, this is now the National Railway Museum....
Polmadie shed in Glasgow i n1971, a dark and dismal place if ever there was one....
Thornaby on Teeside c.1974 / 75....
Barrow Hill, which is now a museum....
Frodingham in the '70s.... typical of many Eastern Region depots it looks very bleak....
Kings X stabling and fuelling point in the mid '60s with St.Pancras in the background....
Up until c.1969 Leicester had a roundhouse with the turntable open to the elements, at the time some of the Class 27s had yet to migrate north to Scotland....
Polmadie shed in Glasgow i n1971, a dark and dismal place if ever there was one....
Thornaby on Teeside c.1974 / 75....
Barrow Hill, which is now a museum....
Frodingham in the '70s.... typical of many Eastern Region depots it looks very bleak....
Kings X stabling and fuelling point in the mid '60s with St.Pancras in the background....
Up until c.1969 Leicester had a roundhouse with the turntable open to the elements, at the time some of the Class 27s had yet to migrate north to Scotland....
Scrump said:
Gosport railway station was a terminus station designed by William Tite and opened to passenger and freight trains in 1841 by the London and South Western Railway. It was closed in 1953 to passenger trains, and in 1969 to the remaining freight services.
This post was brought to you by the Gosport Tourist Board.
Note to Wacky Racer - love the old S&C, haven't been over if for ages. Was supposed to do some loco training / handling over it at one time but, er , snow stopped play so we didn't bother!
Reddish Depot on the old electrified trans-Pennine route from Manchester to Sheffield....
Crewe Loco Works in 1973....
Just found another shot of Leicester showing the open air roundhouse, it's much more continental looking than most British depots, it was built in the '50s but didn't last long, although part of one wall survives in car park....
Edited by P5BNij on Sunday 7th March 18:17
Scrump said:
Gosport railway station was a terminus station designed by William Tite and opened to passenger and freight trains in 1841 by the London and South Western Railway. It was closed in 1953 to passenger trains, and in 1969 to the remaining freight services.
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