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.
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
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
ecsrobin said:
monkfish1 said:
Harpoon said:
Yes it is. Not an unusal occurence!!!Voila....!
Harpoon said:
Oops! Was it a crane job to pull the loco back?
I don't think so no, there isn't really room to get the large crane in close enough, I'd imagine it was all done with hydraulic bottle jacks etc.Here's Leicester in 1984, with the stabling and fuelling point laid out on the site of the '50s roundhouse....
Willesden Roundhouse in may 1962....
Leeds Holbeck in 1974, another one built on the site of a former roundhouse....
I took these shots of the admin block at Saltley a few weeks before it was demolished, I was waiting to relieve a train there and had a mooch about....
A full house at Saltley in 1972, the 33 on the right has probably worked some oil tanks into nearby Bromford Bridge....
The train crew lobby at Wigan Springs Branch in August 1974....
Leeds Holbeck in 1974, another one built on the site of a former roundhouse....
I took these shots of the admin block at Saltley a few weeks before it was demolished, I was waiting to relieve a train there and had a mooch about....
A full house at Saltley in 1972, the 33 on the right has probably worked some oil tanks into nearby Bromford Bridge....
The train crew lobby at Wigan Springs Branch in August 1974....
Edited by P5BNij on Monday 8th March 14:21
matchmaker said:
bristolracer said:
matchmaker said:
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).
I thought the Hydraulics were withdrawn owing to reliability? The diesel Hydraulic system being far more complex than the simplicity of a diesel electric? Talking of Crewe, here are some shots taken in the loco works in the early '70s....
Interesting - I though Holbeck was long gone after the Peaks were all withdrawn.
Prossies - used to see them plying their trade on the 'lawn' at Paddington when we were taking the newspaper vans in and out on the night shift, they used to sit on the benches waving their stiletto boots about, they had their hourly rates written on the soles in black marker pen!
Some more oldies - Thornaby shed in 1965....
Moving away from depots for a mo, some every day views of Reading General in 1967 and 68, the whole place is unrecognisable now since it was remodelled a few years ago.... notice how smart most people dressed in those days too....
Note the Bournemouth electrification poster on the left, scheduled to start three days after the last steam hauled train left Waterloo....
Peter Purves filming a spot for Blue Peter.... the 'Reading General' brown and cream totem sign could easily fetch two or three grand now....
Prossies - used to see them plying their trade on the 'lawn' at Paddington when we were taking the newspaper vans in and out on the night shift, they used to sit on the benches waving their stiletto boots about, they had their hourly rates written on the soles in black marker pen!
Some more oldies - Thornaby shed in 1965....
Moving away from depots for a mo, some every day views of Reading General in 1967 and 68, the whole place is unrecognisable now since it was remodelled a few years ago.... notice how smart most people dressed in those days too....
Note the Bournemouth electrification poster on the left, scheduled to start three days after the last steam hauled train left Waterloo....
Peter Purves filming a spot for Blue Peter.... the 'Reading General' brown and cream totem sign could easily fetch two or three grand now....
Technically you can depart from Birmingham New St in two different directions to get to London, due to the layout of the triangular junctions at Soho and Perry Barr to the north. You can actually go round and round in circles, by going via Soho, Perry Barr and Aston passing through New St all day long
My mate took these photos of Wellingborough Depot when he was road learning the Midland Mainline many years ago, sadly they were demolished, the roundhouse is still there (it is now listed apparently) but there's a new road running through the site of the servicing shed....
My mate took these photos of Wellingborough Depot when he was road learning the Midland Mainline many years ago, sadly they were demolished, the roundhouse is still there (it is now listed apparently) but there's a new road running through the site of the servicing shed....
The Rotrex Kid said:
Thanks for sharing that, I love a bit of Cornish railway line history. My brother took this in January '89 on the way down to Penzance, up front is 50 015 'Valiant'....
ralphrj said:
Venisonpie said:
Further South there's the odd track arrangement at Souldrop where 2 lines run through a cutting and 2 run through an adjacent tunnel.
Is that the Wymington Deviation? I was curious about that, apparently it was originally built to reduce the gradient for goods trains.
Looking for something else on youtube earlier I came across this old favourite, the Blue Pullman run from Paddington to Birmingham Snow Hill.... road learning made easy....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ-NOmN3TkE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ-NOmN3TkE
Gareth1974 said:
I’ll have a lot of pictures to upload to this thread, so here’s a start, Saltley Power Signal Box, where I started my career on the railways in 1990.
Centre of the known universe according to two of my old guvnors who both started at SY as secondmen in the '70s! Post as much as you like Gareth Some local stuff to me - Rugby Midland in the late '50s with the route to Brum and the North West at the top of the pic and the old Midland Counties line to Leicester branching off top right, bottom right of the pic is part of the loco shed which had twenty five roads.... at one time it was possible to depart from the town in nine different directions by train....
A Class 40 / EE Type 4 hauled southbound passenger working has failed in the up platform and is being assisted by another 40 in 1965....
One of the local 08s at Bilton Sidings on the remains of the Leamington branch in the late '70s, the line off to the right went into Rugby Portland Cement Works and was the scene of my first incident in 1982, I'd called the driver on with a handsignal before the level crossing gates had been opened just round the corner and he propelled a rake of coal wagons right through them, not my best day on the railway....!
The 1965 built power box at Rugby taken in 2010 during the massive remodelling project when it was decommissioned....
Incredible contrast there Phil between 92220 and the AC 'leckies
More Rugby area bits 'n' bobs - the last train on what was left of the Great Central line awaits departure back north to Nottingham Victoria at Rugby Central on 3rd May 1969, the line had already been truncated just south of the station in 1966....
Rugby PSB's territory when opened in 1965, the line to Leicester isn't shown as it closed in '62 and the GCR line passing over the top at the south end is also missing from the diagram....
A Class 85 sits in the old platform 8 bay c.1980 with an assorted rake of parcels vans, at weekends the bays at both ends of the station would often be full of 25s and AC electrics around this time....
The last remnants of the GC 'Birdcage' bridge were removed and cut up on site over the Christmas 2006 period, I was on a couple of the ballast jobs that week so grabbed some photos before it was too late. Decades before this my dad and his mates used to play chicken on the bridge as kids, daring each other to run the full length of it before a train appeared....
The very last Rugby - Peterborough train calls at Lilbourne, the second station out of Rugby in June 1966 with Sulzer Type 2 D5036 up front....
BR corporate image in February '67, beyond as an AM10 / Class 310 unit in the up carriage sidings....
Apologies for the crap quality - the prototype Deltic heading north out of Rugby at Newbold troughs c.1955/56....
85 014 awaiting relief on the Up Goods in November '84....
D224 on an up express on 29th March 1965, taken by Bill Wright who was quite a prolific photographer in this period....
Another of Bill's shots taken on the same day, photos of diesels on Rugby shed are quite rare....
Another 1965 shot with one of the later batch of EE Type 4s on shed, with the new AC electrics taking over the mainline work the Type 4s were often used on three coach locals on the Market Harborough line until it closed in June '66....
More Rugby area bits 'n' bobs - the last train on what was left of the Great Central line awaits departure back north to Nottingham Victoria at Rugby Central on 3rd May 1969, the line had already been truncated just south of the station in 1966....
Rugby PSB's territory when opened in 1965, the line to Leicester isn't shown as it closed in '62 and the GCR line passing over the top at the south end is also missing from the diagram....
A Class 85 sits in the old platform 8 bay c.1980 with an assorted rake of parcels vans, at weekends the bays at both ends of the station would often be full of 25s and AC electrics around this time....
The last remnants of the GC 'Birdcage' bridge were removed and cut up on site over the Christmas 2006 period, I was on a couple of the ballast jobs that week so grabbed some photos before it was too late. Decades before this my dad and his mates used to play chicken on the bridge as kids, daring each other to run the full length of it before a train appeared....
The very last Rugby - Peterborough train calls at Lilbourne, the second station out of Rugby in June 1966 with Sulzer Type 2 D5036 up front....
BR corporate image in February '67, beyond as an AM10 / Class 310 unit in the up carriage sidings....
Apologies for the crap quality - the prototype Deltic heading north out of Rugby at Newbold troughs c.1955/56....
85 014 awaiting relief on the Up Goods in November '84....
D224 on an up express on 29th March 1965, taken by Bill Wright who was quite a prolific photographer in this period....
Another of Bill's shots taken on the same day, photos of diesels on Rugby shed are quite rare....
Another 1965 shot with one of the later batch of EE Type 4s on shed, with the new AC electrics taking over the mainline work the Type 4s were often used on three coach locals on the Market Harborough line until it closed in June '66....
Flying Phil said:
Hi P5BNij
That GCR May last departure I saw arrive back in Leicester Central!
Following that train there was the meeting in the waiting room to effectively found the MLPG (Main Line Preservation Group) which became the MLST (Main Line Steam Trust) and then the preserved Great Central Railway.
And of course we still have the Loughborough engine shed which, hopefully, will still have escorted "Shed Tours" when allowed.....
Taken in 2018
I had no idea the GC preservation group were that quick off the mark Phil. A mate of mine who's recently retired was in Rugby Power Box that day on an errand from the station and remembers seeing that last DMU going over the Birdcage bridge on the way back north, apparently the entire viaduct from there right across the to the Avon Valley flood plain was festooned with detonators, the noise must have been quite something. Our Booking On Point is in a building on Great Central Way, more or less on the site of the old Loco Testing Station, the large warehouse right opposite was built on what's left of the embankment that took the line north from there.That GCR May last departure I saw arrive back in Leicester Central!
Following that train there was the meeting in the waiting room to effectively found the MLPG (Main Line Preservation Group) which became the MLST (Main Line Steam Trust) and then the preserved Great Central Railway.
And of course we still have the Loughborough engine shed which, hopefully, will still have escorted "Shed Tours" when allowed.....
Taken in 2018
Edited by Flying Phil on Wednesday 10th March 12:09
Edited by Flying Phil on Wednesday 10th March 12:10
More Rugby stuff -
It was unusual to see a Peak at Rugby in 1984, especially stabled overnight in one of the bays, although the coal train from Toton for Rugby Cement Works sometimes brought one over to us....
D334 heading south in 1961....
Brush Type 2s were sometimes used on the Peterborough jobs....
South end bays in 1983.... we used to get sick of the sight of the 25s in those days hoping something more exotic might turn up like a 20 or a 37, I really miss them now (the first loco I ever drove was 25 051)....
This one was taken further along the Market Narborough line at Theddingworth in 1966, the bridge here was used in the Stanley Baker film 'Robbery' in March and April the following year....
Great bit of nostalgia there
It's just reminded me that one of the lads I work with 'rescued' the operating panel from Tinsley Yard Hump 'box.
Some of the boxes I've frequented for one reason or another over the years, usually to fill up the enamel brew can....
Does anyone remember steam lances being used on locos to clear snow from pointwork....? This is Padd in January '79....
It's just reminded me that one of the lads I work with 'rescued' the operating panel from Tinsley Yard Hump 'box.
Some of the boxes I've frequented for one reason or another over the years, usually to fill up the enamel brew can....
Does anyone remember steam lances being used on locos to clear snow from pointwork....? This is Padd in January '79....
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