Cardiff Canton TMD ( cy, Depo Cynnal a Chadw Treganna Caerdydd) is a diesel locomotive

traction maintenance depot The motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is the place where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained when not being used. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine shed ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Wales. Its depot code is CF. It is operated by Transport for Wales. The depot is used by Transport for Wales fleet and some Cross Country Class 170s. In steam days the depot was called Cardiff Canton and its

shed code British Railways shed codes were used to identify the motive power depot, engine sheds that its locomotives and multiple units were allocated to for maintenance purposes. The former London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) alpha-numeric system w ...

was 86C. It was built in 1882 as the main maintenance base for the

South Wales Railway The South Wales Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd De Cymru) was a main line railway which opened in stages from 1850, connecting the Great Western Railway from Gloucester to South Wales. It was constructed on the broad gauge. An original aspiration was to ...

and the major Welsh engineering base for the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

(GWR). After nationalisation in 1948 it was a heavy overhaul base for

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

. After privatisation in the mid-1990s the depot became a joint

Arriva Trains Wales Arriva Trains Wales (ATW; cy, Trenau Arriva Cymru) was a British train operating company owned by Arriva UK Trains that operated the Wales & Borders franchise. It ran urban and inter-urban passenger services to all railway stations in Wales, ...

and English Welsh & Scottish facility. The EWS depot closed as a maintenance centre from 10 December 2005, but EWS' successor

DB Cargo UK DB Cargo UK (formerly DB Schenker Rail UK and English, Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS)), is a British rail freight company headquartered in Doncaster, England. The company was established in early 1995 as ''North & South Railways'', successful ...

still uses the depot for long-term storage and occasional stabling.

History

Steam

Cardiff canton geograph-2476977-by-Ben-Brooksbank

Cardiff Canton was opened in June 1882 as a six road, -long shed, built to replace Long Dyke, east of Cardiff General station. The GWR enlarged the depot in 1897 with a -diameter turntable installed in a square locomotive shed with 28 roads radiating of off the turntable. In 1925 the GWR added a locomotive repair and lifting shed and a new coaling stage. In 1931 the original -turntable was removed and replaced by a larger -diameter one at the west end of the yard. At this time, around the peak of GWR operation, the depot had allocated 50 main line passenger locomotives, 40 heavy goods/

mineral locomotive A drag freight is a long, slow, high-tonnage railroad train, often carrying commodities such as coal or ore. Compared to "fast freight" trains, drag freight trains have a very low power-to-weight ratio, making them somewhat unpredictable on steep ...

s and 30 smaller local passenger/goods and shunting locomotives. Steam traction at the depot ceased on 8 September 1962.

Diesel

In the winter of 1962–63, Kyle Stewart contracted to build for

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

ways a new £1,324,000 complex on a site.

Lord Brecon David Vivian Penrose Lewis, 1st Baron Brecon PC (14 August 1905 – 10 October 1976) was a Welsh businessman and Conservative politician. Background and education Lewis was the son of Alfred William Lewis, of Talybont-on-Usk, Breconshire, and wa ...

, Minister of State for Welsh Affairs, opened the new depot on 18 September 1964. The original allocation was 360 locomotives for major maintenance, 197 for normal maintenance and 62 shunting locomotives. Employed were 40 managerial and supervisory staff, 31 clerical staff, 382 maintenance staff and 55 unskilled staff. In 1987, the depot's allocation of rolling stock included Classes 08, 37, 47, 56 and DMUs, although Classes 33 and 50 could also usually be seen at the depot.

Allocation

* Class 08 * Class 67 **

British Rail Mark 4 The British Rail Mark 4 is a class of Passenger car (rail), passenger carriages built for use in InterCity 225 sets on the East Coast Main Line between London King's Cross railway station, King's Cross, Leeds railway station, Leeds and Edinburg ...

* Class 150 * Class 153 * Class 158 * Class 170 * Class 175 * Class 197 * Class 231 *

Class 769 The British Rail Class 769 ''Flex'' is a type of bi-mode multiple unit (BMU) and tri-mode multiple unit (TMU) which is currently being converted by Brush Traction, and running in service with Transport for Wales Rail and Northern Trains. The t ...

References

Sources