Exeter Traction Maintenance Depot (or Exeter TMD) is a railway

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 ...

situated in

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, United Kingdom and is next to the city's main

St Davids St Davids or St David's ( cy, Tyddewi, , "David's house”) is a city and a community (named St Davids and the Cathedral Close) with a cathedral in Pembrokeshire, Wales, lying on the River Alun. It is the resting place of Saint David, W ...

station. The depot is operated by

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 ...

and has an allocation of

diesel multiple units A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

. The first engine shed on the site opened in 1844 and had an allocation of locomotives until 1963. It was rebuilt in 1976 but a larger three-road maintenance building and staff accommodation was opened in 2021.

History

Exeter St David's Locomotive Depot 2071679 b7561fb7

An engine shed was opened at Exeter by the

Bristol and Exeter Railway The Bristol & Exeter Railway (B&ER) was an English railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter. It was built on the broad gauge and its engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It opened in stages between 1841 and 1844. It was allied with ...

when it opened the line to here in 1844. A second facility was added a few years later by the South Devon Railway and the two were combined under the

(GWR) in 1876. The Bristol and Exeter had been worked by the GWR until 1849 but then purchased its own locomotives. Temporary workshops for these were built at Exeter but a permanent facility at Bristol was opened in 1851. When

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 ...

introduced new shed codes in 1950, Exeter-based locomotives carried an oval cast plate with the code '83C'. The last locomotives based here were sent elsewhere from 14 October 1963, but the shed area was kept as a fueling and stabling point for locomotives and

diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

s (DMUs) working in the area. From 29 December 1976 it was recognised as a depot again, even though no locomotives were allocated there at the time, and given a new code 'EX'. The shed was used for many years without a roof, but in 1980 a new covered maintenance area was built. New facilities were provided at the depot in 2011, including a new fueling point, and also jacks so that DMUs do not have to be sent empty to Bristol when they require lifting. It was announced in January 2018 that £40 million was being invested into a new train maintenance depot at Exeter to allow expansion to the existing depot and fleet.' Completion was delayed due to engineering problems and the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

but was completed in 2021 having cost £56 million.

Description

2019 at Exeter TMD (71) cladding the main building

The new depot building which opened in 2021 has a three-storey block accommodating staff and their facilities opposite platform 6 of St Davids station. Behind this is a three-road maintenance shed. Two roads can take a five-car train while the shorter road for three-car trains is equipped with lifting jacks and a crane. There are stabling sidings alongside the maintenance shed and the old 1980 shed. There is also a train wash and fuelling facilities

Allocation

In the 1920s there was a mixture of tank locomotives for local services and small tender engines for longer distance services. For example in 192 the were 35 locomotives (including 517 Class 0-4-2Ts, 1976 Class 0-6-0PTs, 2301 Class 0-6-0s, 4000 'Star' Class 4-6-0 and 4300 Class 2-6-0s) plus a single

railmotor Railmotor is a term used in the United Kingdom and elsewhere for a railway lightweight railcar, usually consisting of a railway carriage with a steam traction unit, or a diesel or petrol engine, integrated into it. Steam railcars Overview In th ...

. The last steam locomotives were taken away in 1963. The depot's fleet of

DMUs A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

at the start of 2010 comprised 74 coaches formed as: * 6 two-car ' Pacer' units * 8 two-car 'Pacer' units * 17 two-car units * 12 single-car units The Class 142s had been based here since December 2007, on lease from

Northern Rail Northern Rail, branded as Northern, was an English train operating company owned by Serco-Abellio that operated the Northern Rail franchise from 2004 until 2016. It was the primary passenger train operator in Northern England, and operated th ...

. They were returned in November and December 2011 after second-hand Class 150/1 sets were received from

London Midland London Midland was a train operating company in England which operated the West Midlands franchise between 11 November 2007 and 10 December 2017. It was owned by the British transport group Govia. London Midland was created as a result of Gov ...

. The Class 143s were transferred from St Philip's Marsh to Exeter in December 2008, but three of the units worked in the Bristol area each day for several years on services on the Severn Beach Line and the

Bristol to Taunton Line Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in S ...

, returning to Exeter every other day for servicing. By 2021 the fleet had become * 20 two-car units * 11 two-car units The depot is also visited by and ' Networker' units. The longer roads of the new shed can accommodate five-car or or four-coach trains but they are not routinely scheduled to visit the depot for maintenance.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Exeter Tmd Railway depots in England Rail transport in Devon Buildings and structures in Exeter

History

Description

Allocation

See also

References