Feltham Marshalling Yard, with SR 4-8-0T shunting geograph-2638685-by-Ben-Brooksbank

Feltham marshalling yard, also known as Feltham hump yard, was a large railway

marshalling yard A classification yard (American and Canadian English (Canadian National Railway use)), marshalling yard (British, Hong Kong, Indian, Australian, and Canadian English (Canadian Pacific Railway use)) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway ya ...

designed for the concentration of

freight Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including transp ...

traffic to and from South West London, and for transfer to other marshalling yards in London. It was built on the

Waterloo to Reading Line Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, a battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat * Waterloo, Belgium, where the battle took place. Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Antarctica *King George Island (S ...

. It opened in 1918 and was closed by

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 ...

on 6 January 1969. Part of the site is now being rebuilt to stable Class 701

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numbe ...

trains for South Western Railway (SWR).

History

During the early years of the twentieth century, the

London and South Western Railway The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter ...

(LSWR) experienced a substantial growth in its freight traffic to and from London, and for transfer to other railways. By 1910 this traffic was beginning to overwhelm the existing facilities at

Nine Elms Nine Elms is an area of south-west London, England, within the London Borough of Wandsworth. It lies on the River Thames, with Battersea to the west, South Lambeth to the south and Vauxhall to the east. The area was formerly mainly industrial bu ...

. Plans were therefore made for a hump

marshaling yard A classification yard (American and Canadian English ( Canadian National Railway use)), marshalling yard (British, Hong Kong, Indian, Australian, and Canadian English ( Canadian Pacific Railway use)) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway ...

and

motive power 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 ...

at Feltham. The purchase of of land was confirmed in 1911, with additional land being purchased in 1915. This location gave excellent access to the company main lines as well as direct links to 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 ...

and

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

, and to the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

, Great Northern Railway and

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...

via the North London line. The plans were confirmed on 30 March 1916, and work started soon after with the help of around 200 German

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

. The first nine ‘down’ sidings were opened on 9 December 1917 and the remainder by 2 October 1921. The yard was completed in 1921 and incorporated two gravity shunting humps and equipped with the latest automated technology including electrically operated points, and widespread use of

track circuit A track circuit is an electrical device used to prove the absence of a train on rail tracks to signallers and control relevant signals. An alternative to track circuits are axle counters. Principles and operation The basic principle behind t ...

s. In 1929, the new

SR Z class The SR Z class was an 0-8-0T 3-cylinder tank engine designed by Richard Maunsell and intended for heavy shunting on the Southern Railway, the first eight entering into service in 1929. It was a successful design and would have been built in g ...

shunter were trialled at Feltham before entering service across the Southern network. With of track, (the longest siding being in length and the shortest being ), it could handle 2,500 wagons a day. These were brought in by 50 down and 26 up trains, and being removed by 18 down and 46 up services. This was, probably, the busiest marshalling yard in the country at that time. Up to 3,390 wagons could be sorted per day and an incoming train of wagons could be sorted in 12 minutes. The yard fulfilled an important part in the rail network for over four decades, especially during World War II, passing in to Southern Railway ownership in 1923 and

in 1948. However with the reduction of freight traffic carried by rail in the 1960s, the yard became redundant and closed on 6 January 1969. Part of the yard is occupied by the

Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

's Jubilee Mail Centre, which handles work for the TW, KT, GU postcode areas as well as parts of South and West London.

Heathrow Airtrack

In the late 2000s, the site was proposed to be used as a train depot for the

Heathrow Airtrack Heathrow Airtrack was a proposed railway link in the United Kingdom which would link Heathrow Airport in west London to London Waterloo railway station in Central London. The line, as proposed by BAA, would run from across the suburbs of ...

project, given its location close to Staines. Following the

financial crisis A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and man ...

, Airtrack was cancelled by the

British Airport Authority Heathrow Airport Holdings is the United Kingdom-based operator of Heathrow Airport. The company also operated Gatwick Airport, Stansted Airport, Edinburgh Airport and several other UK airports, but was forced by the Competition Commission to se ...

in 2011 due to lack of funds for the project.

SWR Feltham depot

In 2018, South Western Railway proposed to build a new depot on the site on the old marshalling yard. Despite not being used for railway purposes since the late 1960s, the site had remained in railway ownership. In June 2020 the new £60 million depot started construction, and was completed in late 2020. The depot will stable ten 10-car Class 701 EMUs serving the

Waterloo–Reading line The Waterloo–Reading line is a National Rail electric railway line between London Waterloo and Reading. The line runs west through a series of South West London suburbs to Reading, in central Berkshire. Its passenger operation is by South We ...

, as well as providing facilities for traincrews. Feltham Locomotive Depot 4 geograph-2655852-by-Ben-Brooksbank

Motive power depot

Plans were made for a new automated locomotive servicing depot at the marshalling yard, to replace an existing depot at Strawberry Hill (which was converted into an

servicing depot). The shed was with six roads and could accommodate 42 locomotives. There were inspection pits throughout and a 50-ton engine-hoist. There was also an electrically driven turntable and an electrically operated coaling plant. In 1921,

Robert Urie Robert Wallace Urie (22 October 1854 – 6 January 1937) was a Scottish locomotive engineer who was the last chief mechanical engineer of the London and South Western Railway. Career After serving an apprenticeship with and working for various ...

, the

Chief Mechanical Engineer Chief mechanical engineer and locomotive superintendent are titles applied by British, Australian, and New Zealand railway companies to the person ultimately responsible to the board of the company for the building and maintaining of the locomotive ...

of the LSWR introduced four large 4-8-0 shunting

tank locomotive A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a tender-tank locom ...

s of the G16 class specifically to operate the yard, and five similar H16 class of

4-6-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. The locomotiv ...

T to undertake the transfer freight workings from Feltham. In addition the depot had a large allocation of H15 and S15

4-6-0 A 4-6-0 steam locomotive, under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, has four leading wheels on two axles in a leading bogie and six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles with the abse ...

locomotives for heavy freight duties. The G16 and H16 locomotives were all withdrawn between 1959 and 1962, and the depot was closed by

in 1967.

References

{{coord, 51.45, -0.39, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Rail yards in the United Kingdom 1918 establishments in England Transport in the London Borough of Hounslow Rail infrastructure in London London and South Western Railway Former buildings and structures in the London Borough of Hounslow Railway depots in England