Finsbury Park TMD was 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

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It was the first purpose built main line diesel locomotive depot opened in England and it was fully commissioned in April 1960. Finsbury Park was allocated

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 ...

depot code 34G under the original alphanumeric system; the two letter code of the depot was FP. The nearest railway station is

Finsbury Park Finsbury Park is a public park in the London neighbourhood of Harringay. It is in the area formerly covered by the historic parish of Hornsey, succeeded by the Municipal Borough of Hornsey. It was one of the first of the great London parks ...

. The maintenance shed held six roads. Roads seven to eleven were located to the east, with number ten road also accommodating the breakdown train shed. Additionally there were five roads of stabling in Clarence Yard, which was nearest to the main running lines. The depot was downgraded in June 1981 and closed in October 1983.Baker, p 97 The site is now covered in residential flats which can be seen to the south-west of Finsbury Park station.

The Deltics

Following the closure of

Kings Cross Top Shed Kings Cross Top Shed was a large steam locomotive maintenance and stabling depot just north of King's Cross railway station on the far side of Regent's Canal. History The first Great Northern Railway engine shed at London was built in 1850, ...

and the withdrawal of steam locomotives, much of the traction power for express passenger workings on the

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...

was taken over by Class 55 Deltic diesel locomotives. Those allocated to Finsbury Park were named after famous racehorses, whilst those allocated to

Haymarket TMD Haymarket TMD is a railway traction maintenance depot situated inside Edinburgh, Scotland, next to Haymarket railway station and Murrayfield Stadium Murrayfield Stadium (known as BT Murrayfield Stadium for sponsorship reasons, or popularl ...

and

Gateshead TMD Gateshead TMD was a railway traction maintenance depot situated in Gateshead, England. The depot code was 52A during the steam era and GD later on. It was known, along with the adjacent locomotive works, as Greenesfield or Greensfield, after ...

were named after

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

regiments.

Finsbury Park's Deltics

References

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The Deltics

Finsbury Park's Deltics

References

Further reading