Hither Green (London) Traction Maintenance Depot or Hither Green (London) TMD is a railway depot used for the maintenance and servicing of freight trains adjacent to the
Hither Green marshalling yard
A fossil word is a word that is broadly obsolete but remains in current use due to its presence within an idiom, word sense, or phrase. An example for a word sense is 'navy' in ' merchant navy', which means 'commercial fleet' (although that sense ...
. The depot is a hub for moving freight around southeast England. Hither Green TMD is owned and operated by
DBS. The official depot code is HG. In steam days the
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 73C.
The depot is situated south of Lewisham, to the southeast of
Hither Green station
Hither Green is a railway station located in Hither Green in the London Borough of Lewisham, south-east London. It is down the line from and is situated between and either or depending on the route.
It is a busy commuter station with serv ...
between the railway station and
Lee station on the Sidcup line and between Hither Green station and Grove Park station on the
Orpington line.
Motive power depot
![Hither Green Shed geograph-2396457-by-Ben-Brooksbank](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Hither_Green_Shed_geograph-2396457-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg)
A modern concrete-fabricated
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 she ...
was opened by the
Southern Railway on 10 September 1933 to service its new
marshalling yard at Hither Green. Facilities included a coal stage line and a turntable. It was principally as a freight depot with, responsible for cross-London transfer freights and received a batch of
SR W class
The SR Class W were 3-cylinder 2-6-4T tank engines designed in 1929 by Richard Maunsell for use on the Southern Railway. They were introduced in 1932 and constructed at Eastleigh and Ashford. The class was intended for short distance, inter-co ...
2-6-4 tank engines for this purpose.
During the 1950s the depot also began to acquire a number of diesel shunters of the
08 and
09 classes It ceased to service steam locomotives in October 1961, but the buildings continued in use to service diesel locomotives.
Traction maintenance depot
The buildings became a
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 ...
. Half of the original engine shed was demolished in 1993, but the remains were modernized with the original locomotive turntable still in existence.
In 1982 the depot became part of
Railfreight
Railfreight was a sector of British Rail responsible for all freight operations on the British network. The division was created in 1982 when BR sought to assign particular stock and management to the evolving requirements of freight traffic ...
. It became part of
English Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS) in February 1996. The former British Rail Civil Mechanical & Electrical Engineering department (CM&EE), which had been based here since 1991, became part of
Balfour Beatty
Balfour Beatty plc () is an international infrastructure group based in the United Kingdom with capabilities in construction services, support services and infrastructure investments. A constituent of the FTSE 250 Index, Balfour Beatty works acr ...
. A new structure for housing Balfour Beatty's maintenance stock was opened in December 1997.
Allocation
Between 1959 and 1962, ninety eight Type 3
British Rail Class 33
The British Rail Class 33, also known as the BRCW Type 3 or Crompton, is a class of Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives, ordered in 1957 and built for the Southern Region of British Railways between 1960 and 1962.
They were produced as a more po ...
were allocated to the depot. Many of these were subsequently transferred to
Eastleigh
Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census.
The town lies on the River Itchen, ...
but in 1979 there remained forty-five members of the class.
In 1980 the depot had an allocation of forty-two Class 33, five class 08 and four class 09. The class 33 began to be phased out in 1990 and were completely withdrawn by 1998 when the depot lost its permanent locomotive allocation.
Frequent visitors to the depot during the 1970s and 1980s were
British Rail Class 73
The British Rail Class 73 is a British electro-diesel locomotive. The type is unusual in that it can operate from the Southern Region's 650/750 V DC third-rail or an on-board diesel engine to allow it to operate on non-electrified routes. Thi ...
Electro-diesels,
Class 47s and
56s together with occasional visits by
British Rail Class 25
The British Rail Class 25, also known as the Sulzer Type 2, is a class of 327 diesel locomotives built between 1961 and 1967 for British Rail. They were numbered in two series, D5151-D5299 and D7500-D7677.
Background
The Class 24 locomotives ...
,
British Rail Class 31
The British Rail Class 31 diesel locomotives, also known as the Brush Type 2 and previously as Class 30, were built by Brush Traction from 1957-62. They were numbered in two series, D5500-D5699 and D5800-D5862. Construction of the first locomot ...
and
British Rail Class 37
The British Rail Class 37 is a diesel-electric locomotive. Also known as the English Electric Type 3, the class was ordered as part of the British Rail modernisation plan. They were numbered in two series, D6600–D6608 and D6700–D6999.
Th ...
diesels. Some Class 31 were displaced from Toton and temporarily transferred to Hither Green to work engineers' trains, but these were withdrawn in 2001. Likewise
British Rail Class 58 were transferred in 2001 until their withdrawal on 2 September 2002.
Regularly seen at Hither Green TMD are:
*
Class 59/0 diesel locomotives owned by
Foster Yeoman
Foster Yeoman Limited, based near Frome, Somerset, England, was one of Europe's largest independent quarrying and asphalt companies. It was sold to Aggregate Industries in 2006.
History
The company was founded by Foster Yeoman, from Hartlepool ...
and operated by
Mendip Rail
Mendip Rail Ltd is an independent freight operating railway company in Great Britain. It is a joint venture composed of the rail-operation divisions of Aggregate Industries (formerly Foster Yeoman) and Hanson Aggregates (previously ARC).
The ...
(numbered 59001-59005 excluding 59003).
*
Class 59/1 diesel locomotives owned by
Hanson plc
Hanson UK, formerly Hanson Trust plc, is a British-based building materials company, headquartered in Maidenhead. The company has been a subsidiary of the German company HeidelbergCement since August 2007, and was formerly listed on the London ...
and operated by Mendip Rail (numbered 59101-59104).
*
Class 59/2 diesel locomotives owned and operated by
DBS (numbered 59201-59206).
*
Class 66 diesel locomotives owned and operated by DBS (numbered 66001-66250).
* The Structure Gauging Train top & tailed by various locomotive traction and
DVTs.
Also nearby is
Grove Park Depot and Sidings
Grove Park Sidings is a large stabling complex for suburban commuter trains in Lewisham, South East London. It is situated approximately halfway between Hither Green Station and Grove Park station.
Grove Park Sidings were previously named Hither ...
operated by
Southeastern Trains. This provides traincrew and stabling for some of Southeastern's
Electric Multiple Unit fleet. Located next to the Up sidings there is the Grove Park Safety Training Centre accessed from Brownhill Road (A205 South Circular) in Catford.
The
Hither Green derailment happened just outside Hither Green TMD on the railway line between
Hither Green
Hither Green is a district in south-east London, England, in the London Borough of Lewisham. It forms the southern part of Lewisham, 6.6 miles (10.6 km) south-east of Charing Cross, and on the Prime Meridian.
Growing extensively with ...
and
Grove Park stations.
The drivers and locomotive involved in the
Eltham (Well Hall) derailment were allocated from Hither Green TMD.
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hither Green Tmd
Railway depots in London
Transport in the London Borough of Lewisham