The area around
Hornsey railway station
Hornsey railway station is in Hornsey in the London Borough of Haringey, north London. It is on the Great Northern route that forms part of the East Coast Main Line, down the line from , and is situated between to the south and to the nor ...
in
Hornsey
Hornsey is a district of north London, England in the London Borough of Haringey. It is an inner-suburban, for the most part residential, area centred north of Charing Cross. It adjoins green spaces Queen's Wood and Alexandra Park to the ...
(
London Borough of Haringey
The London Borough of Haringey (pronounced , same as Harringay) is a London borough in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation o ...
) has been the site of several railway maintenance facilities from the mid 19th century onwards.
Initial developments included two two-road engine sheds, built east of the station (1866) and north of the station. In 1899 a substantial eight-road engine shed was built east of the station.
In c.1973 an electric multiple unit maintenance depot was constructed as part of the electrification of the
Great Northern rail route.
A new train-wash and additional maintenance building for
Class 700 units has been constructed on the site of the old Coronation sidings, together with an underframe cleaning building alongside the current shed.
Site history
1850 & 1866 GNR engine sheds
A two-road dead-ended shed was established by the
Great Northern Railway (GNR) in 1850, on the east side of the station. The shed closed in 1866 when the nearby Wood Green shed had been built, and was later demolished; making way for expansion of Hornsey station.
In 1866 another two-road dead-ended shed was established ("Wood Green shed"), ~1 km north of the station on the west side of the track adjacent to a new water works, and west of
Wood Green
Wood Green is a suburban district in the borough of London Borough of Haringey, Haringey in London, England. Its postal district is N22, with parts in N8 or N15. The London Plan identifies it as one of the metropolitan centres in Greater Lond ...
common. The shed closed in 1899.
1899 GNR eight-road engine shed
In 1899 an eight-track shed was constructed to the east of Hornsey station, together with a turntable, coal stage and water tank; the shed was connected via the Ferme Park sidings.
The shed provided locos for shunting in the yard and nearby Ferme Park sidings, as well as goods workings across London to the south via
Snow Hill tunnel. Hornsey locos shared suburban duties over the southern end of the GNR with locos from
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, ...
.
Under
British Railways the facility received the shed code 34B. The depot's initial allocation was primarily
GNR Class N1s,
GNR Class N2s and
GNR Class J13
The Great Northern Railway (GNR) Class J13, classified J52 by the LNER is a class of steam locomotive intended primarily for shunting.
The Class J13 were introduced in 1897 designed by Henry Ivatt based on the earlier domeless GNR Class J1 ...
s.
With the passing of steam, in 1961 the shed was converted for use with diesel traction,
and continued in use until the early 1970s, closing in May 1971.
The shed's duties were passed to nearby
Finsbury Park diesel depot.
In 1973 the shed was converted for use as an
Overhead Line (OHL) maintenance depot, as part of the works for the Great Northern electrification.
1973 Great Northern electrification EMU depot
In the 1970s the site was extensively rebuilt; part of the Ferme Park sidings south of the shed was cleared, and a new Electric multiple unit depot constructed;
[, Hornsey EMU depot, 1975-] the work was done as part of the Great Northern electrification; a new maintenance shed was constructed with six roads, each capable of holding an eight-car train. At the same time the old loco shed was converted to use as an
Overhead Line (OHL) maintenance depot, stabling an OHL repair train.
After 1973 the depot code became HE.
In 2008
First Capital Connect
First Capital Connect (FCC) was a British train operating company, owned by FirstGroup, that operated the Thameslink and Great Northern sectors from April 2006 to September 2014 which later became the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (T ...
opened a 'Driver Training Academy' at the depot in 2008, equipped with
British Rail Class 319
The British Rail Class 319 is an electric multiple unit passenger train built by British Rail Engineering Limited's Holgate Road carriage works for use on north–south cross-London services. These dual-voltage trains are capable of operating ...
and
Class 365 driving simulators. The simulators became operational in 2009.
2016 Thameslink depot
As part of the
Thameslink Programme
The Thameslink Programme, originally Thameslink 2000, was a £6billion project in south-east England to upgrade and expand the Thameslink rail network to provide new and longer trains between a wider range of stations to the north and to the ...
, it was decided that a large fleet of new trains, which were later named the
Class 700, would be introduced on the
Thameslink network.
In 2008, the
Department for Transport commissioned a study into the location of depots for the future Thameslink rolling stock: Network Rail preferred two depots based on an expectation that at times the central area of the Thameslink route would be closed for maintenance outside commercial operational hours, with no workable alternative electrified routes available. A single-depot solution was also investigated, but no suitably large sites were identified for such a facility. Sites were considered at:
Wellingborough
Wellingborough ( ) is a large market and commuter town in the unitary authority area of North Northamptonshire in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England, 65 miles from London and from Northampton on the north side of the River Nen ...
; Hornsey;
Cricklewood;
Selhurst
Selhurst is an area in the London Borough of Croydon south-south-east of Charing Cross. Historically it lay in Surrey. The area is bounded to the west and south by Thornton Heath and Croydon and to the east and south by South Norwood and Woodsid ...
;
Three Bridges; and
Tonbridge
Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated populat ...
. By late 2008, the sites had been narrowed to Hornsey, Three Bridges and Tonbridge; finally Hornsey and
Three Bridges were selected as a two-depot solution.
Network Rail submitted a planning application in August 2009.
The development was split across sites east of the main railway line: the main maintenance building was north of
Hornsey railway station
Hornsey railway station is in Hornsey in the London Borough of Haringey, north London. It is on the Great Northern route that forms part of the East Coast Main Line, down the line from , and is situated between to the south and to the nor ...
and the
A504 road (High Street/Turnpike Lane); storage sidings were located south-east of Hornsey station, adjacent to the pre-existing depot. The northern site was on rail sidings ('Coronation sidings'/'Hornsey sidings') which had been developed on made embankments from the later 19th century to early 20th century; the southern stabling area was on land that had been extensively developed as railway sidings since the early 20th century.
[Ordnance Survey. 1:2500. 1863, 1896, 1914, 1935] The proposed development required bridge widening of the crossing at Turnpike lane, and additional embankment work and extensions.
The main maintenance building was a six-road , high single-ended train shed, with a train wash to the west and a two-storey warehouse adjacent to the east. The southern site included sidings for 11 twelve-car trains and 2 eight-car trains, with cleaning and controlled emission toilet facilities.
In 2009,
John Denham,
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
The secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, also referred to as the levelling up secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the overall leadership and strategic direction o ...
blocked the development of the depot – the development had been subject to local and council objections on grounds including negative impact to a
conservation area, as well as a potential negative impact to
Haringey Council's "
Haringey Heartlands" redevelopment project.
A revised two-depot plan was produced: the southern (Three Bridges) depot was expanded to a five-road shed, while estimates for total maintenance roads required had been reduced from nine to eight. The northern depot was required to be only a three-road depot; the depot was to be suitable for twelve-car trains, with wheel lathe, cleaning, warehousing and stabling facilities. Potential sites for the northern depot were reassessed and possible options reduced to three: a main depot at Coronation Sidings Hornsey; a main depot adjacent to the existing depot at Hornsey; and a site at
Chesterton, Cambridge
Chesterton is a suburb in the northeast corner of Cambridge, England, north of Cambridge station, on the north bank of the River Cam.
History
It is also the name of two electoral wards (West Chesterton and East Chesterton) in the city. The to ...
– a depot reduced in size on the site of the original plan was chosen as the best option for Network Rail.
The revised plan was submitted in 2011, with the main depot reduced approximately in height, and nearly half the area, and with estimated employment figures reduced from 270 to 120 people.
Rail union
RMT criticised the loss of employment opportunities due to the reduced scale of the plans,
stating ''"Without anyone trying, Haringey has lost 150 jobs"''; the revised scheme continued to produce significant opposition from local residents, with concerns including noise and light pollution during night working, as well as visual impact and traffic.
The main building was a three-road high single-ended shed, with a two-storey warehouse adjacent east, and a train-washing building adjacent west; facilities at the depot were to include equipment for heavy overhaul, with overhead synchronised lift cranes on one road. The southern site, adjacent to the pre-existing First Capital Connect (FCC) EMU depot, would include CET facilities, another train-washing building, a underfloor cleaning building, and shunter's cabins. Wheel-lathe facilities were to be shared with a pre-existing installation at the FCC depot. Existing sidings adjacent to the FCC depot were to be rebuilt to provide 16 roads – four arrival and departure roads, and 12 storage roads. Civil engineering work included bridge-widening across Turnpike Lane (A51) and a
culverted waterway, as well as minor embankment works, and rebuilding of a footbridge at Hornsey station.
The plan was given permission in late 2011.
In mid-2013,
VolkerFitzpatrick
VolkerRail is a specialist railway infrastructure services company based in Doncaster, England, providing services across the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is wholly owned by Netherlands-based VolkerWessels, a multi-disciplinary construct ...
was awarded the approximately £150 million contract to build the two depots.
The depot officially opened on 13 December 2016.
Modern facilities
Hornsey depot is currently an
Electric Multiple Unit depot
for
Class 387,
Class 700 and
Class 717 units. These units are used on the
Thameslink
Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying ...
and
Great Northern Routes, Thameslink units are brought to Hornsey for maintenance tasks such as wheel turning, which
Bedford Cauldwell depot is unable to do.
Facilities include a wheel lathe, large maintenance shed with lifting facilities and a train-washing plant, and extensive stabling sidings for Great Northern's commuter stock.
References
*Rail Atlas Great Britain & Ireland, S.K. Baker
*
*
Notes
Locations
External links
{{commons category, Hornsey Traction Maintenance Depot
Railway depots in London
Transport in the London Borough of Haringey
Hornsey
Railway sidings in England