Old Oak Common TMD was 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 ...
located west of
London Paddington
Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a London station group, Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services pro ...
, in
Old Oak Common
Old Oak Common is an area of Hammersmith, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, West London.
Together with neighbouring Park Royal, the area is intended to become the UK's largest regeneration scheme, the scale of which has led to ...
. The depot was the main facility for the storage and servicing of locomotives and multiple-units from
Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...
. The depot codes were OC for the diesel depot and OO for the carriage shed.
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 81A.
The area is also where two
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 ...
main lines divide:
the 1838 route to via , and the 1906 "New North Main Line" (present-day
Acton–Northolt line
The Acton–Northolt line (ANL), historically known as the New North main line (NNML), is a railway line in West London, England. Built between 1903 and 1906, it runs from the Great Western Main Line at Old Oak Common TMD to the Chiltern Main ...
) via to
Northolt Junction, the start of the
Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway
The Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway was a railway built and operated jointly by the Great Western Railway (GWR) and Great Central Railway (GCR) between Northolt (in north west London) and Ashendon Junction (west of Aylesbury). It was ...
line. The former is in use for regular passenger services; the latter is used overwhelmingly by freight trains and empty coaching stock movements.
The 'HST' section of Old Oak Common TMD, more commonly known as 'Old Oak Common HST Depot' closed in 2018 with the removal of the
s from services on the Great Western Main Line (GWML). This closure was to make way for the development of the HS2 project. Maintenance of the new InterCity Express Trains is carried out at
North Pole IET Depot which is situated opposite the site of Old Oak Common TMD whilst the ''
Night Riviera
The ''Night Riviera'' is a sleeper train operated by Great Western Railway (GWR). It is one of only two sleeper services on the railway in the United Kingdom (the other being the
''Caledonian Sleeper'' services between London and Scotland). ...
'' sleeper train was transferred to
Penzance Long Rock Depot in December 2017.
A new depot was built approximately a 1/4 mile to the east of the existing depot, primarily to service and stable the trains that have been ordered for the
Elizabeth line
The Elizabeth line is a high-frequency hybrid Urban rail, urban–suburban rail service in London and its suburbs. It runs services on dedicated infrastructure in central London from the Great Western Main Line west of London Paddington statio ...
project. The depot opened in May 2018 and took the name of the existing depot.
History
GWR
![Old Oak Common Locomotive Depot 2074878 b0fe0da7](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Old_Oak_Common_Locomotive_Depot_2074878_b0fe0da7.jpg)
Following the reconstruction of
Paddington station
Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great We ...
and the introduction of larger locomotives and new routes, 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 ...
(GWR) required a larger depot than that at the 1855 constructed
Westbourne Park, at which to service its locomotives and carriages.
In 1901, a site was acquired in
South Acton, south of the
Grand Union Canal
The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter st ...
and on the upside of the mainline. Taking four years to layout and build, designed by
G.J. Churchward, it was the largest depot on the entire GWR system, and set the pattern for similar depots throughout the GWR including
Tyseley
Tyseley is a district in the southern half of the city of Birmingham, England, near the Coventry Road and the districts of Acocks Green, Small Heath and Yardley. It is located near the Grand Union Canal.
Etymology
Tyseley means "Tyssa's clearin ...
.
[
It had four undergirder ]turntables
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
, under six-spans of east–west aligned northern-light pitched roofs. The shed covered a total area of (six bays of } (six bays of ).[ The roofs were made of wood and steel rafters covered in ]Welsh slate
The existence of a slate industry in Wales is attested since the Roman period, when slate was used to roof the fort at Segontium, now Caernarfon. The slate industry grew slowly until the early 18th century, then expanded rapidly until the l ...
tiles, supported on steel or cast iron columns, with solid London Brick Company
The London Brick Company, owned by Forterra plc, is a leading British manufacturer of bricks.
History
The London Brick Company owes its origins to John Cathles Hill, a developer-architect who built houses in London and Peterborough. In 1889, H ...
walls. Laid out in an interconnecting 4-square pattern under the roof, each electrically operated turntable was fully boarded, and had 28 tracks spanning from it, able to accommodate locomotives up to in length.[
The associated repair shop, termed ''The Factory'', was allocated to the northeast front of the depot, with 11 roads approached over an electric traverser, and a 12th road direct from the depot throat. Built in a similar style to the depot, it was by in size, and housed a crane. There were also separate blacksmiths and carpenters workshops, a stores and a general office.][
The approach to the shed housed a standard GWR pattern coal stage, again the largest on the system. It was approached via a 1:50 gradient brick-arch supported ramp, with 1:80 beyond the stage. In 1938, the approach roads to and from the coal stage were doubled, and in 1942 an ash shelter constructed to protect from ]Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
bombing. The four water tanks housed over the stage held of water, while sand was supplied from a separate sand furnace.[
The whole depot came into operation from 17 March 1906, and became the head of the GWR London operating division.][
]
British Railways
Throughout its GWR and early BR operational life, the depot remained fairly intact and similar to its original layout. The only major difference by the early 1960s was the addition of a pre-war diesel refuelling stage just north of the repair shop, for use by GWR railcars
In 1933, the Great Western Railway introduced the first of what was to become a very successful series of diesel railcars, which survived in regular use into the 1960s, when they were replaced with the new British Rail "first generation" type ...
.[
With a reduction in steam traction and the implementation of the ]Beeching cuts
The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised British Rail, railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Develop ...
, in March 1964 the decision was taken to move the remaining steam locomotive allocation to the 1950s designed Southall MPD, and reconstruct Old Oak Common as a diesel depot.[ Within a year the majority of the GWR 1906 depot was demolished, with only "The Factory" repair shop, furthest western turntable and parts of the stores remaining.][ The main service building had 3 tracks, each holding two locos, with inspection pits, fuel supply points and a washing plant on the approach road. Some of the inspection pits in The Factory were also lengthened and deepened and jacks provided to allow for bogie and spring changing. It opened on 20 October 1965. It was the last of six big diesel depots built for the Western Region, the others being ]Margam TMD
Margam TMD was a railway locomotive traction maintenance depot situated in Port Talbot, South Wales. The depot code was MG, which has now been re-allocated to Margam Knuckle Yard service point.
Built to replace the existing Margam Depot and for t ...
1960, Bristol Bath Road depot
Bristol Bath Road depot was a railway traction maintenance depot in central Bristol, England, which was in use from 1852 until 1995.
History
The Bristol and Exeter Railway opened workshops at Bath Road in January 1852. 35 locomotives were built ...
1960, Laira Traction Maintenance Depot
Laira T&RSMD is a railway traction and rolling stock maintenance depot situated in Plymouth, Devon, England. The depot is operated by Great Western Railway and is mainly concerned with the overhaul and daily servicing of their fleet of High Sp ...
, Plymouth, 1962, Landore TMD
Landore TMD is a railway traction maintenance depot situated in Landore, a district of Swansea, Wales. There was a shed for steam locomotives here, and in 1963 British Rail opened a purpose-build diesel depot. Under privatisation the depot was ...
, Swansea, 1963 and Cardiff Canton TMD
Cardiff Canton TMD ( cy, Depo Cynnal a Chadw Treganna Caerdydd) is a diesel locomotive traction maintenance depot in Cardiff, Wales. Its depot code is CF. It is operated by Transport for Wales. The depot is used by Transport for Wales fleet and ...
1964.
Just south of the residual GWR buildings, in the 1960s BR built what was initially the storage depot for the Blue Pullman
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ob ...
trains, what later became known as the Coronation Carriage Sidings. In the late 1970s, south of this and almost adjacent to the Great Western Main Line
The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs westwards from London Paddington to . It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. Opened in 1841, it was the or ...
(GWML), BR built a depot for the new fleet. Until December 2018 these serviced and maintained 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 ...
InterCity 125 fleet.
In 1997 a new bespoke depot was constructed at the southern end of the site, between the Great Western depot and the main line, funded by the British Airports 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 ...
to service and maintain the Heathrow Express
Heathrow Express is a high-frequency airport rail link operating between London Heathrow Airport and . Opened in 1998, trains run non-stop, with a journey time of 15 minutes. The service is operated jointly by Great Western Railway and Heathrow ...
and Heathrow Connect
Heathrow Connect was a train service in London provided jointly by Heathrow Express and Great Western Railway (GWR), between Paddington station and Heathrow Airport. The service followed the same route as the non-stop Heathrow Express servic ...
service trains. This was the first new privately funded train depot in the UK since the British railways nationalisation in 1948. The inauguration of the Heathrow Express services saw the electrification of the GWML from Paddington to Hayes and onto Heathrow Airport
Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...
using 25 kV overhead catenary.
On 26 July 2002, First Great Western
Great Western Railway (GWR) is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the Greater Western passenger railway franchise. It manages 197 stations and its trains call at over 270. GWR operates long-distance inter-city ...
opened a new depot on the site of the former carriage sidings to service its Class 180
The British Rail Class 180 is a class of 14 Diesel multiple unit#Diesel–hydraulic, diesel-hydraulic Multiple unit, multiple-unit passenger trains manufactured by Alstom at its Washwood Heath factory in 2000/01 for First Great Western (FGW) . T ...
fleet.
The residual GWR buildings were used from the 1970s to house and maintain singular diesel locomotives, special trains, and maintain carriages and freight stock in the area. On the privatisation of BR, the buildings were allocated to English Welsh & Scottish, and latterly operated by its commercial subsidiary Axiom Rail.
From 2000 onwards, developments were focused on the southern section of the former GWR site, either side of the 1970s BR High Speed Train depot. Added to in width, this allowed this part of the depot to service all Classes 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 ...
, Heathrow Express
Heathrow Express is a high-frequency airport rail link operating between London Heathrow Airport and . Opened in 1998, trains run non-stop, with a journey time of 15 minutes. The service is operated jointly by Great Western Railway and Heathrow ...
and Heathrow Connect
Heathrow Connect was a train service in London provided jointly by Heathrow Express and Great Western Railway (GWR), between Paddington station and Heathrow Airport. The service followed the same route as the non-stop Heathrow Express servic ...
. The allocation in 2004 was:
* Class 332 – four- and five-coach EMU used on Heathrow Express
Heathrow Express is a high-frequency airport rail link operating between London Heathrow Airport and . Opened in 1998, trains run non-stop, with a journey time of 15 minutes. The service is operated jointly by Great Western Railway and Heathrow ...
services.
* Class 360 – five-coach EMU used on TFL Rail
TfL Rail was the concession which operated commuter services on two separate railway lines in London, England and its environs whilst the Crossrail construction project linking these lines was underway. On 24 May 2022, upon the opening of th ...
services to Heathrow
By the end of 2009, from north to south, the site layout was:
*Residual 1905 GWR Factory buildings and northwestern turntable: EWS & Axiom Rail
*1960's Coronation Carriage Sidings: GWR Class 180 Adelante
*1970's Intercity 125: GWR 125 Intercity
*1997 Depot: Heathrow Express Class 332 and Class 360
*GWR Mainline
*Northpole Depot - vacant
Present and redevelopment
In May 2009, EWS vacated their site. This part of the site, together with the adjacent Coronation Carriage Sidings was fenced off due to compulsory purchase
Compulsion may refer to:
* Compulsive behavior, a psychological condition in which a person does a behavior compulsively, having an overwhelming feeling that they must do so.
* Obsessive–compulsive disorder, a mental disorder characterized by i ...
for the Crossrail
Crossrail is a railway construction project mainly in central London. Its aim is to provide a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system crossing the capital from suburbs on the west to east, by connecting two major railway ...
project. All the remaining GWR Factory buildings and the Coronation Carriage Sidings were demolished by mid-2011, with the former northwestern shed turntable donated to the Swanage Railway
The Swanage Railway is a railway branch line from near Wareham, Dorset to Swanage, Dorset, England, opened in 1885 and now operated as a heritage railway.
The independent company which built it was amalgamated with the larger London and South ...
.
As a result of the development of the new HS2 station on the site, GWR phased-in a closure programme for its 125 Intercity Fleet depot. In December 2017, maintenance of the ''Night Riviera
The ''Night Riviera'' is a sleeper train operated by Great Western Railway (GWR). It is one of only two sleeper services on the railway in the United Kingdom (the other being the
''Caledonian Sleeper'' services between London and Scotland). ...
'' was transferred to Penzance Long Rock Depot with the stock laying over at Reading TMD
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling) ...
at its northern end. The last HST to run from Old Oak Common ran from OOC to London Paddington station
Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great We ...
on 8 December 2018. A headboard was attached to the front power car, 43093, which said: "81A Old Oak Common LAST HST 8th December 2018". 43093 had already been named "Old Oak Common HST Depot 1978-2018" and was in the Legends of the Great Western Railway livery, but even more was added on this date; a logo which read "Old Oak Common History Makers" and another sign which read "Last HST off Old Oak Common Depot 8th December 2018".
From 2014 onwards, on the former EWS site and northern part of the former Coronation Sidings, a new depot was built by Taylor Woodrow Construction
Taylor Woodrow Construction, branded as Taylor Woodrow, is a UK-based civil engineering contractor and one of four operating divisions of Vinci Construction UK. The business was launched in 2011, combining civil engineering operations from the ...
as part of the Crossrail project. Opening on 10 May 2018, it is equipped with stabling and nine maintenance roads. Operated by Bombardier, it provides full servicing, maintenance and storage for the Class 345 trains which from 2019 will operate between Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
on the GWML and Shenfield
Shenfield is a commuter suburb of Brentwood, in the borough of Brentwood, Essex, England. In 2020, the suburb was estimated to have a population of 5,396.
History
The old village (now town), by the church and Green Dragon pub, lies along the ...
on the Great Eastern Main Line
The Great Eastern Main Line (GEML, sometimes referred to as the East Anglia Main Line) is a major railway line on the British railway system which connects Liverpool Street station in central London with destinations in east London and t ...
.
The Heathrow Express
Heathrow Express is a high-frequency airport rail link operating between London Heathrow Airport and . Opened in 1998, trains run non-stop, with a journey time of 15 minutes. The service is operated jointly by Great Western Railway and Heathrow ...
EMU
The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus ''Dromaius''. The emu' ...
depot which had operated since 1997 maintaining the Class 332 fleet was the last part of Old Oak Common TMD to close following the withdrawal and scrapping of the Class 332 EMUs, closing in February 2021. It has since been demolished
Old Oak Common railway station
Old Oak Common (OOC) is a railway station under construction on the site of the Old Oak Common traction maintenance depot to the west of London in Old Oak Common, approximately south of Willesden Junction station. When built, it is expected ...
will open in 2026 as a major interchange station between the GWML, Elizabeth line, Heathrow Express and High Speed 2
High Speed 2 (HS2) is a planned high-speed railway line in England, the first phase of which is under construction in stages and due for completion between 2029 and 2033, depending on approval for later stages. The new line will run from its m ...
line from London Euston
Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city railw ...
to Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
, Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
and Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
.
North Pole depot
South of the line is North Pole depot
North Pole depot (also known as North Pole Train Maintenance Centre) is a railway and maintenance depot built for Great Western Railway's AT300 units from the Hitachi A-train family. Located in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, the d ...
, also approximately half a mile south-west of Willesden TMD
Willesden TMD is a railway locomotive and electric multiple unit traction maintenance depot, situated in Harlesden, north London. The depot is situated next to the West Coast Main Line, to the south-east of Willesden Junction station and on th ...
. Until 2007, Eurostar
Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated sep ...
trains which operate the Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...
had its UK maintenance base here. With the opening of the new international terminal at St Pancras railway station
St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It is ...
, all servicing was moved to the new Temple Mills
Temple Mills is a district located on the boundary of the London boroughs of London Borough of Newham, Newham and London Borough of Waltham Forest, Waltham Forest, with a small part also in London Borough of Hackney, Hackney in east London.
Temp ...
depot located near Stratford International.
In 2013, the depot was partially redeveloped by Hitachi Rail
() is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Nissan ''zaibatsu'' and later DKB Group and Fuyo ...
to become a maintenance centre for the new and trains that began entering service in 2017 as part of the Intercity Express Programme
The Intercity Express Programme (IEP) is an initiative of the Department for Transport (DfT) in the United Kingdom to procure new trains to replace the InterCity 125 and InterCity 225 fleets on the East Coast Main Line and Great Western Main Li ...
.
References
*
*
Notes
Further reading
*
*{{cite magazine, title=Pushed to the limit..., first=Geoffrey Freeman, last=Allen, pages=36–39, date=December 1983, magazine=Rail Enthusiast
A railfan, rail buff or train buff (American English), railway enthusiast, railway buff or trainspotter (Australian/British English), or ferroequinologist is a person who is recreationally interested in trains and rail transport systems.
Rail ...
, publisher=EMAP National Publications, issn=0262-561X, oclc=49957965
Railway depots in London
Great Western Main Line