Tinsley Motive Power Depot, latterly Tinsley Traction Maintenance Depot (
TMD), was a railway depot in
Tinsley, South Yorkshire, near
Sheffield. Access by road was from
Brinsworth, near
Rotherham. The depot was situated on the freight line between
Treeton Junction and the
A631 Shepcote Lane.
History
The depot was built as part of the
Sheffield district rail rationalisation plan of the 1960s
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and ...
opening in April 1964 replacing Millhouses, Grimesthorpe, Darnall and Canklow steam sheds. It was situated adjacent to, but at a higher level than, the new
Tinsley Marshalling Yard
Tinsley was a railway marshalling yard near Tinsley in Sheffield, England, used to separate railway wagons from incoming trains and add them to new trains. It was sited immediately west of the M1 motorway, about one mile north of the Catcliffe ...
alongside the
Sheffield District Railway
The Sheffield District Railway was a railway line in South Yorkshire, England. It was built to give the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway access to Sheffield, primarily for goods traffic, for which a large goods depot at Attercliffe ...
.
Diesel locomotives had been stationed at the old steam shed at
Grimesthorpe until the new facilities were completed and the locomotives were moved to their new home. The site also included a small electric locomotive servicing shed at the south end of the Secondary Yard, replacing the facilities at
Darnall.
Diesel railcars
Diesel may refer to:
* Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression
* Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines
* Diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in w ...
, which had been serviced at Darnall, were moved to a new servicing depot adjacent to the "Fish Dock" at the south end of
Sheffield Midland station.
During the
sectorisation period of
British Rail
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 ...
, the depot came under the control of
Railfreight Distribution (RFD).
The sub-sector was responsible for non-trainload freight operations, as well as
Freightliner and
intermodal services.
In 1995, as a part of the reorganisation for
privatisation
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
, RFD was required to relinquish some of its
Class 47s to Freightliner. The following year,
EWS bought RFD, mostly for the lucrative
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. ...
operations.
Since the Class 47s were considered life expired by EWS management, and there were other depot facilities relatively close by (
Toton,
Bescot and
Doncaster), and the other RFD locomotives were all electrics based at
Crewe Electric TMD, the need for the Sheffield depot was deemed unnecessary.
On 28 March 1998 the shed closed and by March 1999 had been demolished.
[Tinsley depot reduced to rubble ''Rail'' issue 355 21 April 1999 page 8]
Allocations
In October 1965 the allocation of motive power to Tinsley depot was as follows:
*
Class 08: 74
*
Class 13: 3
*
Class 20: 12
*
Class 25: 11
*
Class 31: 57
*
Class 37: 42
*
Class 47: 73
*
Class 44:
Around 1987, the depot's allocation included Classes 08, 20, 31, 37, 45 and 47.
However,
Class 56s and
DMUs
A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...
could also be seen stabled there.
References
Sources
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Further reading
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External links
{{Sheffield engine sheds
Railway depots in Yorkshire
Rail transport in Sheffield
Transport infrastructure completed in 1964
1964 establishments in England
1988 disestablishments in England