St Philip's Marsh Depot
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St Philip's Marsh depot is a
railway depot A motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine sheds" or just "sheds". Facilit ...
located in the
St Philip's Marsh St Philip's Marsh is an industrial inner suburb of Bristol, England. It is bounded by River Avon and Harbour feeder canal making it an almost island area, unlike the other two areas surrounded by water, it was historically part of Gloucestersh ...
district of
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. It was established as a steam locomotive shed in 1910 but this facility closed in the 1960s. A new diesel facility opened nearby at Marsh Junction in 1959. This has since been combined with a new shed which was opened in 1976 to maintain new
InterCity 125 The InterCity 125 (originally Inter-City 125) or High Speed Train (HST) is a diesel-powered High-speed rail, high-speed passenger train built by British Rail Engineering Limited between 1975 and 1982. A total of 95 sets were produced, each com ...
trainsets.


History


St. Phillip's Marsh steam shed

was the western terminus for the
Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...
(GWR) from
London Paddington Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a London railway station 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 Western Ra ...
. The initial small locomotive service facilities expanded as other railway lines were opened. After the GWR absorbed the
Bristol and Exeter Railway The Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) was an English railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter. It was built on the broad gauge and its engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It opened in stages between 1841 and 1844. It was allied wi ...
in 1876, the latter's workshops at Bristol Bath Road, which were adjacent to Temple Meads station, became the principal GWR locomotive repair and maintenance facility in the area. In July 1910 a new shed was opened at St Philip's Marsh alongside a line which allowed through trains to avoid going through Bristol Temple Meads station. This new shed was mainly allocated freight locomotives including 0-6-0 Pannier Tanks which plied their trade mainly in either
Bristol Docks Bristol Harbour is the harbour in the city of Bristol, England. The harbour covers an area of . It is the former natural tidal river Avon through the city but was made into its current form in 1809 when the tide was prevented from going out p ...
or at
Avonmouth Avonmouth ( ) is a port and outer suburb of Bristol, England, on the north bank of the mouth of the River Avon and the eastern shore of the Severn Estuary. Part of the Port of Bristol, Avonmouth Docks is important to the region's maritime eco ...
. Bath Road, which could not expand due to the proximity of the River Avon, now serviced mostly passenger train locomotives St Philip's Marsh shed was constructed to Churchward's standard design with two-
turntable A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding phys ...
s and a north light roof. The layout allowed for two additional turntables to the rear of the structure should they be required. Based on the pattern design set by
Old Oak Common Old Oak Common is a semi-industrial area of London, between Harlesden and Acton, London, Acton. The area is traditionally known for its railway traction maintenance depot, depots, particularly Old Oak Common TMD which was decommissioned in 2021. ...
, the rail level was above general ground level with the shed foundations sat on concrete piles. 28 roads radiated from each turntable, each road having its own inspection pit. There was a standard pattern twin-ramp coaling stage, but the repair shop was only a small two-road building, due to the closeness of Bristol (Bath Road). A boiler washing plant was added in 1924, and ash shelters during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. After 1948 and under
Western Region of British Railways The Western Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right on completion of the "Organising for Quality" initiative on 6 April 1992. The Region consisted principally of ex-Great We ...
control, both Bath Road (82A) and St Philip's Marsh (82B) gained additional locomotives following the closure of the local
London Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...
sheds. St Philip's Marsh closed to steam in June 1964. The locomotive sheds were subsequently demolished and the site disconnected from the rail network west of Albert Crescent by the 1970s.Ordnance Survey. 1:10565/1:10000. 1967-9, 1973-6 The site of the locomotive sheds has been redeveloped as a fruit market.


Marsh Junction depot

A four-road diesel depot was opened in 1959. Diesel locomotives were serviced at Bath Road depot after it was rebuilt a few years later but diesel multiple units (DMUs) continued to be serviced here. From 1970 the depot was used for maintaining permanent way plant and most DMU work was transferred to Bath Road. Half of the shed was extended in 2006 to give two roads long enough to accommodate three-car DMUs to be maintained (in 1959 DMU cars were only long).


Philips Marsh HST depot

A site north of the Avoiding Line was used for the construction of a new maintenance shed west of Marsh Junction depot. This opened in 1976 and had three roads, each capable of holding an entire
InterCity 125 The InterCity 125 (originally Inter-City 125) or High Speed Train (HST) is a diesel-powered High-speed rail, high-speed passenger train built by British Rail Engineering Limited between 1975 and 1982. A total of 95 sets were produced, each com ...
(or HST) trainset under cover. Open air sidings were available opposite the site of the old steam shed. In 2006
First Great Western First Greater Western, trading as Great Western Railway (GWR), is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that provides services in the Greater Western franchise area. It manages 197 stations and its trains call at over 270. GWR ...
created a new maintenance shed adjacent to the HST sheds, and upgrading other site facilities, at a cost of £8million.


Present

St Philip's Marsh T&RSMD is owned by
Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...
, operating under code PM, and leased to the present-day
Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...
. The site was used for the maintenance of their
InterCity 125 The InterCity 125 (originally Inter-City 125) or High Speed Train (HST) is a diesel-powered High-speed rail, high-speed passenger train built by British Rail Engineering Limited between 1975 and 1982. A total of 95 sets were produced, each com ...
trains which operated between London Paddington, Bristol and
South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...
. Both Class 43 power cars and Mark 3 coaching stock were serviced here. It was also used to maintain their fleet of British Rail Class 150 ''Sprinter'' DMUs which had previously been maintained (for the
Wessex Trains Wessex Trains was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated the Wessex Trains franchise from October 2001 until March 2006, when the franchise was merged with the Great Western and Thames Trains ...
franchise) at Cardiff Canton. Currently, St Philip's Marsh maintains
Class 158 The British Rail Class 158 '' Express Sprinter'' is a diesel multiple unit (DMU) passenger train. It is a member of the Sprinter series of regional trains, produced as a replacement for British Rail's first generation of DMUs; of the other m ...
, Class 165 and Class 166 fleets.


References


Sources

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External links

*, St Philip's Marsh locomotive sheds *, 1959 DMU sheds {{Great Western Railway Railway depots in England Buildings and structures in Bristol