Location | |
---|---|
Location | Par, Cornwall |
Coordinates | 50°21′08″N4°42′33″W / 50.3521°N 4.7092°W Coordinates: 50°21′08″N4°42′33″W / 50.3521°N 4.7092°W |
Characteristics | |
Operator | DB Cargo |
Depot code | BZ (1973-) [1] |
History | |
Opened | 1874 |
Original | Cornwall Minerals Railway |
Pre-grouping | GWR |
Post-grouping | GWR |
Former depot code |
|
St Blazey engine shed is located in Par, Cornwall, United Kingdom, although it is named after the adjacent village of St Blazey. It was built in 1874 as the headquarters of the Cornwall Minerals Railway but for many years was a depot of the Great Western Railway. The current depot operator (in 2016) is DB Cargo and the depot TOPS code is BZ.
St Blazey engine shed dates from the opening of the Cornwall Minerals Railway on 1 June 1874. This line linked Fowey and Newquay via Par in Cornwall. The engineer was Sir Morton Peto and he built workshops for the railway on the north side of Par, close to the adjoining town of St Blazey. The workshops included a distinctive roundhouse engine shed of nine 70 feet long roads around a turntable. Each shed road had a 58 feet long pit between the rails for servicing engines. The area also boasted an erecting and repair shop, a fitting shop, a smithy, boiler house and a 2,500 gallon water tower. [2] [ page needed ]
Because of their location, the engine shed was initially known as Par. On 1 January 1879 a loop line was built to the Cornwall Railway station at Par after which the Cornwall Minerals Railway engine shed and adjacent station were known as St Blazey to avoid the confusion of two stations with the same name. [3] [ page needed ]
The Cornwall Minerals Railway was operated by the Great Western Railway from October 1877, the GWR shed code being SBZ. [4] A new, elevated coaling road and 45,000 gallon water tank was provided before 1908.
The Great Western Railway was nationalised into British Railways from 1 January 1948 and given the shed code 83E. [4] The first diesel locomotive was allocated to St Blazey in November 1960. The last steam locomotive workings from the shed were on 28 April 1962 and the shed officially closed to steam that month. [5]
The roundhouse has since been converted into industrial units but since April 1987 the adjacent wagon repair shed has been used to service diesel locomotives, local passenger trains, and wagons used for china clay traffic. British Rail was privatised in the 1990s, the goods traffic and workshops at St Blazey becoming the responsibility of freight operator English Welsh & Scottish Railway (now DB Schenker Rail (UK)).
The turntable has been retained to turn the preserved steam locomotives that still visit Cornwall on special main line workings. It as given listed building status in 1974, [6] and at one time it was listed in Historic England's 'Heritage at Risk Register' as it was deteriorating through lack of maintenance. [7] but it was renovated in 2016 and was used for a special train on 7 August that year. [8]
Goods traffic is still sometimes loaded at St Blazey in the sidings adjacent to the depot.
Lines operated by locomotives shedded at St Blazey are mainly the branches from Par to Newquay and associated freight lines and the two lines to Fowey. This resulted in an allocation of locomotives designed for hauling freight trains, and with the tight curves encountered on some of the branches, types with a short wheelbase suitable for such lines were usual. The smallest engine allocated to St Blazey in later years was the tank used for the Lostwithiel to Fowey branch, which was usually four-coupled. Under the GWR a Metro tank was usual but under British Rail an ex-GW 1400 class was used. [10] In 1960, a County class 4-6-0 locomotive was shedded at St Blazey as a trial but was moved away later that year. [10]
Following the change from steam to diesel the allocation of locomotives at St Blazey was only shunters. There were five Class 08 shunters allocated to St Blazey by the late 1970s [11] There were three turns for shunters allocated at St Blazey in 1981. One loco was used to shunt St Blazey yard, and a second locomotive was used as trip pilot travelling to Wenfordbridge clay dries Monday/Wednesday/Friday. [12] The third locomotive was a spare used to provide cover for the shunters at both St Blazey and Penzance sheds. This was a dual-braked example to work both the vacuum-braked 'clay hood' wagons commonly used on china clay trains in the St Blazey area and the passenger stock that would be shunted at Penzance. [13] In 1995 there were still three Class 08s, although by now all of these were fitted with air brakes. [14]
Larger locomotives were never based here but visited from other depots to haul freight trains. Many of these only operated during the week so that at weekends half a dozen locomotives could be at the depot awaiting active duty. [15] [16] Types that have been in regular use from the depot since the 1970s have been Class 25 [17] followed by Class 37 [18] and now Class 66. Other classes have also been used for local freight trains. In 1990, a trial was carried out of a Class 56 as a possible replacement for heavy freights requiring double-headed Class 37s originating from the area. The trial was not successful. [19] One passenger train in the late 1970s was booked for haulage by locomotives normally operating freight trains from St Blazey, this being the summer Saturday service between Newquay and Newcastle; a pair of Class 25s taking it to Plymouth. [20] [21]
Since the demise of British Rail the depot has been operated by English, Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS, now DB Cargo). There have been no locomotives formally based at St Blazey as all shunters in the EWS Great Western Lines pool were officially allocated to Cardiff Canton depot, although locomotives still used the shed. [22]
The yard was used to store several DMUs overnight for British Rail and later Wessex Trains then Great Western Railway. This meant that several morning services started at Par railway station and evening ones terminated there.
The Bodmin and Wenford Railway (BWR) is a heritage railway, based at Bodmin in Cornwall, England. It has an interchange with the national rail network at Bodmin Parkway railway station, the southern terminus of the line.
The Atlantic Coast Line is a 20+3⁄4-mile (33 km) Network Rail branch line which includes a community railway service in Cornwall, England. The line runs from the English Channel at Par, to the Atlantic Ocean at Newquay.
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 sheds" or, for short, just sheds. Facilities are provided for refuelling and replenishing water, lubricating oil and grease and, for steam engines, disposal of the ash. There are often workshops for day to day repairs and maintenance, although locomotive building and major overhauls are usually carried out in the locomotive works.
Par railway station serves the villages of Par, Tywardreath and St Blazey, Cornwall, England. The station is 282 miles (454 km) from London Paddington via Bristol Temple Meads. It is the junction for the Atlantic Coast Line to Newquay.
The Lostwithiel and Fowey Railway opened in 1869 as a broad gauge railway linking the port of Fowey in Cornwall with the Cornish Main Line at Lostwithiel. Its main traffic was china clay. The company ran into financial difficulties and closed in 1880, but the line was purchased by the Cornwall Minerals Railway and reopened in 1895.
The Newquay and Cornwall Junction Railway was a 7 ft broad gauge railway intended to link the Cornwall Railway with the horse-worked Newquay Railway. It opened a short section to Nanpean in 1869, the remainder being built by the Cornwall Minerals Railway who took over the company in 1874. Its main traffic has always been china clay.
Longsight Diesel TMD is a railway diesel locomotive traction maintenance depot (TMD) situated in Longsight, Manchester, England. The depot code is LO. The depot is located 1+1⁄2 mi (2.4 km) south of Manchester Piccadilly on the eastern side of the line to Stockport. There are various roads in which individual train sets can be overhauled.
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 Speed Trains and also the DMUs used on local services. The depot code "LA" is used to identify rolling stock based there.
Tyseley TMD is a railway traction maintenance depot situated in Tyseley, Birmingham, England.
Neville Hill is a railway train maintenance depot in Osmondthorpe, Leeds, England on the Leeds to Selby Line. The depot is situated 2 miles 14 chains (3.5 km) to the east of Leeds railway station on the north side of the line.
Penzance TMD, also known as Long Rock TMD, is a railway traction maintenance depot situated in the village of Long Rock east of Penzance, Cornwall, England, and is the most westerly and southerly rail depot in the country. The depot operator is Great Western Railway. The depot code is PZ.
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. 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 was 73C.
The Cornwall Minerals Railway owned and operated a network of 45 miles (72 km) of standard gauge railway lines in central Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It started by taking over an obsolescent horse-operated tramway in 1862, and it improved and extended it, connecting Newquay and Par Harbours, and Fowey. Having expended considerable capital, it was hurt by a collapse in mineral extraction due to a slump in prices. Despite its title, it operated a passenger service between Newquay and Fowey.
March TMD was a railway traction maintenance depot situated near March, England. March was a steam locomotive shed under British Railways with the depot code 31B; the depot code of the diesel depot under BR was MR. The nearest railway station is March, and the depot was located close to the Whitemoor Marshalling Yard. Despite its rural location, in the 1970s it accommodated a similar number of locomotives to the comparatively larger Toton TMD and served as the main diesel depot for East Anglia.
Stratford TMD was a traction maintenance depot located in Stratford, London, England close to the Great Eastern Main Line. It was located just west of Stratford station, on a site now occupied by Stratford International station. The depot was at one time the biggest on the London and North Eastern Railway with locomotives covering duties from express services to freight workings in London's docks.
There were a number of engine sheds and railway works located in York. The large York North engine shed became the National Railway Museum in 1975.
Ipswich engine shed was an engine shed located in Ipswich, Suffolk on the Great Eastern Main Line. It was located just south of Stoke tunnel and the current Ipswich railway station. Locomotives accessed the site from Halifax Junction which was also the junction for the Griffin Wharf branch of Ipswich docks. The depot opened in 1846 and closed in 1968 although the site remained in railway use for a further thirty years.
Holbeck TMD is a traction maintenance depot located in Holbeck, Leeds, England. The depot is located on the west side of the line from Woodlesford, and is 57 chains (1.1 km) south of Leeds railway station.
Botanic Gardens TMD was an engine shed in Kingston upon Hull in Yorkshire, England. As one of the principal engine sheds in the Hull area, Botanic Gardens was the one closest to the main Hull Paragon station and its locomotives were responsible for working passenger services in the area. This entry also covers the engine sheds in the Paragon area that preceded Botanic Gardens.
Manningham Engine Shed was a railway depot located in the Manningham suburb of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. The depot was built to provide steam engines for services leaving Bradford Forster Square station and freight traffic from the Valley Road area of the city. It was also responsible for other sites at Keighley and Ilkley with Manningham itself being a sub-shed of Holbeck.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)