Feltham marshalling yard, also known as Feltham hump yard, was a large railway marshalling yard designed for the concentration of freight traffic to and from South West London, and for transfer to other marshalling yards in London. It was built on the Waterloo to Reading Line. It opened in 1918 and was closed by British Railways on 6 January 1969. [1]
Part of the site is now being rebuilt to stable Class 701 electric multiple unit trains for South Western Railway (SWR). [2]
During the early years of the twentieth century, the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) experienced a substantial growth in its freight traffic to and from London, and for transfer to other railways. [3] By 1910 this traffic was beginning to overwhelm the existing facilities at Nine Elms. Plans were therefore made for a hump marshaling yard and motive power depot at Feltham. The purchase of 41.5 acres (16.8 hectares) of land was confirmed in 1911, with additional land being purchased in 1915. This location gave excellent access to the company main lines as well as direct links to the Great Western Railway and London and North Western Railway, and to the Midland Railway, Great Northern Railway and Great Eastern Railway via the North London line. The plans were confirmed on 30 March 1916, [4] and work started soon after with the help of around 200 German prisoners of war. The first nine 'down' sidings were opened on 9 December 1917 and the remainder by 2 October 1921. [5]
The yard was completed in 1921 and incorporated two gravity shunting humps and equipped with the latest automated technology including electrically operated points, and widespread use of track circuits. In 1929, the new SR Z class shunter were trialled at Feltham before entering service across the Southern network. [6] With 32 miles (51 km) of track, (the longest siding being 1,662 feet or 507 metres in length and the shortest being 1,331 feet or 406 metres), it could handle 2,500 wagons a day. These were brought in by 50 down and 26 up trains, and being removed by 18 down and 46 up services. This was, probably, the busiest marshalling yard in the country at that time. [7] Up to 3,390 wagons could be sorted per day and an incoming train of wagons could be sorted in 12 minutes. [8]
The yard fulfilled an important part in the rail network for over four decades, especially during World War II, passing in to Southern Railway ownership in 1923 and British Railways in 1948. However with the reduction of freight traffic carried by rail in the 1960s, the yard became redundant and closed on 6 January 1969. Part of the yard is occupied by the Royal Mail's Jubilee Mail Centre, which handles work for the TW, KT, GU postcode areas as well as parts of South and West London.
In the late 2000s, the site was proposed to be used as a train depot for the Heathrow Airtrack project, given its location close to Staines. [9] Following the financial crisis, Airtrack was cancelled by the British Airport Authority in 2011 due to lack of funds for the project. [10]
In 2018, South Western Railway proposed to build a new depot on the site on the old marshalling yard. Despite not being used for railway purposes since the late 1960s, the site had remained in railway ownership. [11] In June 2020 the new £60 million depot started construction, and was completed in late 2020. The depot will stable ten 10-car Class 701 EMUs serving the Waterloo–Reading line, as well as providing facilities for traincrews. [2] [12]
Plans were made for a new automated locomotive servicing depot at the marshalling yard, to replace an existing depot at Strawberry Hill (which was converted into an electric multiple unit servicing depot). [13] The shed was 475 by 125 feet (145 m × 38 m) with six roads and could accommodate 42 locomotives. There were inspection pits throughout and a 50-ton engine-hoist. There was also an electrically driven 65-foot (20 m) turntable and an electrically operated coaling plant. [14]
In 1921, Robert Urie, the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the LSWR introduced four large 4-8-0 shunting tank locomotives of the G16 class specifically to operate the yard, and five similar H16 class of 4-6-2T to undertake the transfer freight workings from Feltham. In addition the depot had a large allocation of H15 and S15 4-6-0 locomotives for heavy freight duties. The G16 and H16 locomotives were all withdrawn between 1959 and 1962, and the depot was closed by British Railways in 1967.
The Southern Railway (SR), sometimes shortened to 'Southern', was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent. The railway was formed by the amalgamation of several smaller railway companies, the largest of which were the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) and the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR). The construction of what was to become the Southern Railway began in 1838 with the opening of the London and Southampton Railway, which was renamed the London & South Western Railway.
A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or unused locomotives stored off the main line, so that they do not obstruct the flow of traffic. Cars or wagons are moved around by specially designed yard switcher locomotives (US) or shunter locomotives (UK), a type of locomotive. Cars or wagons in a yard may be sorted by numerous categories, including railway company, loaded or unloaded, destination, car type, or whether they need repairs. Yards are normally built where there is a need to store rail vehicles while they are not being loaded or unloaded, or are waiting to be assembled into trains. Large yards may have a tower to control operations.
Guildford railway station is at one of three main railway junctions on the Portsmouth Direct Line and serves the town of Guildford in Surrey, England. It is 30 miles 27 chains down the line from London Waterloo via Woking.
Salisbury railway station serves the city of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. It is 83 miles 43 chains (134.4 km) from London Waterloo on the West of England line to Exeter St Davids. This is crossed by the Wessex Main Line from Bristol Temple Meads to Southampton Central. The station is operated and served by South Western Railway (SWR), and is also served by Great Western Railway (GWR).
The LSWR S15 class is a British 2-cylinder 4-6-0 freight steam locomotive designed by Robert W. Urie, based on his H15 class and N15 class locomotives. The class had a complex build history, spanning several years of construction from 1920 to 1936. The first examples were constructed for the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), where they hauled freight trains to the south coast ports and further west to Exeter, as well as occasional passenger work in conjunction with their larger-wheeled N15 class counterparts.
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 junction. It was opened in 1965, as a part of a major plan to rationalise all aspects of the rail services in the Sheffield area; it closed in stages from 1985, with the run-down of rail freight in Britain. It was also the site of Tinsley Traction Maintenance Depot (TMD), which was closed in 1998; at its peak, 200 locomotives were allocated to this depot.
Staines railway station is on the Waterloo to Reading line and is the junction station for the diverging Windsor line, in southern England to the west of London. It is 19 miles 2 chains (30.6 km) down the line from London Waterloo.
The Staines–Windsor line is a suburban railway line in England which branches from the Waterloo to Reading Line at Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey and runs to Windsor in Berkshire. Passenger services on the line are operated by South Western Railway.
Toton Traction Maintenance Depot or Toton Sidings is a large traction maintenance depot located in Toton, Nottinghamshire. The TOPS depot code for the depot is TO. Before TOPS, the shed code was 16A.
The Widened Lines is a double-track railway line forming part of the Thameslink route between St Pancras and Farringdon within Central London.
The Shepperton branch line is a railway line connecting Shepperton to the Kingston loop railway line by a triangular junction between Strawberry Hill and Teddington stations. The line crosses from eastern Surrey into Greater London, England.
Heathrow Airtrack was a proposed railway link in the United Kingdom which would link Heathrow Airport in west London to London Waterloo railway station in Central London.
The LSWR G16 class was a class of steam tank locomotives with a 4-8-0T wheel arrangement. It was designed by Robert Urie and introduced in 1921 specifically for heavy shunting over humps at Feltham marshalling yard, on the London and South Western Railway (LSWR). They were based upon Urie's previous S15 class freight design, and apart from several periods of operating elsewhere on the LSWR and Southern railway network, they remained at Feltham for most of their operational careers.
Staines West railway station was one of three stations in the town of Staines-upon-Thames, 19 miles (31 km) west of central London. The station was opened on 2 November 1885 as the southern terminus of the Staines & West Drayton Railway (SWDR).
The LSWR H16 class were five 4-6-2T tank locomotives designed by Robert Urie for the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) in 1921–1922. They were the last new design for the LSWR and their only Pacific-type design.
Tees Marshalling Yard is a railway marshalling yard, used to separate railway wagons, located near Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire, Northern England.
Healey Mills Marshalling Yard was a railway marshalling yard located in the village of Healey, south west of Ossett in West Yorkshire, England. The yard was opened in 1963 and replaced several smaller yards in the area. It was part of the British Transport Commission's Modernisation plan, and so was equipped with a hump to enable the efficient shunting and re-ordering of goods wagons. The yard lost its main reason for existence through the 1970s and 1980s when more trains on the British Rail system became block trains where their wagons required less, or more commonly, no shunting.
Basford Hall Yard is a railway marshalling yard near the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. The yard, which is 0.93 miles (1.5 km) south of Crewe railway station, was opened in 1901 by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). Initially used to marshal trains, the site now acts as a hub mainly for Freightliner intermodal trains, but also houses departmental sidings as used by Freightliner Heavy Haul, and other operators. For a period in the 1930s, Basford Hall was the busiest marshalling yard in Europe, handing between 28,000 and 47,000 wagons every week.
Perth New Yard is a former railway marshalling yard in the city of Perth, Scotland. The yard was built in the early 1960s to gather traffic from around the Perth area and goods wagons from the lines radiating from Perth. It was latterly used as an engineering and wagon storage depot until it was finally closed in 2008. Though abandoned, the site is registered with Canmore, the Historic Environment Scotland.
