Laira Traction Maintenance Depot
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Laira Traction and Rolling Stock Maintenance Depot is a railway
traction maintenance 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 ...
situated in
Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...
, Devon, England. The depot is operated by
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) and is where their fleet of InterCity Express Trains and remaining Castle Class trains are overhauled. Other trains visit for daily servicing including some operated by
CrossCountry CrossCountry (legal name XC Trains Limited) is a British train operating company owned by Arriva UK Trains, operating the current CrossCountry franchise. The CrossCountry franchise was restructured by the Department for Transport (DfT) in 2006, ...
. After sixty years as a steam depot, servicing locomotives used on the
Exeter to Plymouth line Exeter ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legi ...
that runs past the shed as well as local lines, diesels started to arrive in 1958. A diesel depot opened in 1962 and was expanded in 1981 to accommodate the High Speed Trains. The depot code 'LA' is used to identify rolling stock based there.


History


Steam shed

Laira was the location of the temporary terminus of the South Devon Railway from 5 May 1848 when a small
engine shed 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 ...
would have been provided. With the completion of the line to
Plymouth Millbay railway station Plymouth Millbay railway station was the original railway terminus in Plymouth, Devon, England. It was used for passenger trains from 1849 to 1941. It was rebuilt in 1903. History The South Devon Railway originally planned to bring its br ...
on 2 April 1849 a new shed was provided there and the facilities at Laira dismantled, although it remained a junction for the branch line to Sutton Harbour which was
mixed gauge Dual gauge railroad track has three or four rails, allowing vehicles of two track gauges to run on it. Signalling and sidings are more expensive to install on dual gauge tracks than on two single gauge tracks. Dual gauge is used when there i ...
for the use of the
Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway The Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway (P&DR) was a gauge railway built to improve the economy of moorland areas around Princetown in Devon, England. Independent carriers operated horse-drawn wagons and paid the company a toll. It opened in 1823, and ...
. 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, ...
, which had
amalgamated Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form. Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to: Mathematics and science * Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal **Pan ama ...
with the South Devon Railway on 1 February 1876, a new engine shed opened at Laira in 1901 on a site inside a triangle of lines formed by the main line, Sutton Harbour branch, and a curve that was mainly used by
London and South Western Railway The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exete ...
trains to reach their terminus at Plymouth Friary. A sewerage treatment facility and poor ground conditions constrained the site of the shed to the north west corner of the triangle (near Lipson Junction) . It was adjacent to the Embankment Road with the estuary of the
River Plym The River Plym is a river in Devon, England. It runs from Dartmoor in the centre of the county southwest to meet the River Meavy, then south towards Plymouth Sound. The river is popular with canoeists, and the Plym Valley Railway runs alongside ...
just the other side of the road. The shed was a brick roundhouse with a
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 ...
in the middle. 28 lines radiated from the turntable, one for access and the remainder for stabling locomotives. Loocmotives approached from the east (Laira Junction) passing a coaling stage. A small railway station known as Laira Halt was opened on the adjacent main line on 1 June 1904 but closed again on 7 July 1930. Initially Laira was only used for goods locomotives but after the passenger locomotive shed at Millbay closed in 1924 it became very crowded. In 1931 a new long and wide shed with four tracks was brought into use just south of the original roundhouse, funded by a government loan under the
Development (Loan Guarantees and Grants) Act 1929 Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development (music), the process by which thematic material is reshaped * Photographic development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development hell, when a projec ...
( 20 & 21 Geo. 5. c. 7). This became known as the 'Long Shed' or 'New Shed'.''Laira '91'', InterCity Laira (1991) At the same time additional sidings were laid near the coaling stage (which was doubled in length) and a second track connected to give a separate exit route from the roundhouse. The new shed was built over part of the area previously used by the sewerage treatment facility. A new line connected Laira Junction with Mount Gould Junction (the southern point of the triangle of lines surrounding the shed. This line became known as the 'Speedway' and allowed locomotives to turn on the triangle rather than on the turntable inside the roundhouse. 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 ...
a covered extension was added on the south side of the coaling stage to give an additional place to refuel locomotives. In 1947 some steam locomotives were converted to burn oil rather than coal. Oil tanks were installed alongside the siding to the south of the Long Shed.


Diesel shed

Warship Class
diesel-hydraulic A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is con ...
locomotives started to appear in 1958 and were at first accommodated in the Long Shed alongside steam locomotives until the diesel maintenance depot had been finished. The Laira marshalling yard alongside Embankment Road was closed in 1958 to make room for carriage sidings and a new diesel shed, which was fully opened on 13 March 1962, although parts had been in use since 1960. Laira was designed for the servicing and heavy maintenance of the diesel-hydraulic locomotives favoured by the
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 ...
, the first of the region's purpose designed large diesel depots. It also handled the local
diesel electric 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 railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine ...
shunter and DMU fleets, although servicing of the latter was done initially at Belmont sidings at Millbay. The diesel shed was in reinforced concrete and comprised three adjoining buildings. The servicing and maintenance building that covers roads 1–4 is on the western side of the shed; number 1 road is equipped with a wheel
lathe A lathe () is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, threading and turning, with tools that are applied to the w ...
and lifting jacks for
bogie A bogie ( ) (or truck in North American English) comprises two or more Wheelset (rail transport), wheelsets (two Railroad wheel, wheels on an axle), in a frame, attached under a vehicle by a pivot. Bogies take various forms in various modes ...
changes. The central building was the Heavy Maintenance Shed; engines can be removed and repainting undertaken on the two roads, numbers 5 and 6. The final three roads were another servicing shed on the eastern side of the site. Beside this was a small covered area with fuelling points outside in the yard, supplied by a 45,000 gallon fuel tank. A small group of buildings behind the shed house stores and a workshop for shed equipment. Carriage washing takes place south of the shed at Mount Gould. After the withdrawal of steam from the area in 1964, the roundhouse was closed on 13 June 1965 and the area used for additional siding space. This area was later modernised and fenced off in readiness for servicing the Nightstar
Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (), sometimes referred to by the Portmanteau, portmanteau Chunnel, is a undersea railway tunnel, opened in 1994, that connects Folkestone (Kent, England) with Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais, France) beneath the English Channel at ...
sleeper coaches, but the proposed service from to Paris
Gare du Nord The Gare du Nord (; ), officially Paris Nord, is one of the seven large mainline railway station termini in Paris, France. The station is served by trains that run between the capital and northern France via the Paris–Lille railway, as well ...
never materialised. On 30 September 1981 a new shed, long was opened on the site of the smaller servicing shed on the east side of the site. This can accommodate the eight coaches and two power cars of a High Speed Train set. An additional covered track was later added in preparation for the proposed Nightstar services. After the replacement of High Speed Trains on London services, one road in the shed was leased to Hitachi to maintain the and 'InterCity Express Trains' (IETs) that replaced them. A number of Class 43s continued to be based at Laira to operate four-coach services to and . In Edinburgh, the depot at
Craigentinny Craigentinny is a suburb in the north-east of Edinburgh, Scotland, east of Restalrig and Lochend. Its name may be a corruption of the Gaelic ''Creag an t-Sionnaich'', meaning "the fox's rock". History Previously moorland, the first major hou ...
was no longer able to maintain
CrossCountry CrossCountry (legal name XC Trains Limited) is a British train operating company owned by Arriva UK Trains, operating the current CrossCountry franchise. The CrossCountry franchise was restructured by the Department for Transport (DfT) in 2006, ...
's Class 43s as the space was needed by Hitachi for IETs so the 12 power cars and 5 sets of coaches were transferred to Laira. CrossCountry will withdraw its Class 43s by October 2023 when their lease ends. Great Western Railway has started to reduce the number of its Class 43-powered services in December 2022 with the aim of withdrawing most of them by December 2023. The space freed will allow them to move the maintenance of all their Class 802s to Laira.


Historic allocation

Up to the 1960s Laira had an allocation that consisted of a wide variety of Great Western Railway motive power, including 4073 'Castle' Class and 6000 'King' Class express passenger locomotives. The following lists give summaries for various years. The depot was designed to maintain and service the Western Region of British Rail's diesel-hydraulic locomotives. It became strongly associated with the 'Western' Class. The first 14 of these were delivered new to Laira in 1961 and 1962. They were transferred to other depots after a few months but Laira received a fresh allocation in 1964 and by October 1971 the whole fleet of 74 locomotives were based here. Withdrawals started in 1973 and the last were withdrawn in 1977. By this time
British Rail Class 50 The British Rail Class 50 is a class of diesel locomotives designed to haul express passenger trains at . Built by English Electric at the Vulcan Foundry in Newton-le-Willows between 1967 and 1968, the Class 50s were initially on a 10-year lease ...
diesel-electric locomotives had taken over many of their duties. These were later given warship names in the same manner as the first diesel hydraulics. A fleet of DMUs was also stationed here for operating the branch lines in
Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
and
Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
. Since the
Privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the Rail transport in Great Britain, railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, the process was largely compl ...
the allocation has largely consisted of Class 43 power cars for High Speed Trains along with some shunting locomotives. The DMUs in Devon and Cornwall were based at
Cardiff Canton TMD Cardiff Canton TMD 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, GWR Class 158s and some Cross Country Class 170 ...
for several years, but in December 2007 Laira had an allocation of two-car Class 150 and single-car Class 153 DMUs. After a while these were transferred to a reopened Exeter Traction Maintenance Depot.


Servicing

In addition to repairs and overhauls of the trains allocated to the Laira, the depot undertakes daily serving on other classes of train. In 2022 these were * Allocated to Laira: ** 'Castles' (3 sets, 6 power cars) ** 'High Speed Trains' (2 sets, 4 power cars for CrossCountry) * Allocated to other depots ** and 'InterCity Express Trains' (17 sets) ** DMUs (2 sets) ** and CrossCountry 'Voyagers' (6 sets for CrossCountry) During 2023 both Class 43 fleets were run down but Class 802s were allocated to Laira.


Shed codes

The following shed codes have been used to identify locomotives allocated to Laira:


Named locomotives

Locomotives named after Laira depot have been:


References


Further reading

*


External links


Encyclopedia of Plymouth History – Laira Motive Power Depot and Yard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laira Traction and Rolling Stock Maintenance Depot Railway depots in England Rail transport in Devon Great Western Railway Transport in Plymouth, Devon Transport infrastructure completed in 1962