Landore TMD 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 Landore, a district of

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. There was a shed for steam locomotives here, and in 1963

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

opened a purpose-build diesel depot. Under privatisation the depot was 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, ...

to service its fleet of

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 ...

s until it closed in December 2018. The site reopened in September 2019 as a rolling stock refurbishment centre.

History

The

built a shed a Landore in 1932. Under British Rail, Landore shed was given the shed code 87E and from 1949 all locomotives allocated there bore a small plate showing this code. In 1950 there were 60 locomotives allocated to Swansea of which 34 were tank locomotives. By 1959 the total number had risen to 68 but only 33 of these were shunters. The steam shed was closed in June 1961, and in 1963 a new purpose-build diesel depot was opened. Under the BR TOPS system introduced in 1973 this new depot was given the depot code LE. In 1979, there were 24 shunters allocated to Landore, and 54 main-line locomotive, predominantly Class 37s. Of the eight Class 03s allocated, five were assigned to working the

Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway The Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway (BP&GVR) was a mineral railway company that constructed a railway line in Carmarthenshire, Wales, by conversion of a canal, to connect collieries and limestone pits to the sea at Kidwelly. It extend ...

, remaining at the stabling point west of Llanelli station when not working, while the 16 Class 08s worked at various locations from being station pilot at

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, ; , 'Merlin's fort' or possibly 'Sea-town fort') is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community (Wales), community in Wales, lying on the River Towy north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. At the 2021 United Kingdom cen ...

to various locations in the Swansea area, with those working in the dock areas being fitted with Radio Telephones. In addition, shunters were hired out in the locality for use by the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...

or in local

steelworks A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fini ...

or oil facilities. The depot held its first open day on 30 August 1980. At the time, the depot was operating 24hours a day and consisted of a fuelling point, Servicing Shed and a four-road Maintenance Shed fitted with two overhead cranes. The depot was also the base for a steam crane. In the 21st century, the depot was operated by

to service its fleet of

trains. With the withdrawal of the InterCity 125, Landore depot closed in December 2018, with the replacement Class 800s being serviced at the newly opened Maliphant depot. In September 2019, Chrysalis Rail reopened the site as a rolling stock refurbishment centre, its first project being on

Abellio ScotRail Abellio ScotRail, operating services under the name ScotRail, was the national train operating company of Scotland. A subsidiary of the Netherlands-based transport conglomerate Abellio (transport company), Abellio, it operated the ScotRail (br ...

Class 156 units. It has since worked on some

Transport for Wales Rail Transport for Wales Rail Limited, branded as Transport for Wales and TfW Rail ( and ), is a Welsh State-owned enterprises of the United Kingdom, publicly owned train operating company, a subsidiary of Transport for Wales (TfW), a Welsh Governme ...

Class 153 units.

References

Sources

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Additional sources

*Rail Atlas Great Britain & Ireland, S.K. Baker Railway depots in Wales South Wales Main Line Buildings and structures in Swansea Transport infrastructure completed in 1963 {{UK-rail-transport-stub