Late80'searly90's
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My 90005 arrived yesterday - a lovely model but one of the buffers was detached and had broken into two pieces - there was a spring loose in the box as well. I spoke to Rails who emailed me a return label - they said if they cannot fix it they will send it back to Bachmann - the bogies appeared fine.
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Hi Eddie,
Very glad i have encountered a former Wembley carriage depot employee from that period 1989 onwards.
I am currently doing some research into the place and was wondering if you could fill in some gaps?
There is a 2 road and a 4 road train shed there now. Was there a physical carriage shed there before as you could never really see across from the WCML ?
If so how many roads did it cover and how many coaches per rake would fit inside ?
How many carriages would the sidings in the yard hold and how many rakes were stabled at night ?
I have trawled the internet but have not found any photos of a shed from when the place opened in the 50’s. I have found plenty of pictures of the stabling point with Willesden South box in the distance.The current sheds look like newish builds.
Cheers
80’s90’s
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Glad you understood my ramblings.
Yes, your yellow lines are about right for the extent of the depot. Cannot remember what was on the concrete walkways - possibly they date from after my time at the depot? I know that some of the sidings nearest the "New shed" had shore supply for train heating - I recall at least one snowy evening when trying to find the cables in the snow so that we could plug some trains in to keep them warm. There may not have been water points in the yard - I recall having to shunt trains into the "Old shed" to get them tanked, or sending them off to Euston and asking the station staff to tank them.
Where the multicoloured freight wagons are was for a few years a big empty space, but as at 1992 the contractors were putting in new freight sidings for European freight trains.
The short building with the light grey roof at the very top of your image was where the wheel lathe was. Just above that (out of shot) was the Heavy Repair Depot. The three concrete structures spanning the stabling sidings were (from memory) yard lighting supports, probably dating from when the depot was built, so pre-electrification.
I recall the excitement about 82 and 83 locos for ECS moves to Wembley. By the time I worked there, these had gone, so 81s and 85s were as exciting as it got, along with brand new 90s. But then I am old enough to recall when 81-85s were on normal trains through Watford Junction, also when 86/2s and 87s were only just starting to receive names; I had my late father well trained so that whenever he had to send a parcel of components from Watford to Motherwell by Red Star Parcel, he would take me with him so we could watch the trains through Watford Junction.
Yes, the Mark 3b Pullmans all had the Pullman crest and many had names. When new in 1985, they were in the first version of Inter City livery, but from 1987 onwards they received the INTERCITY swallow style branding and effectively became slightly superior First Opens. One good thing about the 3b type - the powered vestibule doors were more reliable than on the older Mark 3s.
A little tangent: About 20 years ago, I took my late mother to the village just outside Crewe where she met my dad. We ended up meeting the retired gent who was the "village historian". Turns out that this gent left the RAF at the end of WW2 and joined the railways where his woodworking skills were put to good use to build, amongst others, Carriage Sidings North and South Boxes, also Carriage Middle Frame. Small World!
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