BR Road Vehicle Workshops

[chrissixties]

I asked this question in the Railway Motors thread in Scenery, Stuctures and Transport but fear it got lost. So forgive me for asking it again as a new thread here, but I hope it is an interesting topic:

There is a great photo in Ian Allan's Railway Owned Commercial Vehicles of a row of Scarabs being repaired over a special inspection pit at King's Cross in 1957. It has made me think this kind of facility might make a great subject for a model to show off a whole range of railway vehicles, being repaired, re-painted etc. But apart from this one photo does anyone have any other images or details of repair shops or facilities where a range of vehicles might have been worked on?

[The Stationmaster]

Some of them would not have filled you with any joy! Yeovil Hendford was a converted stable with an old cast iron stove in one corner and a very uneven floor plus painted (and distinctly grubby) interior walls, Cathays at Cardiff was just part of the old works building which was hived off to NCL. I'll have a word with a pal of mine as his final job with NCL was as a sort of group manager of a number of workshops and he might have some pics.

[jcb 3c]

It's a great idea for a model displaying different types , I've been looking at BR vehicle pics on net for a while and never spotted any workshop ones. I wonder if some vehicle maintenance was done by local garages?

[stewartingram]

Cambridge used the old GNR locoshed, at the SE end of the station, down by the cattle market. Long gone but Ive seen some pics of it somewhere, possibly in one of those Loco Shed albums?

Stewart

[Guest stuartp]

I've been looking at BR vehicle pics on net for a while and never spotted any workshop ones. I wonder if some vehicle maintenance was done by local garages?

 

I don't know when the last BR Road Vehicle workshop closed but on the ones I was let loose on (ER, LMR, late 80s onwards) all the work was done by local garages. I collected my new van from Layerthorpe garage in York in 1992 and drove it back to Appleby, after that it was maintained by the local Ford garage (despite being a Vauxhall). The same garage maintained the PW buses and works dept. vans too.

[Oldddudders]

Road motor vehicle maintenance was not exactly among BR's most shining achievements. In Divisional days there was an apparently strict regime of maintenance for the couple of cars we had, and they indeed got taken across to the Croydon workshops on a regular basis. Which makes it all the more surprising that for several years and despite a number of such exams, the rear silencer mount on Hillman Avenger XHV849T was a bulldog clip applied by a member of Divisional staff. You might think that would have been spotted when up on a ramp.

 

There were also allegations of naughty goings-on in the Road Motor Engineer's empire, involving monies, which were investigated with staff suspended/taken out of post - but without subsequent news of the sackings or court procedures which might have been hoped for. The out-sourcing Stuart P mentions would have been a better option for the Board as a whole years before.

[AMJ]

On a similar topic I know that the Royal Mail vehicle engineering depot in York is on Leeman Road just by the pub that is diagonally opposite the NRM. So this is near to the railway and could get your RM models together.

 

I think that the road vehicle department was often part of the wagon and carriage maintenance. I'm sure that there are some comments in the books on the works about this and possibly also comments in the Trans Pennine Publishing books on railway road vehicles.

[Merfyn Jones]

All long in the past now. Our local vehicles when I started in 1978 were serviced in the old goods shed at Llandudno station, a lean to brick building attached to the side of the station side wall. It was run by National Carriers who had the contract for maintainence of B R road motors. I think this was the case most places at the time and probably dates from NCL taking over the goods work in 1969.

Later our vehicles went to Securicor who had a facility nearby. In later days we went with our Leyland DAF vans to the local dealers and the Fords with Network Rail did the same until sombody realised that the small back street garages could do as good a job, cheaper.

I have built a small diarama of a goods yard with shed to display my collection and it can be used with the shed as a goods depot and yard or with the shed as a maintainence facility and the sidings used by the engineers.

Photos I have are of new or refurbished facilities from B R Magazines where they liked to show off to the staff the latest workplaces. The old and tatty were not mentioned.

Merf.

[The Dorset Wanderer]

I can remember, in the late sixties replacing the cab on a normal control Austin which had a fifth wheel akin to those fitted to Scarabs. I worked for a large BL dealer in Bournemouth and IIRC we did three or four of these. The cabs had rotted out and changing the cab apparently was the cheapest option. Sprayed in the then new yellow livery.

Steve

[The Stationmaster]

All long in the past now. Our local vehicles when I started in 1978 were serviced in the old goods shed at Llandudno station, a lean to brick building attached to the side of the station side wall. It was run by National Carriers who had the contract for maintainence of B R road motors. I think this was the case most places at the time and probably dates from NCL taking over the goods work in 1969.

 

What happened was that all the BR road vehicle maintenance facilities, workshops, driving schools (where they still existed) etc were transferred to NCL when the organisation was vested; with a back-to-back contract agreement that NCL would maintain BR's vehicles (as well, obviously, as the vehicles it hired to BR such as the parcels delivery fleet). I don't know if there was time limit on this agreement or if it was tied to other contractual arrangements which went with the split but as already noted eventually BR shifted a lot of its vehicle maintenance away from NCL (which had got extremely expensive in many ways - for instance of a vehicle needed a new tyre NCL would add a handling fee to the fitting charge if it didn't fit the tyre itself but put the work to a specialist tyre fitter, and it would keep any discount in its own books instead of passing it on).

 

Occasionally, very occasionally, things worked the other way so for instance when I reduced my parcels delivery fleet at one place where I was working I simply told NCL that from two weeks Monday I wanted 4 fewer vehicles and that the round pattern would be altered then all the cost savings went to me from the start of the next accounting period - which was two weeks from Monday - and I didn't have to pay any charges for redundant vehicles and drivers.

[ringo]

Ours at Tyseley and the Birmingham area, were maintained by Road Motors in Watery Lane, just down from Lawley Street (freightliner terminal), The building is still there to this day, behind a fish and chip shop.

I use the word maintained very loosely, as when we got the vans and the Bruff back, we spent more time repairing them, came out with more faults on them than when they went in.

 

In the later 80s, Securicor got the contract at West Brom (opposite the Baggies ground), so there were always plently of BR yellow vans out side.

 

Then the bigger stuff, such as the BRUFF and the commando went to a place in Kitts Green.

 

None of them ever realy looked after them as they should have!

Cheers

 

Ringo

[R A Watson]

The depot in Plymouth was a purpose built red brick building, fairly close to Friary station, but the workshop was accessed off a side lane not the main road it faced onto, which made manouvering a tricky process.

 

Following closure it became a Union regional office and has recently re-opened as the local Islamic Study Centre!

[modfather]

Bristol used to work in the bck of marsh junction shed, I use the pit for bits on my car still

[Fat Controller]

Bristol used to work in the bck of marsh junction shed, I use the pit for bits on my car still

Before that, the 'workshops' were in the arches under the line from Temple Meads Goods towards the Docks, on the Temple Meads side of Bath Road- I used to work with someone who'd been a tyre fitter there.

The ones at Newcastle were in the old Forth Banks goods depot, whilst those at Stoke were in the huge Beeching-era sundries depot, on the side next to the D-road, until they moved to the former BRS depot at Wheildon Road.

[dinkyme]

I asked this question in the Railway Motors thread in Scenery, Stuctures and Transport but fear it got lost. So forgive me for asking it again as a new thread here, but I hope it is an interesting topic:

There is a great photo in Ian Allan's Railway Owned Commercial Vehicles of a row of Scarabs being repaired over a special inspection pit at King's Cross in 1957. It has made me think this kind of facility might make a great subject for a model to show off a whole range of railway vehicles, being repaired, re-painted etc. But apart from this one photo does anyone have any other images or details of repair shops or facilities where a range of vehicles might have been worked on?

If you look under Southern Railway Group in this section then Happy Birthday Bournemouth on the second page in entry dated 18/8/11, various pictures of the old goods yard on west side, one showing recovery truck also a picture looking across to the east side showing various vehicles parked outside the National Carriers workshop. This workshop closed sometime during the 1980's and was in Northcote Road. After closing down this workshop was used by a local tyre company called Mike Stokes. Hope this is some interest.

[Merfyn Jones]

Todays find on flickr thanks to David Ford.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidwf2009/6130190716/in/contacts/

 

Darlingtons road maintainance facility.

Merf.

[ess1uk]

before the big sell off, the East Midlands Electricity Board in Kettering had a new depot built up off Telford Way backing onto the railway, and the old site was sold to Sainsbury's.

the new depot did their truck servicing and for a while it did some of BR's vans too.

it was sold onto to TNT i think when EOn took over and it would have been Railtrack about then anyway.

info from my Dad who work for EMEB.

hope this helps?

[NCLFitter]

I asked this question in the Railway Motors thread in Scenery, Stuctures and Transport but fear it got lost. So forgive me for asking it again as a new thread here, but I hope it is an interesting topic:

There is a great photo in Ian Allan's Railway Owned Commercial Vehicles of a row of Scarabs being repaired over a special inspection pit at King's Cross in 1957. It has made me think this kind of facility might make a great subject for a model to show off a whole range of railway vehicles, being repaired, re-painted etc. But apart from this one photo does anyone have any other images or details of repair shops or facilities where a range of vehicles might have been worked on?

Hi, I served my time with BR Sundries Division RME /NCL RME in the late 60's early 70's before joining BR HQ, Marylebone CM&EE (RV Engrs).

I worked at Leyton E10 (opp. Temple Mills) and although I have no photos of any significance I could draw up a plan of the place.It did have a pit as you described on one side of the shop which was pretty useless as the onlt 3 wheelers we had were a dozen or so Scarabs out of Liverpool St Parcels which I believe were the last operated in anger. In addition there were a handful of  wooden cabbed Scarabs used at LIFT as IMV's plus a couple of Townsmans transferred into Barking.

We maintained all the vehicles from LIFT, mainly TK'S and Bantams, all the local REPS vehicles, the big boys out of Stratford, Willesden and KX Freightliner.

In addition I worked at St. Pancras Way garage, Bricklayers Arms garage, V&A Dock and Barking garages  and visited numerous then NCL garages across the country up until 1979 when I joined Freightliner.

If I can be of any assistance please let me know. I have contact with some old colleagues who worked in the road mtr dept from the late 50's.

I think the photo you mentioned was Battlesbridge Road but I only went there a few times  40 years ago.

Regards

John Clark alias NCLfitter (yeh I know a moment of madness)

[HitchinLoco]

I remember Hitchin Herts had a small brick biult building next to the turntable that the steamers used.

They maintained a few scammels a long nose Morris Commercial parcel lorry, a flat nose Morris Commercial, My fathers Austin Lorry and later the Bed TK a Ford Thames Trader S/W Base tipper. and  a Bedford Utilly Dormabil and Karria Bantams artics.

Thats my main memory in the 60-70s era.

But York Rd Depot in London was a main garage with all types of vehicles there, My father picked up his new TK from there in 61.

Hope this is of interest.

Gordon. 

[chrissixties]

Hi, I served my time with BR Sundries Division RME /NCL RME in the late 60's early 70's before joining BR HQ, Marylebone CM&EE (RV Engrs).

I worked at Leyton E10 (opp. Temple Mills) and although I have no photos of any significance I could draw up a plan of the place.It did have a pit as you described on one side of the shop which was pretty useless as the onlt 3 wheelers we had were a dozen or so Scarabs out of Liverpool St Parcels which I believe were the last operated in anger. In addition there were a handful of  wooden cabbed Scarabs used at LIFT as IMV's plus a couple of Townsmans transferred into Barking.

We maintained all the vehicles from LIFT, mainly TK'S and Bantams, all the local REPS vehicles, the big boys out of Stratford, Willesden and KX Freightliner.

In addition I worked at St. Pancras Way garage, Bricklayers Arms garage, V&A Dock and Barking garages  and visited numerous then NCL garages across the country up until 1979 when I joined Freightliner.

If I can be of any assistance please let me know. I have contact with some old colleagues who worked in the road mtr dept from the late 50's.

I think the photo you mentioned was Battlesbridge Road but I only went there a few times  40 years ago.

Regards

John Clark alias NCLfitter (yeh I know a moment of madness)

Hi John

Thank you for your post. I would be very interested to see a rough plan of Leyton if you are able to sketch something - just to get an idea of the size of such a facility and the various parts. If you could encourage any of your old colleagues to post or even add some photos, that would be terrific. I'm particularly interested in the late sixties but I'm sure others would love to see later stuff too.

Many Thanks

Chris

[Merfyn Jones]

Hi, I served my time with BR Sundries Division RME /NCL RME in the late 60's early 70's before joining BR HQ, Marylebone CM&EE (RV Engrs).

I worked at Leyton E10 (opp. Temple Mills) and although I have no photos of any significance I could draw up a plan of the place.It did have a pit as you described on one side of the shop which was pretty useless as the onlt 3 wheelers we had were a dozen or so Scarabs out of Liverpool St Parcels which I believe were the last operated in anger. In addition there were a handful of  wooden cabbed Scarabs used at LIFT as IMV's plus a couple of Townsmans transferred into Barking.

We maintained all the vehicles from LIFT, mainly TK'S and Bantams, all the local REPS vehicles, the big boys out of Stratford, Willesden and KX Freightliner.

In addition I worked at St. Pancras Way garage, Bricklayers Arms garage, V&A Dock and Barking garages  and visited numerous then NCL garages across the country up until 1979 when I joined Freightliner.

If I can be of any assistance please let me know. I have contact with some old colleagues who worked in the road mtr dept from the late 50's.

I think the photo you mentioned was Battlesbridge Road but I only went there a few times  40 years ago.

Regards

John Clark alias NCLfitter (yeh I know a moment of madness)

 

I am still trying to contact you John, without any luck so far. Perhaps you can reply on my current e.mail - glomer@btinternet.com

Merf.

[Tradair]

The depot in Plymouth was a purpose built red brick building, fairly close to Friary station, but the workshop was accessed off a side lane not the main road it faced onto, which made manouvering a tricky process.

 

Following closure it became a Union regional office and has recently re-opened as the local Islamic Study Centre!

Don't think you are correct. The red brick building was built as the Sutton Labour party headquarters and was originally a single story office but never a garage. It was expanded to three stories in the 60s/70s. The Plymouth depot was off Salisbury Road to the rear of the same block. I used to walk past it everyday on the way to school. It was referred to as Drake Carriers garage who may have been the original owners. While waiting for the no 3 bus, I used to note the movements of Scarabs, Highwayman, D Series tractor units and BMC parcel vans that used to be serviced there. The garage was demolished years ago and was replaced by a housing development called Drake Court.