Old Oak Common Carriage Sidings - Boiler House

[BillyBoyTheBig]

I spent many days at Old Oak Common depot in the 1970s, first as a rail enthusiast and then because my late father worked for BR at the depot.  I am seeking information and photographs of the boiler house that was located between the carriage and wagon repair shop and the adjacent carriage sidings.  The boiler house was located on a raised mound adjacent to the sidings where the Pullman Sets (Class 251) were dumped and stored after withdrawal in the early 1970s.  There used to be a single siding that went up a fairly steep slope to the upper part of the boiler house, on the right hand side as you look towards the buffer stops of the carriage sidings.  The siding would usually have a single tank wagon stabled at the top, with its handbrake on and wheel-chocks present to prevent it rolling back down.  If I remember rightly, there was a catch point at the bottom of the slope, just before the siding joined the main trackwork below, but I am a little fuzzy on that.  The tank wagon contained fuel (heavy fuel oil, or possibly diesel?) for use by the boiler house to produce steam to pre-heat carriages across the depot.  When walking around the carriage sidings, many of the buffer stops could be seen with clouds of steam from leaking and poorly maintained steam connection pipes.  I remember the odd occasion when a Class 08 shunter could be seen swapping the tank wagon over and to see a shunter of that size going up an incline that steep was quite something!  The boiler house was demolished sometime in 1977/78 as steam heated carriages began to be phased out.

 

I would really appreciate any further information about this small but important part of the depot and in particular, any photographs of the tank wagon or shunter in use.

 

Many thanks, Richard

[Davexoc]

I had a quick look, as when I started there in 1980, there was no evidence of it. I see where it was, it appears in the aerial images here

 

https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EAW022469

 

The pipework had been replaced by cables feeding the ETH shore supplies at the buffer stops in my days. If it was like the ODM at Paddington, it was heavy oil that required some pre-heating to feed the boilers.

[BillyBoyTheBig]

Many thanks for that.  A good picture, too.