Old Oak Common TMD
Old Oak Common TMD was a traction maintenance depot located west of London Paddington, in Old Oak Common. The depot codes were OC for the diesel depot and OO for the carriage shed. In steam days the shed code was 81A. The depot was formerly the main facility for the storage and servicing of locomotives and multiple-units from Paddington. However The 'HST' section of Old Oak Common TMD, more commonly known as 'Old Oak Common HST Depot' closed in 2018 with the removal of the InterCity 125s from services on the Great Western Main Line (GWML). This closure was to make way for the development of the HS2 project. Maintenance of the new InterCity Express Trains is carried out at North Pole IET Depot which is situated opposite the site of Old Oak Common TMD whilst the Night Riviera sleeper train was transferred to Penzance Long Rock Depot in December 2017. A new depot was built approximately a 1/4 mile to the east of the existing depot, primarily to service and stable the trains that have been ordered for the Elizabeth line part of the Crossrail project. The depot opened in May 2018 and took the name of the existing depot. The area is also where two Great Western Railway main lines divide: the 1838 route to via , and the 1906 "New North Main Line" (present-day Acton–Northolt line) via to Northolt Junction, the start of the Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway line. The former is in use for regular passenger services; the latter is used overwhelmingly by freight trains and empty coaching stock movements. History GWR Following the reconstruction of Paddington station and the introduction of larger locomotives and new routes, the Great Western Railway (GWR) required a larger depot than that at the 1855 constructed Westbourne Park, at which to service its locomotives and carriages. In 1901, a site was acquired in South Acton, south of the Grand Union Canal and on the upside of the mainline. Taking four years to layout and build, designed by G.J. Churchward, it was the largest depot on the entire GWR system, and set the pattern for similar depots throughout the GWR including Tyseley. It had four undergirder turntables, under six-spans of east–west aligned northern-light pitched roofs. The shed covered a total area of (six bays of } (six bays of ). The roofs were made of wood and steel rafters covered in Welsh slate tiles, supported on steel or cast iron columns, with solid London Brick Company walls. Laid out in an interconnecting 4-square pattern under the roof, each electrically operated turntable was fully boarded, and had 28 tracks spanning from it, able to accommodate locomotives up to in length. The associated repair shop, termed The Factory, was allocated to the northeast front of the depot, with 11 roads approached over an electric traverser, and a 12th road direct from the depot throat. Built in a similar style to the depot, it was by in size, and housed a