Bristol St Philip’s Marsh
The inside story of an HST depot
Stephen E Jones
Introduction
The depot at St Philip’s Marsh was constructed between 1975 and 1976 on a site that had previously been the old GWR cattle pens. The yard at Victoria sidings was originally a facility used for steel traffic and latterly became a storage point for condemned rolling stock and traction. This major investment in the railways in Bristol was part of a greater plan, which was something of an experiment as well. The depot was completed in the early autumn of 1976 and the first trains to be serviced arrived soon afterwards. I had watched as this all took place as my own place of work was across the tracks at Marsh Junction Shed, which at that time was part of the Bristol AME’s Carriage and Wagon Department.
Staffing of the new depot in the beginning was on a temporary basis with men from Bath Road and from the C & W taking a rotational system. This continued into the following year, and as more HST trains were built and delivered, it became necessary to firm up these arrangements and allocate a permanent set of staff and give the depot its own identity. I was there from the outset and when the summer timetable was launched, HST services became fully integrated in the timetable.
Key:
BE - Bristol East Junction
BTM – Bristol Temple Meads (Station)
BWJ – Bristol West Junction
DDJ – Dr. Day’s Junction
MJ – Marsh Junction Depot
NSJ – North Somerset Junction
SPM - St Philip’s Marsh (Main Shed)
Additional historical information:
The area around the depot is known as St Philip’s Marsh and was known locally as ‘the island’ because it is surrounded on all sides by a river and a canal.
Many years earlier, it had been the location of a colliery and a small enclave of dwellings for the miners.
It was challenging stuff and exciting to be involved in the world’s first regular high speed train service operated by diesel traction at 125 mph.
During 1977 and 1978 a considerable effort was made to make the project a success with a great many teething troubles having to be dealt with whilst at the same time still running an intensive service.
This book is to give an insight into developments not only at St Philip’s Marsh, but also Bath Road. Neither of these depots has received much publicity over the years so here I can at least fill the gap and show a few images that I captured along my journey. I have also taken the liberty of including some of the images I took whilst out-stationed on contract for the BRB, to Foster Yeoman, at their facility at Merehead.
The photographic story begins in 1979. It ends in 2006 when my involvement with both the depot and the industry ended.
Steve Jones, Weston-super-Mare
An interesting year, which saw the arrival of the last new vehicles built for HST.
A Rail Grinder was shipped here for trials from Switzerland. So they were now famous for something other than the cuckoo clock and chocolate!
The last surviving original blood and custard coach was discovered, and we had a few unplanned events as well. DMU maintenance was experimented with at SPM while alteration work went on at Bath Road.
The GEC traction motor problems became an issue and power units continued to have problems with cylinder heads, coolant leaks and overheating and the occasional big end failure or “sticking a leg out of bed” as it was termed.
Cab air conditioners were a constant source of amusement, or rather annoyance, and trailer car air conditioners had problems with vent fan motor failures.
Overall, things were going well then! One thing was for sure, we had plenty to do.
Left: 1980 was the year the last newly designed HST production vehicles began being delivered. For many years Guards had been complaining about the unpleasant conditions in the compartments on the van end of the power cars. Lacking air conditioning and suffering high levels of noise made the environment, in their words, totally unacceptable. Strike action was contemplated but after due consideration, plus the opportunity to extend the length of the sets, a new build series was authorised. These vehicles were built alongside the other trailers still in production. Newly delivered W44001 TGS stands on the west end of ‘A’ Road on Shore and depot air supply undergoing acceptance examination. March 1980.
Bottom Left: The new Guards’ office was regarded as suitable for the discharging of their duties. The two phone handsets are for communicating with the driver (top) and making announcements over the trains’ public address system (lower).
Bottom Right and Opposite: The Swiss Speno rail grinder set had been working on the WR and was stabled at Marsh Junction for a few days. This was very much an experimental operation, which has since become a widely used alternative to rail replacement. March 1980.
here
outside the
Opposite Bottom and Above: Two views of W80450 NU (BPOT) built in 1959 at Wolverton and was the first of only six built. It is seen here at Marsh Junction for maintenance. Unusual to see this type of vehicle as they were mostly used on the Penzance - Paddington mail circuit and so usually worked out of Old Oak Common. March 1985.
Top: This unique colour scheme for a class 50 is worn by 50 015 Valiant and is striking as the machine stands on Road 11 of the new sidings at SPM for the open day. In an attempt to find work for these machines, a small number were allocated to the Civil Engineers’ fleet for a short time. The loco is fitted with a full set of miniature snow ploughs.
Middle: Class 52 D1010 Western Campaigner, masquerading as D1035 Western Yeoman, stands on Road 9 of the new sidings at SPM. The sale conditions of this machine to the Diesel & Electric Preservation Group by Foster Yeoman was that it retained the plates as purchased for a specific period of time as a publicity exercise. The story is well known. The locomotive is finished in Brunswick green as was the original D1035 when delivered new from Crewe Works. The loco was, and still is, based at Williton on the West Somerset Railway.
Bottom: No D7017 (class 35) was one of two ‘Hymek’s’ to come up from Williton on the West Somerset Railway for the open day, the other being D7018, which was displayed at Bath Road. Displaying here the hybrid livery of the late 1960s when the policy was to paint the whole front end yellow irrespective of the main body colour. This work was usually left to the depots to carry out. The blue spot route restriction code was to placate the civil engineer of the W.R. as one bridge was deemed incapable of supporting a red route coded loco. The Stones train heating steam generator had been removed, so reducing the overall weight and supposedly justifying the blue.
Left: The diagonals were at least matching the front cab angle and the grille support struts, unlike the Virgin diagonals which didn’t match anything and looked dreadful. The nameplate was cast aluminium as was the crest. This shot shows the speed-detecting device fitted to No 3 wheelset for the ATP system. This was known as the Hassler drive and was three speedo drives in one.
Below: No 46229 Duchess of Hamilton runs light past SPM, being turned for a Saturday excursion. The machine is seen carrying ‘The Bristolian’ head board. Not as strange as you might think for once upon a time the W.R. borrowed some of these machines from the L.M.R. to cover for the Kings as they had developed a fault in the leading bogie that had caused a derailment, and this led to the grounding of the whole class pending modifications, a bit before my working time I might add. August 1996.
Top Left: No 43 136, with a refurbished set of trailers, stands on ‘D’ road west SPM. The set was on a layover and had come to SPM to ease congestion at Temple Meads. March 1997.
Top Right: No 41132 TF exhibits the early scheme where the INTERCITY logo was carried. The British Railways Board that still existed was unimpressed despite the inclusion of a Copyright mark. The idea was dropped, resulting in only a few sets being so identified, the rest carried the Great Western motif at both ends. This set is on road 10, new sidings, SPM.
Bottom Left: Also seen as part of set 253 033 is No 40327 TRFB ex-works on Road 10 SPM. Only the bodywork was dealt with at works in order to apply the new livery and fit revised internal trim.
Bottom Right: Close up view of markings on this TF, No 41124. This lettering was in the same green as the body colour. It is also larger than that applied on the later revised livery without the INTERCITY markings. March 1997.
No 47 813 SS Great Britain (not the original one) stands on the through siding with a collection of vehicles bound for Laira for level 5 work. This loco started life as No D1720 then became No 47 129 in 1973, and next No 47 658 in the mid-1980s. Long-range fuel tanks were added in the early 1990s when the current number was bestowed upon it. The original SS Great Britain (No 47 508) was shown as unserviceable at Bath Road in 1993. This livery was the result of a quick removal of the stylish white Merlin and script and a swift application of the F word and motif. Drab by any standards. May 2000.
Top: The government had announced that the number of franchises should be reduced with particular regard to the West Country, the proposal being to amalgamate the local and inter-city franchises. Bidding was undertaken and First Group won! (regarded by some, including me, as a poisoned chalice). I decided to start planning my Sprinter training. Here a class 153 awaits departure from platform 4 at Bristol Temple Meads bound for Weston-super-Mare, which was incidentally the first UK seaside resort to have a main line railway connection (7ft ¼ inch) Bristol and Exeter Railway. Consultant engineer one I. K. Brunel esq.
Centre: No 150 234 stands at platform 9 Bristol Temple Meads awaiting its next turn. Many of the Wessex units carried individual liveries as did this one, depicting the delights of the Cornish peninsula by rail. These liveries were part-funded by local authorities keen to boost tourism.
Bottom: No 143 621 stands on platform 8 at Bristol Temple Meads ready to depart for Taunton. This livery expounds the many delights of Bristol and all it has to offer. All three pictures September 2005.
Top Left and Right: No 158 968 standing in platform 9 at Bristol Temple Meads on a Cardiff - Portsmouth Harbour service on a sunny afternoon. Three car operation was required on these heavily used routes and so two car units were split up to furnish this need. The renumbering of the sets was to be able to differentiate between the two and three car variety. This practice still goes on today where two cars are not enough. I took these pictures to place on the cover of the training manuals I produced, so that the staff could recognise which units we were talking about. It seemed to work. You have to remember that engineers are not all train spotters. September 2005.
Bottom Left and Right: With the franchise deal officially sorted it was not long before work started coming our way on the units. New wheels were the job on this one having just been vinyled up as a result of a previous agreement made by Wessex Trains. A training opportunity as I saw it and we all learned a great deal about these little trains. No 153 329 outside the paint shop awaiting her new wheel-sets. October 2005.
This is a book with a difference. One man’s story of time spent ‘on the inside’ at St Philip’s Marsh HST depot, Bristol from 1979 through to 2001. Stephen Jones was a trade electrician at SPM responsible with others for maintaining the fleet of Western Region HST sets through the good and sometimes not so good times.
Written from the heart by a man ‘who was there’, this is a no holds barred description of how the fleet was operated and maintained, how as time passed corners were cut and later under privatisation how it was a case of ‘reinventing the wheel’ seemingly more than once.
In addition we are able to witness the birth into service of the remarkable Yeoman Class 59 engines, with some remarkable tales and illustrations that are only possible again by a man on the inside.
Although very much a personal record profusely illustrated with the author’s own images, it is also a record of a lifetime of railway service. £ 32.50
