Bristol Barton Hill TMD

Bristol Barton Hill TMD is a traction maintenance depot located in Barton Hill, Bristol, England. The depot is located on the Great Western Main Line to the north-east of Bristol Temple Meads station.

Bristol Barton Hill TMD

Location
Location	Barton Hill, Bristol
Coordinates	51.4533°N 2.5702°W / 51.4533; -2.5702
OS grid	ST604728
Characteristics
Owner	Network Rail
Operator	Arriva TrainCare
Depot code	BK
Type	DMU, Diesel
History
Opened	1840

History

Bristol Barton Hill TMD opened 1840 as locomotive depot. From 1870 it was used as a carriage and wagon depot. In 1960, a new shed was built to service the Blue Pullman.^[1]

Locomotives returned in July 1995 when the depot was taken over by Rail Express Systems (RES) after Bristol Bath Road TMD closed.^[2] In 1996 it was included in the sale of RES to EWS.^[3][4][5]

In 2001 it resumed servicing passenger stock with Virgin CrossCountry Class 220 and Class 221s being serviced overnight.^[6] In 2004, stored Class 56 locomotives were reactivated at Barton Hill before being exported to France.^[7]

In 2011 Barton Hill was transferred within the Arriva UK Trains group from Axiom to Arriva TrainCare.^[8][9] As such it has also performed overhaul work on trains for Arriva Rail North, Arriva Trains Wales and First Great Western (Class 158s), Chiltern Railways (Mark 3s) and Tyne & Wear Metrocars.^{[10][11][12][13]}

As at September 2022, five CrossCountry sets were serviced at Barton Hill each night; four Class 220/221s and one Class 170.^[14]

Incidents

CrossCountry 221129 derailed on 24 March 2014 just outside of the depot. The train suffered minor damage and nobody was injured, but the track was heavily damaged, being pulled 6 inches sideways and sleeves being destroyed along with cables and the track needed grinding down.^[15]

References

1. "On shed". Rail Express. No. 259. December 2017. p. 22.
2. "Barton Hill opens as a loco depot". The Railway Magazine. No. 1134. October 1995. p. 53.
3. "Wisconsin Central invades Great Britain, buys mail-train network". Trains Magazine. No. March 1996. p. 16.
4. "Triple naming ceremony at Barton Hill staff open day". Rail Magazine. No. 414. 25 July 2001. p. 54.
5. "Railway Fascination - Bristol Fashion". Rail Magazine. No. 440. 24 July 2002. p. 53.
6. "Depots unveiled for Virgin's Voyager CrossCountry fleet". Rail Magazine. No. 413. 11 July 2001. p. 13.
7. "Fertis 56 unveiled". The Railway Magazine. No. 1241. September 2004. p. 59.
8. "Arriva takes on Axion depots". Rail Magazine. No. 670. 18 May 2011. p. 19.
9. "Four more depots for LNWR". Today's Railways UK. No. 115. July 2011. p. 16.
10. Northern Trains DMU Fleet Refurbishment Programme Arriva TrainCare
11. Class 158 refurbishment Arriva TrainCare
12. "Rhymney and WAG coaches stored". Rail Express. No. 290. July 2020. p. 28.
13. Bristol Barton Hill Arriva TrainCare
14. Services calling at Bristol Barton Hill TMD on 1 September 2022 Realtime Trains
15. "Derailed Voyager 221129 at Bristol Barton Hill Depot 24th March 2014". British Railways TV. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2017.

External links

Media related to Bristol Barton Hill TMD at Wikimedia Commons