Stratford TMD was a traction maintenance depot located in Stratford, London, England, close to the Great Eastern Main Line. It was located just west of Stratford station, on a site now occupied by Stratford International station. The depot was, at one time, the biggest on the London and North Eastern Railway with locomotives covering duties from express services to freight workings in London's docks.
Locomotive construction took place at the adjacent Stratford Works and Stratford TMD was initially located on this site in the V between the Lea Bridge and Great Eastern Main Lines. In 1871, the depot moved to the 'teardrop' of lines to the west of the present Stratford Regional station. The depot closed in 2001, as part of the construction of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.
History
Opening and early years Stratford Depot was built by the Northern and Eastern Railway whose line from Stratford to Broxbourne opened in 1840. By 1843, the main building was a 16 road roundhouse which eventually became known as the Polygon, with outbuildings including workshops, a blacksmith and saw pits all contained within the shed complex. On 19 February 1846 additional accommodation was authorised, which resulted in completion of the Erecting Shop the following year. It was in 1847 that the Eastern Counties Railway works in Romford were shut and moved to this site. From this time, the accommodation grew by accretion so that by 1867 the carriage department - later Stratford Works - was using a building 370 ft by 80 ft (113m by 24m) attached to the north side of the Polygon.
The development of Stratford Depot and Stratford Works are intertwined and as the site developed new sections of the works were opened away from the original shared site that lay between the Great Eastern Main Line and the Lea Valley line.
Great Eastern The Great Eastern Railway was formed in 1862 by the amalgamation of several East Anglian Railways.
In the 1860s moves were made to increase the locomotive accommodation with a new shed for forty locos proposed. The cost of the most desirable land and perceived difficulties with alternative sites led to delays, so that it was not until 1871 that land to the west of the existing shed was made available and erection of the new building commenced. During construction the Engineer reported on 30 August 1871 that "during a gale on 24th instant both the gable ends blew down", and the "New Shed" opened later that year, retaining its epithet throughout its life.
In 1877 the Jubilee shed (named after Queen Victoria's jubilee was opened. This was a straight-through shed (engines could enter and leave from either end) and with capacity for 130 engines.
In 1917 during World War I the site was bombed by a Zeppelin and one driver was killed and two others injured. Three engines were also damaged by other bombs.
L P Parker
In 1920 locomotive superintendent LP Parker wrote about the depot.. Some of the key facts are reproduced below:
There were 550 locomotives allocated to Stratford of which 110 were allocated to sub-sheds (see below). The main line services were dealt with B12 4-6-0 and D15 4-4-0's. Main line freight was in the hands of the J15 class and local freight in and around East London was in the hands of 0-6-0Ts belonging to classes J67, J68 and J69. One of these engines is preserved as part of the national collection at York. Stratford was responsible for all the suburban services working out of Liverpool Street station and these were in the hands of 2-4-2Ts (F5, F6 etc.) and. the N7 0-6-2Ts.
There was a 70-foot turntable installed a few years before Parker's article and part of a re-modelling scheme improving access to the depot. There was also a 65-foot turntable and both were electrically powered.
The locomotive coaling plant was one of the biggest in the country and had opened in 1915. Up to that point all coaling had been done by hand with 36 men being employed on each shift. It is possible that with the demand on men in the war that women may have been employed in this role as they certainly were in some other depots. The provision of the new coaling plant that could see an engine coaled in seconds, was the solution to congestion in the area caused by the long wait for coal.
There were also oil storage tanks on the site as at this time some 30 Great Eastern locomotives were oil fired.
Parker reported some 330 repair staff (115 of which were skilled mechanics) but it is likely that some of these were technically on the works payroll.
A breakdown train was also located at Stratford and its staff lived in nearby company owned flats. A bell from the shed telegraph office was connected to the flats and according to Parker the train could be on its way to an accident site within 30 minutes.
At this time Stratford was responsible for supplying the royal train locomotives that operated between London Kings Cross to Sandringham. The depot usually supplied an immaculately turned out D15 Claud Hamilton 4-4-0 class and at the time of Parker's article Stratford engine fitter Day had been accompanying the royal train for twenty years.
Also on site was an enginemen's dormitory which saw a throughput of some 350 drivers a week mostly from March and Peterborough depots. This facility consisted of 50 cubicles as well as showers, a kitchen and other amenities.
Allocation 1922 At the end of 1922 (the last year of the Great Eastern Railway) the shed at Stratford had an allocation of 555 locomotives and was the biggest shed on the Great Eastern system. The allocation consisted of:
Class (LNER classification) Wheel Arrangement Number allocated B12 4-6-0 23 D13 4-4-0 3 D14 4-4-0 8 D15 4-4-0 27 E4 2-4-0 12 F3 2-4-2T 8 F4 2-4-2T 109 F5 2-4-2T 27 F6 2-4-2T 22 F7 2-4-2T 6 G4 0-4-4T 40 J14 0-6-0 5 J15 0-6-0 91 J17 0-6-0 1 J18 0-6-0 1 J65 0-6-0T 6 J66 0-6-0T 11 J67 0-6-0T 28 J68 0-6-0T 16 J69 0-6-0T 95 N7 0-6-2T 12 Y4 0-4-0T 4
All locomotives were built by the Great Eastern Railway.
The extensive suburban services were handled largely by the various F class 2-4-2T locomotives but note the twelve N7 0-6-2T locomotives that were to replace them on these duties from the 1920s onwards although as can be seen below a fair number were still allocated to Stratford in February 1949.
London and North Eastern years
The London and North Eastern Railway came into existence in 1923.
There were two turntables on the site at this time and in 1924 the one nearest the depot entrance was enlarged to 70 feet to take the largest locomotives.
By this time, the New Shed (270 feet x 100 feet) was where most repairs were undertaken due to the fact that ventilation was so poor. The shed had 6 roads at this time. The 12-car Jubilee Shed (270 feet x 160 feet) was the running shed but by some accounts this was a difficult place to work as well.
In 1929 an automatic boiler wash was supplied to increase turn round time of locomotives in what was otherwise a time-consuming task.
Whilst Great Eastern types provided the majority of the types allocated to Stratford shed, newer LNE types and engines from other LNER constituent companies were allocated there. These included:
B1 4-6-0 B17 4-6-0 K1 2-6-0 L1 2-6-4T J19 0-6-0 J39 0-6-0
The water supply at Stratford had been a source of concern and this was partially alleviated by the opening of a water softening plant in 1938. The sludge was removed in old engine tenders.
In 1940 the turntable near the entrance of the depot was upgraded from being hand worked to vacuum worked and was further upgraded to be electrically worked in 1946. During World War II both the depot and works complex was hit a number of times during the London Blitz.
During the Second World War a number of US Army Class S160 (USATC S160 Class) 2-8-0s were allocated to the shed during 1943 and 1944 in the run up to the invasion of Europe.
BR Years
In 1948 Stratford depot became the responsibility of British Railways following nationalisation.
In the early years of British Rail Stratford shed was host to visiting Southern Railway Battle of Britain class 4-6-2 locomotives before the introduction of the Britannia class. In the early 1950s. the opening of the Ford factory in Dagenham saw the depot finding it difficult to attract labour - a problem that continued throughout the fifties and, despite dieselisation, into the 1960s.
In February 1948 the locomotive allocation totalling 414 locomotives was as follows:
Railway Company/Class Wheel Arrangement Number Allocated LNER B1 4-6-0 8 GER B12 4-6-0 39 LNER B17 4-6-0 7 GER D15 4-4-0 2 GER D16 4-4-0 3 GER F4 2-4-2T 12 GER F5 2-4-2T 23 GER F6 2-4-2T 12 NER G5 0-4-4T 1 GER J15 0-6-0 33 GER J17 0-6-0 10 GER J20 0-6-0 9 LNER J39 0-6-0 29 GNR J50 0-6-0T 7 GER J65 0-6-0T 1 GER J66 0-6-0T 2 GER J68 0-6-0T 15 GER J67/J69 0-6-0T 48 GN K2 2-6-0 16 GER N7 0-6-2T 124 LNE V1 2-6-2T 9 LNE V3 2-6-2T 3 LNE Simplex Y11 0-4-0T 2 KEY: GER - Great Eastern Railway, GNR - Great Northern, LNER - London North Eastern Railway NER - North Eastern Railway
As a result of war damage and general wear and tear, the mechanical coaler was starting to become uneconomic. A replacement was mooted in 1955 but never built and the monstrous edifice of the old coaler lasted until the end of steam and was demolished in 1963.
1959 allocation Although modernisation started in 1955, by December 1959 there were still a considerable amount of steam locomotives allocated to Stratford:
Railway Company/Class Wheel arrangement Number allocated Traffic BR Britannia 4-6-2 1Express Passenger LNER B1 4-6-0 6Express Passenger LNER B17 4-6-0 3Express Passenger GER N70-6-2T 66Local Passenger LNER L1 2-6-4T 19Local Passenger LNER V1 2-6-2T 3Local Passenger LNER V3 2-6-2T 4Local Passenger GER J15 0-6-0 3Freight GER J17 0-6-0 8Freight LNER K1 2-6-0 7Freight GNR K3 2-6-0 4Freight GNR K5 2-6-0 1Freight WAR DEPARTMENT 2-8-0 10Freight BR Class 4 2-6-0 3Freight/Mixed LMS 42-6-0 6Freight/Mixed LMS 3F Jinty 0-6-0T 3Freight/shunting GER J68 0-6-0T 7Freight/shunting GER J69 0-6-0T 16Freight/shunting GNR J50 0-6-0T 16Freight/shunting
KEY: GER - Great Eastern Railway, GNR - Great Northern, LNER - London North Eastern Railway NER - North Eastern Railway LMS - London Midland Scottish BR - British Railways
In December 1959 the diesel allocation at Stratford consisted of 96 locomotives of 11 different classes: BR Class Wheel arrangement Number allocatedTraffic 01 0-4-0 Diesel Mechanical 4 Shunting D1/3 0-4-0 Diesel Mechanical 2 Shunting 04 0-6-0 Diesel Mechanical 14Freight/shunting 08 0-6-0 Diesel Electric 9Freight/shunting 10 0-6-0 Diesel Electric 12Freight/shunting 11 0-6-0 Diesel Electric 13Freight/shunting 15 Bo Bo Diesel Electric 2Freight 16 Bo Bo Diesel Electric 10Freight 21 Bo Bo Diesel Electric 10Mixed 24 Bo-Bo Diesel Electric 2Mixed 31 AIA-AIA Diesel Electric 13Mixed 40 1Co-Co1 Diesel Electric 5 Express Passenger
By January 1963 Stratford's allocation of steam locomotives was down to a single member of Class B1, no. 61144.
The class 01 and 04 locomotives were all shunting engines and were replaced by the Class 03 locomotives during the 1960s. the Class 10 and 11 shunters were replaced by further Class 08 locomotives. The Class 15 and 16 engines were generally employed on local freight workings but as traffic to London Docks disappeared, these locomotives were deemed surplus and withdrawn. The Class 21 locomotives were notoriously unreliable and were dispatched back to Scotland (they had been built by the North British Railway Company in Glasgow) after an ignominious start to their career. The Class 24 and Class 31s were employed on mixed traffic (i.e. both freight and passenger workings) and the former were re-allocated to the London Midland region. Further Class 31s were allocated to Stratford during the 1960s.