I often use the FGW service out of Paddington and notice Eurostar trains
in a shed south of the line somewhere near Acton. Simple question - how do
they get there? Seems a long way from either Waterloo or PGduN.

Fig wrote:
I often use the FGW service out of Paddington and notice Eurostar
trains in a shed south of the line somewhere near Acton. Simple
question - how do they get there? Seems a long way from either
Waterloo or PGduN.

They run from Waterloo, via the Sheepcote Lane chord, to Kensington Olympia
and then on up the West London line to their depot at North Pole, which is
the depot that you see adjacent to the Great Western Main Line. In due
course this depot is closing and the Eurostar maintenance transferred to a
new replacement depot at Temple Mills, near Stratford, in East London.

On Fri, 18 Aug 2006 17:31:03 +0100, Fig wrote:

I often use the FGW service out of Paddington and notice Eurostar trains
in a shed south of the line somewhere near Acton. Simple question - how do
they get there? Seems a long way from either Waterloo or PGduN.

They have a link on to the West London line and run down through
Kensington Olympia, over the Thames and then just before Clapham
Junction there is a line that links round onto the Windsor lines into
Waterloo. Not very far really.

The depot at North Pole will soon become redundant and a new depot is
being built at Temple Mills north of Stratford. There is a link tunnel
from the central part of Stratford International Station that runs round
to where the new depot will be.

--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

The depot at North Pole will soon become redundant

What a sad waste - any idea what will happen to all that railway
insfrastructue?

And what about the piece of Wormwood Scrubs that was sacrificed for
this monumental (as it now turns out to be) white elephant? What are
the odds on it being returned to scrubland?!

Marc.

On Fri, 18 Aug 2006 17:53:49 +0100, Jack Taylor wrote:

Fig wrote:
I often use the FGW service out of Paddington and notice Eurostar
trains in a shed south of the line somewhere near Acton. Simple
question - how do they get there? Seems a long way from either
Waterloo or PGduN.

They run from Waterloo, via the Sheepcote Lane chord, to Kensington
Olympia
and then on up the West London line to their depot at North Pole...

Thanks Jack (and Paul). You have cleared something up that has bugged me
for ages. Unfortunately, you'ved given me something else to think about
now. How on earth did the depot get the name 'North Pole'?

Paul Corfield wrote:

On Fri, 18 Aug 2006 17:31:03 +0100, Fig wrote:

I often use the FGW service out of Paddington and notice Eurostar trains
in a shed south of the line somewhere near Acton. Simple question - how do
they get there? Seems a long way from either Waterloo or PGduN.

They have a link on to the West London line and run down through
Kensington Olympia, over the Thames and then just before Clapham
Junction there is a line that links round onto the Windsor lines into
Waterloo. Not very far really.

The depot at North Pole will soon become redundant and a new depot is
being built at Temple Mills north of Stratford. There is a link tunnel
from the central part of Stratford International Station that runs round
to where the new depot will be.


Info for anyone who's interested - you get a good view of the new
Eurostar depot at Temple Mills - as well as the new Stratford Int'l
station (it's in a massive hole in the ground over which you pass on a
bridge - look both ways!) - if you travel on the new hourly Stratford
to Stansted Airport via Tottenham Hale service. Should the everything
be running on time you can get up to Northumberland Park (the next stop
after Tottenham Hale), cross to the opposite platform and catch a
return train to Stratford after a few minutes wait. Between Tottenham
Hale and Northumberland Park you'll also see the big Victoria Line
depot.

Fig wrote:
How on earth did the depot get the name 'North Pole'?

From the nearby North Pole Junction, which is near to North Pole Road,
W10. Many railway junctions are named after nearby landmarks such as
roads.

There's a pub of that name very close by the actual junction between
the NLL and the depot and also a road called North Pole Road.

Fig wrote:

Thanks Jack (and Paul). You have cleared something up that has bugged me
for ages. Unfortunately, you'ved given me something else to think about
now. How on earth did the depot get the name 'North Pole'?

wrote:
The depot at North Pole will soon become redundant

What a sad waste - any idea what will happen to all that railway
insfrastructue?

And what about the piece of Wormwood Scrubs that was sacrificed for
this monumental (as it now turns out to be) white elephant? What are
the odds on it being returned to scrubland?!

Was any Scrubs land taken for the Eurostar depot? My old Ordnance
Survey 1:50,000 map of 1976 shows some railway land between the GWML
tracks and the Scrubs, and the boundary looks very similar to that on
the current map.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

wrote:
The depot at North Pole will soon become redundant

What a sad waste - any idea what will happen to all that railway
insfrastructue?

http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/group...ys_611851.hcsp

To summarise: EWS will move from Old Oak Common to part of the North Pole
site; the Bombardier Level 5 depot moves from Ilford to another part of
North Pole (common sense would suggest that that would be the Ladbroke Grove
end, with EWS taking the Acton end - but stranger things have happened!);
the current Old Oak Common site becomes a Crossrail depot, making the need
for a depot at Romford redundant, and also allows for an expansion of the
Heathrow Express/Connect depot.