Knottingley TMD

Knottingley TMD was a Traction Maintenance Depot located in Knottingley, West Yorkshire, England. The depot was situated on the Pontefract Line and was near Knottingley station.[2] It opened in 1967 to maintain the locomotives and hopper wagons for a planned 75 Merry-go-round trains a day, expected to use the Wakefield and Goole line.[3]

Knottingley TMD
Location
LocationKnottingley, West Yorkshire
Coordinates53.7061°N 1.2539°W / 53.7061; -1.2539
OS gridSE493235
Characteristics
Owner(s)DB
Depot code(s)KY (1973–2020)[1]
TypeDiesel
History
OpenedJuly 1967 (1967-07)
Closed2020 (2020)
Former depot code(s)56A

History

In 1976, Class 03, 04, 08 shunters and Class 47 locomotives could be seen at the depot.[4] During the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s the depot was home to Class 56 and from the mid eighties, Class 58 locomotives.[5]

When the depot opened in July 1967, it was given the depot code of 56A, which had previously been a code used in Wakefield for a shed that had closed in June 1967.[6] Later that year, it was renumbered to 55G, however since 1973 when the TOPS system was introduced, the depot code has been KY.[7] At the time that the TOPS system was being rolled out, Knottingley was using a separate computer system called Airepower which allocated the 13 locomotives and 45 traincrew needed to run all the coal trains every week.[8]

Allocation

In 1980, the depot received Class 56s,[9] which were to become a staple locomotive on coal traffic in the area until the Class 66 locomotives appeared in 1998.[10] In 2016, the depot's allocation consisted of DB Cargo UK Class 60 and 66 locomotives.

Later years

Of the three power stations the depot was built to serve, Ferrybridge was closed on 31 March 2016,[11] while Eggborough was officially decommissioned in February 2018. However, the depot remained busy with gypsum and biomass traffic, particularly for the remaining Power Station at Drax, with workings from the Humber ports at Hull and Immingham.[12]

The depot was closed on 14 March 2020 after the decline in railway hauled power station traffic.[13] In early 2021, the office complex at the depot, which was built in the 1990s, was demolished.[14] The sidings were being used at the same time by Riviera Trains to refit Mark 1 and Mark 2 railway coaches.[15]

References
  1. "The all-time guide to UK Shed and Depot Codes" (PDF). TheRailwayCentre.com. 5 May 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  2. Brailsford, Martyn (2016). Railway Track Diagrams Book 2: Eastern (4 ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. p. 40A. ISBN 978-0-9549866-8-1.
  3. Modern Railways October 1966 p. 521 'The NER prepares for big three-power station coal feed'
  4. "Locomotive Depots: Knottingley (Allocation)". BRDatabase. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  5. Wilkinson, S. "Knottingley celebrates 50 years". Rail Express. Rail Express. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  6. Fisher, Alex, ed. (2018). On Shed 4; North Eastern & Eastern Region (North). Kent: Kelsey Media. p. 60. ISBN 978-1-910554-85-2.
  7. "Pre-TOPS Depot Codes". www.railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  8. Shannon, Paul (2006). Rail freight since 1968 : coal. Kettering: Silver Link. p. 74. ISBN 1-85794-263-9.
  9. Shannon, Paul (2006). Rail freight since 1968 : coal. Kettering: Silver Link. p. 76. ISBN 1-85794-263-9.
  10. Fisher, Alex (August 2020). "Knottingley MGR Hub". Railways Illustrated. Vol. 18 no. 8. Stamford: Key Publishing. p. 37. ISSN 1479-2230.
  11. "Ferrybridge C coal-fired power station closes after 50 years". BBC News. BBC. 23 March 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  12. Wilkinson, S. "Knottingley celebrates 50 years". Rail Express. Rail Express. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  13. Jones, Ben (April 2020). "DB's Knottingley depot shuts down". Railway Magazine. Vol. 166 no. 1, 429. Horncastle: Morton's Media. p. 76. ISSN 0033-8923.
  14. Harris, Nigel, ed. (27 January 2021). "Knottingley office building demolished". Rail Magazine. No. 923. Peterborough: Bauer Media. p. 17. ISSN 0953-4563.
  15. Nicholls, Mark, ed. (March 2021). "Fleet review; shunter news". Railways Illustrated. Vol. 19 no. 3. Horncastle: Mortons Media. p. 21. ISSN 1479-2230.
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