Tyseley TMD
Tyseley Traction Maintenance Depot (top); Tyseley Locomotive Works (around the turntable); and carriage sidings
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| Location | |
|---|---|
| Location | Tyseley, Birmingham, England |
| Coordinates | 52°27′19″N 1°50′41″W / 52.4552°N 1.8447°WCoordinates: 52°27′19″N 1°50′41″W / 52.4552°N 1.8447°W |
| OS grid | SP105842 |
| Characteristics | |
| Operator(s) | London Midland |
| Depot code(s) | TS (1973-) |
| Type | DMU |
| History | |
| Opened | 1908 |
| Former depot code(s) |
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Tyseley TMD is a railway Traction Maintenance Depot situated in Tyseley, Birmingham, England.
To counter the critic of the Great Western Railway (GWR) actually standing for "The Great Way Round", the GWR started a series of straightening projects between London Paddington and its two major hubs of Taunton and Birmingham. It hence sponsored the Birmingham and North Warwickshire Railway to create a more direct route between south Birmingham and Stratford-upon-Avon, which would bypass the existing route via Lapworth, effectively creating the last mainline railway built in the United Kingdom. The line also provided a new service to Henley-in-Arden, rendering redundant the original GWR branch from Rowington Junction to Henley, which consequently closed to passengers in 1915.
The North Warwickshire Line came into operation from 1908, and the GWR immediately adopted it and ran all services. However, its major depot in the area was at Wolverhampton (Stafford Road), and so it needed a facility south of Birmingham.
Its existing locomotive depot at Bordesley was too small, and so land was acquired to build a G.J. Churchward-style twin-turntable layout depot, allowing for extension towards the Warwick Road for two further 65 feet (20 m) turntables should the need arise. The east turntable was nominally allocated to passenger locomotives, the west to freight classes. A standard twin-track ramped coal stage was built in between the entrance roads to the roundhouses, above which was a water softening facility, and associated water tank which stored 98,000 imperial gallons (450,000 l; 118,000 US gal) to supply the entire site. On the west side was a large repair depot which became known as "The Factory", equipped with heavy lifting gear and full engineering facilities to repair and completely overhaul any GWR locomotive. To the east were a series of carriage sidings and maintenance sheds.
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