East Ham Depot

East Ham EMU Depot is a depot on the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway line between East Ham tube station and Barking railway station with the depot code EM,^[1] between 6 to 7 miles from London Fenchurch Street station, and just west of the River Roding.

History

The depot was formerly the site of London Underground District line's Little Ilford depot from 1905 to 1958,^[2] when it was replaced by the District line's Upminster Depot.^[3]

Layout

It lies between the Down Main (towards Barking and Shoeburyness) and Up Main (towards East Ham and London) railway lines between the two stations. It is the main maintenance depot for the Thamesside franchise and is currently operated by c2c, working with Bombardier Transportation service technicians to maintain their fleet of 74 Class 357 Electrostar EMUs.^[4] It has an 11 road Shed, 8 road sidings, and 27 sets of points.

Number 1 - 8 and 10 roads in the Shed can hold 12 coaches, whereas 9 & 11 roads can hold 8 coaches. In the 4 Balloon Roads, 17 road can hold 8 coaches, and 18 - 20 roads can hold 12 coaches. In the Yard, 12 & 13 roads can hold 8 coaches, whereas 15 & 16 roads can hold 12 coaches. The Carriage Wash Road (outside the Shed's Inlet and Exit Roads) can hold 24 coaches, and is 6.35 miles from London Fenchurch Street. The short 14 road is no longer in use. There is also an office and a Traincrew Depot on site, as well as the West End Shunters' Hut next to the Shed Exit Road, and an East End Shunters' Hut next to the east end set of points of the Balloon Roads.

Maintenance

East Ham Depot won the Golden Spanner Award for Maintenance Team of the Year (Rolling Stock) at the Annual National Rail Awards in 2005 and 2006.^[5] This led to FM Rail choosing it as a base to clean and maintain their Mark 2 Blue Pullman train for a 12-month trial with an option to extend its stay indefinitely.^[6] Another factor leading to FM Rail's choice of East Ham over depots which would have been more convenient pathing wise such as Hornsey TMD or Ilford Depot may have been that East Ham had spare capacity and was therefore probably cheaper.^[7] When FM Rail went into administration in December 2006, they owed c2c about £40,000^[7] and the Blue Pullman train and associated locomotives were bought by Cotswold Rail on February 1, 2007,^[8] who continued the maintenance contract with c2c at East Ham.

Class 86 electric locomotive 86 212 in Virgin Trains' livery was resident there in the shed lane nearest the 'up' road (from Shoeburyness towards London Fenchurch Street) until sometime after January 2008. It was leased by FM Rail and later Cotswold Rail from HSBC Rail as a depot shore power supply for pre-heating the Mark 2 coaches of the "Blue Pullman" rake.^[7][9] A Mark 2 coach owned by Cotswold Rail, RMBF 6722, and still in the former First Great Western livery is stored on one of the outside sidings of the depot,^[10] along with a Mark 3 coach, 11029, which has been repainted into their livery.^[11]

Class 73 electro-diesel locomotive 73 107 Spitfire was also owned by FM Rail and in Fragonset's black freight livery, and was based at East Ham Depot after it returned to mainline traffic in 2004. It was regularly hired to FirstGBRf from late 2004 as cover for their fleet. After FM Rail went into administration, it was acquired by RT Rail in 2007, who moved it to St. Leonards Depot, overhauled it, and repainted it into FirstGBRf livery.

From 1996 to 2000, Class 317/1 units hired by LTS Rail from its sister Prism Rail franchise WAGN were maintained at East Ham Depot.

Some of London Overground's Class 172 Turbostar and Class 378 Capitalstar units have been stored in the sidings of East Ham Depot, ever since their test running on the London, Tilbury and Southend line, beginning in October 2008.^[12]

c2c also has another depot at Shoeburyness Depot carriage sidings and yard, which is next to the terminus of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway at Shoeburyness railway station and which has a track leading to the Ministry of Defence site at Pig's Bay.

Accident

In December 2006, two Class 357 units, 357 002 and 357 043, were involved in a minor incident at East Ham Depot when one unit scraped down the side of the other. The damaged units, formed mostly of 357 002 with the driving car of 357 043, were used to form a hybrid unit which was renumbered 357 098 under the TOPS system and sent to Crewe Electric TMD for repairs.^[13]

References

1. "The Junction.org.uk: Depot Information - Eastern and Southern". April 24, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
2. Brown, Joe (2009). London Railway Atlas Second Edition. Ian Allan Publishing. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-7110-3397-9.
3. District Dave (2005). "District Dave's London Underground Site - Depots". Retrieved 2009-08-02.
4. "Wikimapia - East Ham Railway Depot London". Retrieved 2009-08-01.
5. National Express (September 11, 2006). "National Express Group PLC - NX scoops the honours at National Rail Awards". Retrieved 2009-08-02.
6. "c2c Online: Charter Train Company choose c2c for maintenance". 2006-05-24. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
7. "Blue Pullmans at East Ham Depot". 2006–2007. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
8. Adrian Parcell (February 1, 2007). "Cotswold Rail: Blue Pullman Train" (Press release). Retrieved 2009-08-02.
9. "East Ham Depot Photographs". January 5, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
10. "East Ham Depot Photographs". January 5, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
11. "East Ham Depot Photographs". January 5, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
12. "Flickr: bowroaduk's photostream - Class 378/0 unit in East Ham depot". October 18, 2008. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
13. "Consumer Deals Forum - c2c Rail - Class 321 via Tilbury". December 2006 – January 2007. Retrieved 2009-08-02.

Coordinates: 51°32′35″N 0°03′43″E / 51.543056°N 0.061944°E