 Looking south from Laira Flyover | |
 Interactive map of Laira T&RSMD | |
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Location | Plymouth, United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 50°22′55″N4°06′20″W / 50.3819°N 4.1055°W /50.3819; -4.1055 |
| OS grid | SX503557 |
| Characteristics | |
| Owner | Great Western Railway |
| Depot code |
|
| Type | Diesel,HST |
| History | |
| Opened | 1901 1931 Enlarged to replaceMillbay shed 1962 Rebuilt for diesels 1981 Rebuilt for HSTs |
| Original | Great Western Railway |
| Pre-grouping | Great Western Railway |
| Post-grouping |
|
Laira Traction and Rolling Stock Maintenance Depot is a railwaytraction maintenance depot situated inPlymouth, Devon, England. The depot is operated byGreat Western Railway (GWR) and is where their fleet ofClass 802 InterCity Express Trains and remainingCastle Class trains are overhauled. Other trains visit for daily servicing including some operated byCrossCountry.
After sixty years as a steam depot, servicing locomotives used on theExeter to Plymouth line that runs past the shed as well as local lines, diesels started to arrive in 1958. A diesel depot opened in 1962 and was expanded in 1981 to accommodate the High Speed Trains.
The depot code 'LA' is used to identify rolling stock based there.
Laira was the location of thetemporary terminus of theSouth Devon Railway from 5 May 1848 when a smallengine shed would have been provided. With the completion of the line toPlymouth Millbay railway station on 2 April 1849 a new shed was provided there and the facilities at Laira dismantled, although it remained a junction for the branch line to Sutton Harbour which wasmixed gauge for the use of thePlymouth and Dartmoor Railway.
TheGreat Western Railway, which hadamalgamated with the South Devon Railway on 1 February 1876, a new engine shed opened at Laira in 1901[2] on a site inside a triangle of lines formed by the main line, Sutton Harbour branch, and a curve that was mainly used byLondon and South Western Railway trains to reach their terminus atPlymouth Friary.[3] Asewerage treatment facility and poor ground conditions constrained the site of the shed to the north west corner of the triangle (near Lipson Junction) . It was adjacent to the Embankment Road with the estuary of theRiver Plym just the other side of the road. The shed was a 185 ft (56 m) brickroundhouse with a 65 ft (20 m)turntable in the middle. 28 lines radiated from the turntable, one for access and the remainder for stabling locomotives. Loocmotives approached from the east (Laira Junction) passing a coaling stage.[4]
A small railway station known asLaira Halt was opened on the adjacent main line on 1 June 1904 but closed again on 7 July 1930.[5]
Initially Laira was only used for goods locomotives but after the passenger locomotive shed at Millbay closed in 1924 it became very crowded. In 1931 a new 210 ft (64 m) long and 67 ft (20 m) wide shed with four tracks was brought into use just south of the original roundhouse, funded by a government loan under theDevelopment (Loan Guarantees and Grants) Act 1929 (20 & 21 Geo. 5. c. 7). This became known as the 'Long Shed' or 'New Shed'.[6] At the same time additional sidings were laid near the coaling stage (which was doubled in length) and a second track connected to give a separate exit route from the roundhouse. The new shed was built over part of the area previously used by the sewerage treatment facility. A new line connected Laira Junction with Mount Gould Junction (the southern point of the triangle of lines surrounding the shed. This line became known as the 'Speedway' and allowed locomotives to turn on the triangle rather than on the turntable inside the roundhouse.[7]
DuringWorld War II a covered extension was added on the south side of the coaling stage to give an additional place to refuel locomotives.[7] In 1947 some steam locomotives were converted to burn oil rather than coal. Oil tanks were installed alongside the siding to the south of the Long Shed.[8]
Warship Classdiesel-hydraulic locomotives started to appear in 1958 and were at first accommodated in the Long Shed alongside steam locomotives until the diesel maintenance depot had been finished.[6] The Laira marshalling yard alongside Embankment Road was closed in 1958 to make room for carriage sidings and a new diesel shed, which was fully opened on 13 March 1962, although parts had been in use since 1960.[9]
Laira was designed for the servicing and heavy maintenance of the diesel-hydraulic locomotives favoured by theWestern Region of British Railways, the first of the region's purpose designed large diesel depots. It also handled the localdiesel electric shunter andDMU fleets, although servicing of the latter was done initially at Belmont sidings at Millbay.[9]
The diesel shed was in reinforced concrete and comprised three adjoining buildings. The servicing and maintenance building that covers roads 1–4 is on the western side of the shed; number 1 road is equipped with a wheellathe and lifting jacks forbogie changes. The central building was the Heavy Maintenance Shed; engines can be removed and repainting undertaken on the two roads, numbers 5 and 6. The final three roads were another servicing shed on the eastern side of the site.[6] Beside this was a small covered area with fuelling points outside in the yard, supplied by a 45,000 gallon fuel tank.[9] A small group of buildings behind the shed house stores and a workshop for shed equipment.[8] Carriage washing takes place south of the shed at Mount Gould.
After the withdrawal of steam from the area in 1964, the roundhouse was closed on 13 June 1965 and the area used for additional siding space.[10][2][11] This area was later modernised and fenced off in readiness for servicing theNightstarChannel Tunnelsleeper coaches, but the proposed service fromPlymouth to ParisGare du Nord never materialised.[8]
On 30 September 1981 a new shed, 240 m (790 ft) long was opened on the site of the smaller servicing shed on the east side of the site. This can accommodate the eight coaches and twoClass 43 power cars of a High Speed Train set.[6] An additional covered track was later added in preparation for the proposed Nightstar services.[8]
After the replacement of High Speed Trains on London services, one road in the shed was leased to Hitachi to maintain theClass 800 andClass 802 'InterCity Express Trains' (IETs) that replaced them. A number of Class 43s continued to be based at Laira to operate four-coach services toPenzance andCardiff Central. In Edinburgh, the depot atCraigentinny was no longer able to maintainCrossCountry's Class 43s as the space was needed by Hitachi for IETs so the 12 power cars and 5 sets of coaches were transferred to Laira.[12] CrossCountry will withdraw its Class 43s by October 2023 when their lease ends.[13] Great Western Railway has started to reduce the number of its Class 43-powered services in December 2022 with the aim of withdrawing most of them by December 2023. The space freed will allow them to move the maintenance of all their Class 802s to Laira.[14][15]
Up to the 1960s Laira had an allocation that consisted of a wide variety of Great Western Railway motive power, including4073 'Castle' Class and6000 'King' Class express passenger locomotives. The following lists give summaries for various years.
| Type | 1929[16] | 1934[17] | 1950[18] | 1959[18] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2-8-0 | 1 ×2800 Class 5 x3000 'R.O.D.' Class | 4 × 2800 Class 1 x 3000 'R.O.D.' Class 1 x4700 Class | 1 × 2800 Class 2 x2884 Class 1 x 4700 Class 1 xWD 2-8-0 Class | 2 × 2800 Class 2 x 2884 Class 1 x 4700 Class |
| 4-6-0 | 10 ×4000 'Star' Class | 10 ×4073 'Castle' Class 8 x4900 'Hall' Class 8 x6000 'King' Class | 3 ×1000 'County' Class 1 x 4000 'Star' Class 18 x 4073 'Castle' Class 9 x 4900 'Hall' Class 10 x 6000 'King' Class 2 x6800 'Grange' Class 2 x6959 'Hall' Class 4 x7800 'Manor' Class | 3 × 1000 'County' Class 11 x 4073 'Castle' Class 5 x 4900 'Hall' Class 9 x 6000 'King' Class 5 x 6800 'Grange' Class 2 x 6959 'Hall' Class 3 x 7800 'Manor' Class |
| 2-6-0 | 3 ×2600 'Aberdare' Class 5 x4300 Class | 3 × 2600 'Aberdare' Class 4 x 4300 Class | 3 × 4300 Class | 4 × 4300 Class |
| 2-6-2T | 1 ×3100 Class 3 x4500 Class | 3 × 3150 Class 2 x4400 Class 3 x 4500 Class 2 x4575 Class | 3 × 3150 Class 2 x 4400 Class 5 x 4500 Class 5 x 4575 Class 1 x5100 Class | 1 × 4500 Class 7 x 4575 Class 3 x 5100 Class |
| 0-6-0 | none | none | 1 ×2251 Class | none |
| 0-6-0T | 5 ×850 Class 6 x1076 Class 2 x1813 Class | 6 × 850 Class 2 x 1076 Class 1 x1361 Class 2 x1854 Class 1 x2021 Class 2 x6400 Class 1 x5700 Class | 4 × 1361 Class 1 x 2021 Class 21 x 5700 Class 7 x 6400 Class 1 x9400 Class | 3 × 1361 Class 1 x1600 Class 8 x 5700 Class 6 x 6400 Class 3 x 9400 Class |
| 4-4-0 | none | 5 ×3300 'Bulldog' Class | none | none |
| 0-4-2T | none | none | none | 2 x1400 Class |
| Diesel | none | none | none | See below |
The depot was designed to maintain and service theWestern Region of British Rail's diesel-hydraulic locomotives. It became strongly associated with the'Western' Class. The first 14 of these were delivered new to Laira in 1961 and 1962. They were transferred to other depots after a few months but Laira received a fresh allocation in 1964 and by October 1971 the whole fleet of 74 locomotives were based here.[19] Withdrawals started in 1973 and the last were withdrawn in 1977.[20]
By this timeBritish Rail Class 50 diesel-electric locomotives had taken over many of their duties. These were later given warship names in the same manner as the first diesel hydraulics. A fleet ofDMUs was also stationed here for operating the branch lines inDevon andCornwall.[6]
Since thePrivatisation of British Rail the allocation has largely consisted ofClass 43 power cars for High Speed Trains along with someClass 08 shunting locomotives. The DMUs in Devon and Cornwall were based atCardiff Canton TMD for several years, but in December 2007 Laira had an allocation of two-carClass 150 and single-carClass 153 DMUs.[21] After a while these were transferred to a reopenedExeter Traction Maintenance Depot.[22]
| Type | 1959[23] | 1974[24] | 1988[25] | 2010[26] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main line | 3 ×Class 22 5 xClass 41 4 xClass 42 | 12 ×Class 25 11 xClass 46 10 xClass 50 54 xClass 52 | 6 ×Class 37 26 xClass 43 30 x Class 50 | 30 × Class 43 |
| Shunting | 2 ×Class 03 6 xClass 08 | 2 × Class 03 7 x Class 08 | 13 × Class 08 | 3 × Class 08 |
| DMU | 5 ×Class 101 3-car 3 xClass 116 3-car 2 xClass 118 3-car 6 xClass 119 3-car 1 x Class 119 2-car 1 xClass 120 2-car 2 xClass 122 1-car 1 x Class 122DTS | 9 × Class 101 2-car 4 xClass 108 2-car 2 x Class 118 3-car 3 x Class 118 2-car 1 xClass 121 1-car 3 x Class 122 1-car 2 x Class 121DTS | none |
In addition to repairs and overhauls of the trains allocated to the Laira, the depot undertakes daily serving on other classes of train. In 2022 these were[12]
During 2023 both Class 43 fleets were run down but Class 802s were allocated to Laira.[14][13]
The followingshed codes have been used to identify locomotives allocated to Laira:
| LA | Great Western Railway | |
|---|---|---|
| 83D | British Railways | from 1949 |
| 84A | British Railways | from 1963 |
| LA | British Rail | from 1973 |
Locomotives named after Laira depot have been:
| Image | Name | Locomotive | Company | Class | Name carried | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Laira | 3338 | GWR | Bulldog | 1900-1930 | 4-4-0 steam locomotive. Renumbered 3326 in 1912.[27] |
 | Pride of Laira | 43179 | BR | Class 43 | 1991-2017 | Named during a depot open day.[8][28] |
| Laira Diesel Depot | 08644 | GWR (First) | Class 08 | 2015- | [29] | |
 | Pride of Laira | 08641 | GWR (First) | Class 08 | 2017- | [29] |
 | Laira Diesel Depot | 43184 | CrossCountry | Class 43 | 2023 |
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