Old Oak Common
GREAT Western Railway’s past, present and future was displayed at the Old Oak Common charity open day on September 2.
More than 7,000 people attended the event at the West London venue, as Great Western Railway celebrated the legacy of the depot, which begins to close later this year when the site is developed for HS2.
The event - OOC:111 Legends of the Great Western - raised thousands of pounds for the charity Place2Be, which was chosen by depot staff. As this issue of RAIL went to press, GWR said it was too early to confirm how much had been raised.
The main exhibit was a line-up of eight trains depicting the GWR from steam through to the imminent introduction next month of the first Intercity Express Programme Class 800/0.
In that line-up were 800003 Queen Elizabeth II/Queen Victoria, 180102, 43002 Sir Kenneth Grange, 50035 Ark Royal, D1015 Western Champion, D821 Greyhound, 7903 Formarke Hall and 6023 King Edward II.
The depot opened on March 17 1906, and its history was marked by gathering as many former depot managers as possible, and by naming GWR High Speed Train power car 43093 Old Oak Common HST Depot 1976-2018.
The Class 43 was unveiled in new livery, using GWR’s green as a base with the OOC:111 Legends logo on its bodyside, to commemorate the role that Old Oak Common has played since the introduction of the HSTs in 1976. The first examples have started to go off-lease, while the depot will cease maintaining them next year as it is cleared in readiness for HS2.
Maintenance of the ‘Night
Riviera’ Sleeper that is carried out at the depot will transfer to Long Rock (Penzance). Staff will transfer to Hitachi’s adjacent North Pole depot or to Reading depot.
The other main line-up was of six Class 50s that had been allocated to the depot until 1990, when they were ousted from their final Thames Valley duties. These were 50007 Hercules, 50017 Ark Royal, 50026 Indomitable, 50044 Exeter, 50049 Defiance and 50050 Fearless.
GWR displayed all four of its Class 57/6s - including 57604
Pendennis Castle, which had just been repainted into GWR Brunswick green in readiness for the event.
A GWR Class 180 (180104) was also unveiled in a legends livery to celebrate the role of staff and engineers on the route (such as Brunel). It also carried insignia relating to the depot’s chosen charity.