Shed heaven – the NYMR’s new facility
The creation of the new carriage stable at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway will change how the line operates its services and stock. Steam Railway went to see how this will be achieved
For many of the casual visitors to our heritage lines, rolling stock is a necessary yet purely functional part of the line. Its job is to carry passengers from A to B in clean, vintage and comfortable surroundings, and – in many places – to generate nostalgia for a bygone age.
Yet coaches are, in many ways, the lifeblood of the railway, and without a well-maintained, serviceable fleet the consequences would be dire – even for the biggest lines. So, when the North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) enrolled in the £10m ‘Yorkshire’s Magnificent Journey’ Appeal funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and donations from supporters, looking after its carriages came high on the list.
“We were doing fitness-to-run examinations on our coaches in the platform,” says Kieran Murray, who runs the NYMR’s bustling carriage and wagon department. “You know how it is in Yorkshire, and how frequently the weather is horrible…”
Kieran is standing in the NYMR’s new carriage shed, just north of Pickering station on Newlands Road. It’s only just been completed after a £4m programme in which builders Hobson & Porter began the ground works on waste land adjacent to the line in September 2020. Project-managed by many of the line’s volunteers, the shed rapidly came into being, with its official opening taking place the day before the line’s Steam Gala during late September.
It’s an imposing, open-plan five-road structure, that is designed to lend a production line feel to the day-to-day business of maintaining the line’s extensive fleet. Gone are the days of brake tests in inclement weather.
“For the first time, our staff will be under cover when they’re doing exams – they won’t be climbing round in the sidings. It puts everything in one house at the same time. We can also be doing such things as wiring and other fiddly jobs, while the cleaning staff can be doing deep cleans.”
He pauses and looks down the lines into the shed before nodding his head at the entrance.
“I’ve been looking forward to this for years.
It’s completely changing what we do here. It’s a modern depot for a heritage railway.”
From left to right
Looking into the shed from the front, the roads are numbered from 5 on the left, to 1 on the right, with the first three being able to take eight-coach sets, and the other two seven coaches at a time.
“Number five [adjacent to the platform] is the Pullman road,” Kieran notes, “and the idea is that we can move sets across the shed from road to road at different stages. You could have an exam over the pit road one night, then move the set across to the wash road and so on. The idea is that everything runs on a three-day cycle – we have three Whitby sets, and the idea is to keep rotating them.”
He points to a different part of the shed, “Over there, that’s our jacking pad. Any kind of fault and we can have a coach up in the air straight away and then back into service the same day.”
The pandemic proved to be a blessing for Kieran and his team, as they were able to work on the shed preparations mainly undisturbed, including visiting the soon-to-be-demolished former Heathrow Express depot at Old Oak Common, London, to collect much-needed spares.
“We were donated loads of stuff for here – jacks, steps, you name it. It’s really helped us for what we want to do. We’ve even got a plastic owl that makes noises and scares the pigeons away.
“The idea is to do as much as we physically can to get things in and out and make life easier for ourselves.”
Even the design of the inspection pits was well thought out, as Kieran knew exactly what he wanted when the project began.
“We spent a lot of time looking into pits to get the design right. It’s a science in itself. We’ve got it just how we want it, and for changing things like brake blocks it’s perfect.”
More than maintenance
The carriage shed isn’t just a maintenance base however, it’s also fully equipped to oversee the stocking and cleaning of such trains as the line’s Pullman service. To the left of five road is a platform that includes a cold room, kitchen area, mess rooms and a washing room to make the shed an all-in-one stop for turning services round and preparing them.
“All the preparation work is done here,” nods Kieran at the platform, “we’re also putting smart [battery] chargers into our coaches, so we’ll be able to leave sets on charge until they’re needed the next day.
“Right now, we’re fitting pumps for the new retention tank (RTR) toilets we have fitted on our coaches and on our ‘fuss-free’ access coaches. Every set will have a fuss-free coach allowing better access for wheelchair users.”
The RTR system was developed after an alternative solution had to be found to traditional methods of waste disposal from coaches. Following a visit to the Ffestiniog Railway, Kieran’s team adopted the idea of an underslung tank with accompanying compressor for the coaches which can then be emptied at the end of each day. The tanks are virtually invisible to the naked eye and fit into the existing underframe of a heritage coach neatly. To date, the NYMR is the only standard gauge railway to adopt the idea.
Does the open plan nature of the shed give Kieran any cause for concern? This is especially pertinent after the line’s flagship set of Gresley teak coaches was vandalised and heavily damaged in August 2017. It is not something the line wants to see repeated.
“Despite its open nature, it’s CCTV monitored round the clock,” says Kieran. “Security is very important to us. We’ve also installed fire detectors and alarms everywhere. It was always a high priority, right from the start.”
What are the next steps for Kieran now the shed is officially open?
“The long-term aim is to get a steam plant in for carriage pre-heating – we’ve already got the ducting in; it’ll mean we can sort the stock for Santa specials and the like.
“Personally, I’d also like to see a carriage museum,” he smiles, “we’ve got all these wonderful heritage coaches, and this is protecting them for now, but it would be nice if the public could see them more.”
With that, Kieran heads back to the carriage workshop where another Mk 1 is receiving the fuss-free treatment as part of its overhaul.