Over 1000 visitors attended an October open day at Alstom’s Glasgow Traincare Centre. The event celebrated both the Polmadie depot’s 150th anniversary and Railway 200, the 200th anniversary of the modern railway.
Polmadie Shed was originally opened in 1875 by the Caledonian Railway company. It was subsequently rebuilt and extended for the maintenance of steam engines and rolling stock. British Railways had assigned the code 66A to the depot.
Located around two miles south-east of Glasgow Central, the Alstom facility is currently the main base of the iconic Caledonian Sleeper service, and Polmadie Depot typically deals with 17 trains per day, including Avanti West Coast’s fleet of Class 390 Pendolinos built by Alstom.
The day before Polmadie’s open day, the Scottish maintenance facility welcomed its first-ever passenger train. Hauled by two Class 43 locomotives – with Derby-built Mark 3 coaches – and organised by the Branch Line Society, passengers were fittingly be able to board a special charter at Alstom’s Derby Litchurch Lane works, linking the two Railway 200 sites. It was also the first-ever passenger train to depart the Derby site. At Polmadie, the unit was shunted along multiple depot tracks by the facility’s resident Class 08 locomotives.
The unique lineup for the event included more than 20 rail vehicles that have been based at the depot over the last 150 years:
- Caledonian Railway No. 419, courtesy of the Scottish Railway Preservation Society (SRPS). The oldest preserved steam locomotive to have been based at Polmadie Depot, No. 419 was built in 1907 at a cost of £1,627 at the Caledonian Railway’s St Rollox Works (today known as Glasgow Works or ‘the Caley’) in Springburn. In preservation, it took part in the Rail 175 cavalcade in Shildon to mark the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825. As part of an intermediate overhaul at the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway, the locomotive has recently been repainted in a London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Crimson Lake livery – as No. 15189 – which it showcased at Polmadie 150
- Class 99 (No. 99001), Class 92 (No. 92023 Polmadie 150 1875 – 2025), Class 73/9 (No. 73968) and Class 66 (No. 66710 Karen Harrison), courtesy of GB Railfreight
- Class 93 (No. 93006), courtesy of Rail Operations Group
- Class 90s (Nos. 90018 The Greatest Gathering and 90021 Donald Malcolm), courtesy of Freightliner
- Class 43s (Nos. 43468 and 43484), courtesy of RailAdventure
- Class 37 (No. 37403 Isle of Mull), courtesy of SRPS
- Class 08s (Nos. 08451, 08696 and 08954), courtesy of Alstom
- Class 390 (No. 390119 Progress) Alstom-built Pendolino, courtesy of Avanti West Coast
- Class 334 (No. 334034) Alstom-built Coradia Juniper, courtesy of ScotRail
- Mark 5 coaching stock, courtesy of Caledonian Sleeper
- Mark 1 coaching stock, courtesy of SRPS
- Unimog U 430 road-rail vehicles courtesy of Network Rail
Visitors arrived on a mixture of both heritage and modern shuttle buses from Glasgow Central – a selection provided by Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust, Scottish Vintage Bus Museum and McGill’s
There was also the opportunity to board Railway 200’s special exhibition train, which was stationed at platform 15 in Glasgow Central as part of its tour of Scotland.
It is seen here at Boat of Garten station on the Strathspey Railway later in the same week.
That Boat of Garten event coincided with the unveiling of a red wheel plaque on behalf of the National Transport Trust to highlight the transport heritage of the Highland Main Line.
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