Penzance TMD

Also known as Long Rock TMD is a railway Traction Maintenance Depot situated in the village of Long Rock outside of Penzance, Cornwall, United Kingdom, and is the most westerly and southerly rail depot in England. The depot operator is First Great Western. The depot code is PZ.

The Depot

The Eastern end of the depot is hardly used, as most of the trains, use the western end to get directly to Penzance railway station about half a mile west down the line. The depot is right beside the Great Western Mainline, on the northern side, where it runs as a single track.

The depot is quite small, with just six long sidings to store High Speed Trains and Voyagers, and four smaller sidings. If the longer sidings are all used up, trains are stored at Laira TMD, Plymouth, and then make their way to Penzance railway station in the morning.

The depot also consists of a fuel lane, a single tracked modern maintenance shed, and a small carriage washer.

A few years ago, facilities at Longrock TMD were added to cater for the new fleet of Voyagers used by CrossCountry.

The mainline and depot lie near the sea, with Long Rock beach and the South West Coast Path separating them, which means this depot and the mainline have received problems in the past, due to the sea. The line had to be closed in October 2006, due to rough weather, and stormy seas, and all services started and terminated at St Erth railway station, the next station up the line.

In 2007/2008 Network Rail will double the mainline between here and Penzance. This will improve loading capacity of the main Penzance to Exeter St.Davids railway line, and reduce delays, as the current arrangement causes a bottleneck on the mainline.

ervices

*Each week an EWS service of oil tanks brings fuel to the depot from St Blazey engine shed. The fuel storage tanks at the depot are located behind the maintenance shed.
*Sometimes when rail tours start from Penzance railway station they are refuelled at the depot.

Allocation

*Class 08 - 08410 is the current shunter for this depot.
*Class 43 (High Speed Train) - Used for Penzance - London Paddington Serices.
*Class 57 - Used for the FGW Sleeper Train.
*Class 220 - Used by CrossCountry for Services to *Scotland.
*Class 221 - Used by CrossCountry for Services to Scotland.

The Sleeper stock for First Great Western's Night Riviera service is maintained here during the day, when all the sidings are free.

Prior to First Great Western withdrawing its Motorail service, two carriages used to be stored in one of the smaller sidings at the depot, and used on the Night Riviera service.

First Great Western's DMU fleet of Class 150s,153s, and158s which terminate at Penzance at night and start there in the morning are not stored at Penzance TMD, instead they are stored and serviced at the platforms at Penzance railway station overnight. On Saturday nights the weekly South West Trains service formed by a Class 159 also stables in the station.

taffing

The depot currently employs 64 people:
* 20 Multi-skilled technicians
* 3 Engineering assistants
* 29 Traincare staff
* 4 Shunters
* 3 Depot Maintenance & stores
* 2 Managers
* 1 Technician

Management Team

* Depot Manager: Vince Nicholls (since 1997)
* Depot Engineering Manager: Lester Pickhaver (since 2007)
* Depot Engineering Technician: David Cooke (since 2007.)

* Teamleaders Maintenance: Clive Hackett, Dave Edwards, Mel Webb, Mike Andrews
* Teamleaders Traincare (shunting support): Mike Curnow, Dave Keast, Pete Dymond, Wayne Moran, George Temby
* Shunting Team: Nigel Gilbert (Mentor Shunter), Kane Jones, Dean Cheshire, Dave Wheeler

External links

An [http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ie=UTF8&ll=50.12811,-5.506661&spn=0.00487,0.010042&t=h&z=17&om=1 overhead view] of the depot.

References

Rail Atlas Great Britain & Ireland, S.K. Baker ISBN 0-86093-553-1