BRITISH RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVE DEPOTS, WORKS AND STABLING POINTS.
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CAMBRIDGE LOCOMOTIVE DEPOT (31A/CA) - Railways came to Cambridge early on and the Great Eastern Railway opened a locomotive depot in 1847 just north of the station and to the west 0f the line. The shed building was a brick, 7-road dead-end shed and a large yard was attached. The allocation in April 1959, at which point some trains were already being worked by mainline diesel locomotives, was 71 engines. including 24 of these were 0-6-0's of GER origin, 26 were 4-6-0's to work mainline passenger trains, a mixture of mainly Class B1's and B2/B17's and 10 Class L1 2-6-4T's for local passenger work. There were also 3 LMS 2MT 2-6-0's to work to Kettering. Many local services were already in the hands of DMU's and railbuses. The depot closed to steam in June 1962 and the buildings were subsequently demolished but sidings remained and were used to stable engines right up until the 1980's, the land now being turned over to car parking and cycle sheds. In place of the steam depot, a three-road dead-end shed was opened by British Rail in 1958 adjacent to Coldhams Lane. This provided maintenance facilities for Cambridge's large allocation of Class 101, 105, 114 and 120 DMU's. It was also a stabling point for Class 03 and 08 shunters. Following the privatisation of British Rail, the depot was used for maintenance purposes by Rail Express Systems (RES) until its temporary closure in 1996, being reopened by Central Trains less than eighteen months later. As of 2022, the depot's allocation consists of Cross Country Class 170 Turbostar trains but the shed now seems to be unused and EMU's are stabled in the sidings. A new depot is under construction at the southern end of the station on the old carriage sidings for the maintenance of the new Class 720's now entering service with Greater Anglia. Seen here in 1953 is Ivatt LMS/BR Class 2MT 2-6-0 No.46404, a 15B Kettering loco, from whence it has come. It was withdrawn from 8L Aintree in May 1965.