Penny Lane TMD

Description of Layout

The original Penny Lane steam shed opened in 1893 and closed in 1966. Some of the land was sold off and the rest left to grow wild, even the canal fell into disrepair. In the 1980s, Trainload Coal needed a depot locally to service the Gladstone Dock-Fiddlers Ferry coal trains. Merseyside PTE was also looking for somewhere to service its sponsored DMU / EMU trains. Penny Lane was an ideal location and so work went ahead to reinstate the depot.

The original depot is a grade 2 listed building and so it was decided to use this to service the DMU / EMU sets while a new depot was built for diesels. Overhead catenary has been installed and the engineers are still working on some of the tracks.

The turntable was rebuilt in order to turn locos and even out tyre wear. Regional Railways, Intercity and Railfreight all have their locos serviced at Penny Lane. The occasional steam special has its loco serviced here and today such a loco can be seen coaling up for its return run.

The breakdown crane is busy clearing away after the derailment of a ballast train, which happened on the single track freight line to the docks. Some damage was done to the walls of the bridge and track was also damaged. There is still one wagon to re-rail and clear out of the way before the track can be repaired.

For safety reasons the power to the overhead has been shut off and electric locos have to be towed out of the yard.

With the depot gaining new life, so is the canal. After years of neglect, the Merseyside Canal Preservation Trust is restoring the canal to its former glory.

Penny Lane was featured in the April 1999 Railway Modeller.

Contact Details

For more information on this layout, please contact:

Peter Worton
2 Lambert Drive
Acton
Sudbury
Suffolk
CO10 OBU

Telephone: (01787) 371758

E-mail: secretary@sudburymrc.org.uk

Downloads

	Penny Lane TMD Information Sheet
	Portable Document Format (68 KB)

	Penny Lane TMD Information Sheet
	Microsoft Word Document (96 KB)