North London Sidings

[Downsman]

Looking at a street map of North London Brent area, I noticed that there is a large group of sidings between Wembley and Willesden.

I would be obliged to anybody who can tell me of a book which contains a history of these sidings?

[33056]

Can't think of any books about the area off-hand, what is it you want to know about the sidings?

The story is rather complex as, at present, you have the DB Schenker yard called Wembley Yard, which is next to the West Coast Main Line, what is colloquially known as "the Carriage" which is the Alstom depot behind that, Willesden Brent Yard to the south which is not used much these days and the Princess Royal Distribution Centre for the Royal Mail between Willesden Brent Yard and the Euston to Watford local (DC) lines. Further south next to Willesden Junction station is LOROL's Willesden TMD where they not only maintain their fleet of 378s and172s but also look after the odd bit of coaching stock on behalf of various owners.

[Downsman]

Many thanks 33056 for details of current users of the Wembley to Willesden sidings. Clearly they have been adapted to handle modern trains.
My interest is historical i.e. the development of these sidings. I suppose it is reasonable to assume that the Brent sidings extending from Willesden junction towards Stonebridge Park, were developed early in the WCML’s history to handle increasing volumes of goods traffic, including the exchange traffic with the GWR, NLR and railways in the south (via the West London Line).
I wonder when the other ‘block’ of sidings (extending towards Wembley from Stonebridge Park) were added to the complex?

[33056]

Willesden Brent Sidings have indeed been there a long time and were the main yard for the area until Wembley Yard opened (I should have a date for that but will need to dig around for it)

Wembley Yard was built during 1992 on the site of the former Sudbury Sidings which used to be a hump yard and the "Carriage" is controlled by two LMS style signal boxes which although of LMS design were actually opened under BR. I should be able to unearth some more details from one of my more historically minded friends about that.

[21Aman]

Originally Posted by 33056

Wembley Yard was built during 1992

WembleY European Freight Operations Centre (Wembley Yard) was built by the British Railways Board between 1992 and it's opening in late summer of 1994 as
a yard for Channel Tunnel trains and was operated until January 1999 by Railfreight Distribution (RfD the last BR operating company) when it was transferred (sadly) to EWS, it then became EWS International and finally DB Schenker. When it first opened there were 80 train "paths" a day in/out of the yard.But like many railway "plans" the traffic never materialised,mainly because of the "Road Transport Lobby" and also because of "Illegal" immigrants. Sadly it has shrunk to just a few sidings being left in traffic today.

[saxokid]

Has anyone got any pictures of(Wembley Yard) in prestent times??

[33056]

Originally Posted by saxokid

Has anyone got any pictures of(Wembley Yard) in prestent times??

Yes thanks

Not particularly recent but here is 56115 , some 58s , 92018 , 08786 , 67021 and half a Meridian unit . Also got a handful (on negatives) of the yard being built, but not as many as I would have liked due to it being a building site so not possible to go wandering around in.

Got plenty taken at Willesden Brent and Willesden New E (where the PRDC is now) as well, but they are also all on negatives so will need to be scanned.

[saxokid]

Originally Posted by 33056

Yes thanks

Not particularly recent but here is 56115 , some 58s , 92018 , 08786 , 67021 and half a Meridian unit . Also got a handful (on negatives) of the yard being built, but not as many as I would have liked due to it being a building site so not possible to go wandering around in.

Got plenty taken at Willesden Brent and Willesden New E (where the PRDC is now) as well, but they are also all on negatives so will need to be scanned.

Nice picys.........

[Downsman]

Thanks once again for the follow-ups to my original enquiry. This is proving an intriguing thread.
Perhaps it is about time I posted the streetmap.co.uk page showing these sidings:

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x...reater+London+[Station]&searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf

Brent Junction refers to roads, not rails. The large building NE of this road junction is the Royal Mail’s Princess Royal Distribution Centre, which from the 1990’s has denied us the opportunity of seeing major postal traffic at London’s Main Line termini.

The River Brent flows roughly north to south near to the A.406, so this suggests that Willesden Brent sidings are those stretching from here in the ‘Up’ direction towards Willesden Junction.

Moving in a ‘Down’ direction to the west of the A.406, you can see the sheds for the Bakerloo Line where the DC lines loop north of the WCML. and I believe the ‘through shed’ and adjacent sidings below the DC track are for WCML carriages. Can anybody confirm this?

Below the carriage sidings are two marshalling yard type blocks of sidings joined by a single line, so are these the Wembley sidings added in the 1990’s?

This complex would make a good subject for a video. All that is needed is a camera man in a helicopter and a well briefed commentator. Any volunteers?

[21Aman]

Originally Posted by Downsman

Below the carriage sidings are two marshalling yard type blocks of sidings joined by a single line, so are these the Wembley sidings added in the 1990’s?

The sidings I referred to in my post, Wembley European Freight Operations Centre operated by Railfreight Distribution from 1994 onwards(known as Wembley Yard) were just south of Wembley Central Station with a direct lead off the "Up Slow" line and at the South end of these sidings were the Royal Mail Terminal to the Eastern side and Brent Sidings to the South further to the East was the Northern Line {LUL} with a Station at Stonebridge Park.Wembley Yard its self comprised of three "fans" of sidings named "A" , "B",& "C" sidings with three Loco holding sidings next to the Main Lines these were named "Q" "P" & "R" sidings.