Alstom, global leader in smart and sustainable mobility, has welcomed a passenger service into three of its Traincare Centres as part of a unique charity railtour.
On Saturday 4 April, a Branch Line Society charter visited Alstom facilities in Manchester (Longsight), Wolverhampton (Oxley) and Liverpool (Edge Hill) as it traversed rare track along the West Coast Main Line on its round trip from Merseyside. Named ‘Alstom’s Depot Dash’, the special service gave those on board a chance to observe and capture rare footage of railway maintenances sites most have never had access to before.
“Opening our Traincare Centres to a passenger service is something we do very rarely, so Alstom’s Depot Dash was genuinely special. These sites are first and foremost operational environments, and the professionalism of our teams ensured the tour could be delivered safely while giving passengers a unique perspective on the work that keeps Britain’s railway moving,” said Christopher Mackenzie, Head of Passenger Operations at Alstom.
Alstom operates five Traincare Centres along the West Coast Main Line, where the company services various fleets, including Avanti West Coast’s high-speed Pendolino (Class 390) trains. The Alstom-built Pendolinos have served routes between London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow and Edinburgh for over 20 years, and a recent £117 million upgrade has returned the whole fleet to an ‘as new’ condition.
The railtour commenced at Edge Hill railway station – one of the oldest in the world – before being hauled by GB Railfreight (GBRf) locomotive No. 66701 to Liverpool Lime Street. No. 57306 then took over duties to Alstom’s Manchester Traincare Centre, while No. 66694 carried the train from Bescot Yard to Bletchley railway station. Around 300 passengers travelled on Alstom’s Depot Dash in Mark 3 carriages provided by Eastern Rail Services.
Carrying the headcode 1Z57, the train was welcomed at each site by Alstom’s Central Operations team, who were on hand to ensure its safe arrival and stay. Making the journeys across Alstom’s depot sites even more unique, resident shunting locomotives at Longsight (No. 08887 and No. 09007) and Oxley (No. 08617) hauled the charter’s eight coaches to the delight of passengers on board.
The charter raised more than £3,200 for Beatson Cancer Charity, with an additional donation of over £1,200 shared among the Railway 200 charity partners.
The Branch Line Society is a UK-based voluntary association for railway enthusiasts. Established in 1955, it focuses on the study of railway infrastructure and the history of networks, with mainline, heritage, and private railtours and visits a key part of its offer to members.
“Alstom’s Depot Dash offered our members the kind of access that simply isn’t available on the everyday railway. Visiting multiple live maintenance depots in one trip and travelling over such rare track made this a truly memorable railtour, and the response from our members has been exceptional,” said Kev Adlam, Fixtures Secretary at the Branch Line Society.
Last year, Alstom’s Glasgow Traincare Centre – known as Polmadie Depot – celebrated its 150th anniversary and opened its doors to the public for the first time in 25 years. The day before, the Scottish maintenance facility welcomed its first-ever passenger train, giving railfans a unique opportunity to ride along rare track across the depot site. Also organised by the Branch Line Society, the unit was shunted along multiple depot tracks by the facility’s resident Class 08 locomotives. This too raised over £3,200, enabling around £6,500 to be donated to the Beatson Cancer Charity from the two most recent Alstom railtours.
Lead image credit: Ben Goodwin / Alstom
