{"id":190671,"date":"2025-03-25T17:44:29","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T07:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=60973"},"modified":"2025-03-25T17:44:29","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T07:44:29","slug":"eastriggs-britains-most-secure-rail-stables-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=190671","title":{"rendered":"Eastriggs: Britain\u2019s most secure rail stables?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are things we can\u2019t tell you about Eastriggs, except that it\u2019s the location of Railway Sidings Limited (RSL). The neighbours are a little bit sensitive about any more than that. When your neighbours are the military forces of the United Kingdom, it is prudent to respect their privacy. So we won\u2019t be going into too many details here.<\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

RailFreight.com had a privileged visit inside the security fences that surround Eastriggs, a railway location in the south of Scotland. The Ministry of Defence took a close interest. They had every reason to be watching – not that we could see them. The stealthy munitions depot was decommissioned nearly twenty years ago. Or so they say\u2026<\/p>\n

Foreign agent\u2019s first-class posting<\/h2>\n

Locals suggest we are in the wrong place. An agent of a foreign power attempts to misdirect us (well, a postman from the possibly Czech-owned Royal Mail) and sends us off in the wrong direction. We ignore him. It\u2019s confirmation for us that we\u2019re almost there. We\u2019re not really at liberty to say which unmarked road we drove down, but we arrive at very high gates, hidden away behind a nondescript housing estate in a quiet Scottish village.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Unauthorised entry may be met by the British Army. Up to twenty-five commandos are in this picture. You’ll never see them coming. Image: \u00a9 Simon Walton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a suspiciously short wait, a posse of \u2018hi-vis\u2019 operatives appear at the gate, to check our credentials. \u201cThe MoD patrols come around a few times a day,\u201d says the operative who can\u2019t be identified for security reasons, but goes under the codename of Iain Fitzpatrick.<\/p>\n

Old buildings, new mess<\/h2>\n

We\u2019re instructed by our escort to follow a not-very-bulletproof tractor that looks like it was built to serve in the Second World War. We are not instructed to drive blindfolded – so we see the distinctly military buildings that may once have housed rapid deployment forces – or could have been the base canteen.<\/p>\n

The headquarters for RSL has offices (one of which is repurposed as a staff mess room (it has a kettle). The building doubles as the maintenance engine shed and administrative centre, and judging from the floor space occupied by bogies, engine blocks and cab assemblies – it\u2019s also the parts store.<\/p>\n

Platform restoration going like a bomb<\/h2>\n

The ominous presence of two rakes of recently delivered bitumen tankers<\/a> casts a shadow over the already overcast day. We set out to walk the extensive sidings. We encounter some passenger stock and an overgrown platform which codename Iain is steadily clearing, to bring back into use.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Eastriggs bitumen tankers at the loading platform under a typically Scottish summer sky. Image: \u00a9 Katherine Tuck<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s not in an effort to reinstate a passenger service to Eastriggs. That would be served from the adjacent mainline. The platform at this location was used for the somewhat more volatile purpose of loading explosives trains. You see, Eastriggs had the original purpose of the United Kingdom\u2019s principal wartime munitions factory over one hundred years ago.<\/p>\n

Narrow gauge dispersal, standard gauge dispatch<\/h2>\n

Theer are forty miles (64km) of narrow gauge tracks at Eastriggs. Some of the layout is still extant on the site. The lines were laid to disperse the high-explosive products of the factory to myriad storehouses. The narrow gauge railways would be used to assemble loads, which subsequently were dispatched from the loading platform onto standard gauge trains. 16,000 people worked here in 1917 – when the peak of production was greater than all the other munitions factories in the UK combined.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Eastriggs Narrow gauge meets standard gauge. Image: \u00a9 Katherine Tuck<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

HM Factory Gretna is no more. About one-thousandth of that peak number work here now – none of them involved in the production of munitions. \u201cWell, unless the guys on the other side of the fence are up to anything we don\u2019t know about,\u201d says codename Iain.<\/p>\n

Tanker refurbishment<\/h2>\n

Rumours are that members of the public may soon be able to go through security and venture into the secret world of Eastriggs. In collaboration with a local centre that tells the story of \u201cThe Devil\u2019s Porridge\u201d, sources close to RSL have leaked to RailFreight.com that opportunities to ride the rails within the site may be made available to the public.<\/p>\n

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Not quite motive power. Eastriggs tractor and train. Image: \u00a9 Katherine Tuck<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meanwhile, the sidings are filling up at Eastriggs. Sources close to the owner (well, actually, the owner, Gary Draisey) have told RailFreight.com that a temporary structure has been erected to facilitate the refurbishment of those bitumen tankers. They may find new life soon – possibly an \u201coverseas deployment\u201d.<\/p>\n

For more details on visiting Eastriggs, watch their online presence<\/a> – or visit The Devil\u2019s Porridge Centre<\/a> in the village and say: \u201ccodename Iain sent me\u201d. They also do a nice bowl of porridge, which doesn\u2019t taste anything like high explosive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are things we can\u2019t tell you about Eastriggs, except that it\u2019s the location of Railway Sidings Limited (RSL). The neighbours are a little bit\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":60982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11233,11313,11235,47,16025,1781,16026,16027,85],"tags":[12634],"class_list":["post-190671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eastriggs","category-in-depth","category-ministry-of-defence","category-rail-news","category-railway-sidings-limited","category-scotland","category-secret","category-the-devils-porridge","category-uk","tag-railfreight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=190671"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":191123,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190671\/revisions\/191123"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=190671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=190671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=190671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}