{"id":281535,"date":"2025-09-10T17:48:47","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T07:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=65694"},"modified":"2025-09-10T17:48:47","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T07:48:47","slug":"glasgow-polmadies-depot-open-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=281535","title":{"rendered":"Glasgow Polmadie\u2019s depot open day"},"content":{"rendered":"

A rail tour from Derby. The doors open in Glasgow. An exhibition train at the busiest station in Scotland. All that in the second weekend of October (Saturday and Sunday 11-12). Alstom, the current operator of the historic Polmadie Depot in the south east of Glasgow, is throwing open the doors for the first team in a quarter of a century.<\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Polmadie, Glasgow\u2019s Traincare Centre, is marking its 150th anniversary this year, and the operators, Alstom, have just announced the first public open day in 25 years. The announcement comes just a few weeks after Alstom hosted \u201cThe Greatest Gathering\u201d event at its Derby Litchurch Lane works in England. For that reason, a commemorative railtour will link Derby with Polmadie, making it a weekend for the enthusiasts – albeit with \u00a3150 to spare for the fare.<\/p>\n

Serving freight and passenger<\/h2>\n

Alstom is opening the doors of its Glasgow Traincare Centre, historically known as Polmadie Depot, to celebrate the site\u2019s 150th anniversary. Located around two miles south-east of Glasgow Central railway station, adjacent to the West Coast Main Line, the depot is a familiar sight to passengers and operators on Europe\u2019s busiest mixed traffic route. The facility serves the full fleet of rolling stock and motive power on the route. It\u2019s currently the main base of the Italian-built Pendolino fleet, and the iconic Caledonian Sleeper service, along with a varied selection of freight and passenger motive power.<\/p>\n

\"Polmadie
Polmadie Depot in the 1940s, when air quality issues were not so much of a thing. Glasgow skyline in the background \u2013 honestly. Image: \u00a9 Colin Duncan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Originally opened as Polmadie Shed on 16 September 1875 by the Caledonian Railway company, it was subsequently rebuilt and extended for the maintenance of steam engines and rolling stock. \u201cFor 150 years, Polmadie has continuously been a home to dedicated maintenance staff and train drivers that in turn have served passengers and freight across Scotland and along the West Coast Main Line,\u201d said Rob Whyte, Managing Director UK and Ireland at Alstom. \u201cPolmadie is more than just a depot. It\u2019s a symbol of engineering excellence and commitment to keeping Britain moving, while inspiring the next generation to help us shape the future of rail.\u201d<\/p>\n

No sleep \u2019til Polmadie<\/h2>\n

Arriving by shuttle bus from Glasgow Central Station, visitors will be welcomed by a unique lineup of rolling stock that has been based at the depot over the last 150 years. This will include a Class 37 diesel from the Scottish Railway Preservation Society (SRPS) – a locomotive design that\u2019s still in use today, yet venerable enough to qualify for an old age pension. Even older (approaching a century since conception), examples of the class 08 shunter will be on display. Younger exhibits will include an electric class 90 (repurposed from passenger express work to haul fast freight), and many younger examples – including GBRf\u2019s brand new and highly impressive class 99 bi-mode electro-diesel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Pendolino
Tilting Pendolino on the right and hopefully less tilting Caledonian Sleep on the left, both at Polmadie Depot in Glasgow. Image: \u00a9 Alstom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A novelty of the event will be an opportunity to examine at first hand the rolling stock of the Caledonian Sleeper. Several of its Mark 5 coaches will showcase the \u2018hotel on wheels\u2019 that links Scotland with London via the West Coast Main Line. Alstom says it also intends to offer family-friendly, hands-on activities to help inspire Scotland\u2019s rail leaders of the future. Concurrently, the touring \u201cInspiration\u201d train – a separate event marking 200 years of passenger railways – will be berthed at Glasgow Central and open by ticketed attendance.<\/p>\n

Freight provides first-ever passenger train<\/h2>\n

Not only does 2025 mark the first time in 25 years that Polmadie Depot has opened to the public, celebrations are also being held around the world to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the modern railway. Alstom marked Railway 200\u00a0in August when it hosted the world\u2019s largest-ever gathering of historic and modern trains. The Greatest Gathering<\/a>\u00a0took place at the company\u2019s Derby Litchurch Lane Works between Friday 1 and Sunday 3 August, welcoming 40,000 visitors from around the world and raising thousands for charity.<\/p>\n

\"Late
A line-up of late 1960s motive power at the less-than-pristine Polmadie Depot in Glasgow, still very much wearing the grime of a century of steam operations. Image: \u00a9 Colin Duncan<\/figcaption>The day before Polmadie\u2019s open day, the Scottish maintenance facility will welcome its first-ever passenger train, giving railfans a unique opportunity to ride along rare track across the depot site. Hauled by two RailAdventure Class 43 locomotives \u2013 with Derby-built Mark 3 coaches from 125 Group. \u201cPassengers will fittingly be able to board this special charter at Alstom\u2019s Derby train factory, linking the two Railway 200 sites,\u201d says Alstom. \u201cAt Polmadie, the unit will be shunted along multiple depot tracks by the facility\u2019s resident Class 08 locomotives, 08451, 08764 and 08954.\u201d Details from the Branch Line Society<\/a>.<\/figure>\n

Proceeds from the events at Polmadie will support The Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre and the Railway Children\u2019s Glasgow Project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A rail tour from Derby. The doors open in Glasgow. An exhibition train at the busiest station in Scotland. All that in the second weekend\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"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":[182,2365,18093,11313,6985,18094,47,18095,180,1781,18096,85],"tags":[12634],"class_list":["post-281535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alstom","category-glasgow","category-greatest-gathering","category-in-depth","category-polmadie","category-raii-200","category-rail-news","category-railway-childrens-glasgow-project","category-rolling-stock","category-scotland","category-the-beatson-west-of-scotland-cancer-centre","category-uk","tag-railfreight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281535","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=281535"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":282239,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281535\/revisions\/282239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=281535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=281535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=281535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}