Derby
Railway Engineering Society
Visit
to
Derby Etches Park
Traction & Rolling Stock
Maintenance Depot
17:00 hrs
on Thursday 27th October 2011
21 Members and guests made a Thursday evening visit
to East Midlands Trains engineering base in Derby. Our host was the depot manager Mark Coney. He started our visit with a full length
lecture on the workings of Etches Park and the changes that have been
effected there by East Midlands Trains.
The tour of the depot started with a visit to the
old, but refurbished, South maintenance shed which contained a class 156
DMU still in Northern Rail livery.
Four of these units are being added to the EMT fleet with the 158s
being cascaded to the Liverpool to Norwich service, so that all trains can
be strengthened to four cars. The
156 was being fitted with sanding equipment to conform to EMT standards.
We then went to the other end of the site to admire the
new Hegenscheidt MFD wheel reprofiling lathe which, in addition to
servicing the EMT fleet, earns money from outside contracts. Its purpose built building is adjacent to
the large new North maintenance shed built to fit the Meridian fleet. Currently containing three seven car
roads, the track layout has been designed to allow expansion to five ten
car roads, two of these would service the existing HST sets. There is total coverage by a ten ton
crane and one road has lifting jacks for a seven coach train.
To conclude the visit Alan Jones presented Mark with
a DRES History and we all thanked him for one of the most comprehensive
visits of recent times.
Roger Jackson
Assistant Secretary (Visits)
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