In today’s Urbandoned video, we visit a large abandoned train maintenance depot in the UK.
The imposing property is just as impressive from it’s exterior as it is when you step inside.
Within the dilapidated structure, we discover various trains that have been put out of use,
sat deteriorating inside the collapsing building.
Each carriage is from a different time period, making every inch of the exploration interesting.
Join us as we venture inside to find out what remains.
Last time we asked a question, we wanted to know ‘Would you like to
see more historic ruins with little left inside?’ We had many helpful responses,
but decided to feature this one from Ali in today’s video.
He wants to see buildings of character, whether historical or provided by remaining features,
rather than empty shells. We agree and will only show a ruin if there is one or two exceptional
details on offer. It might interest some that we have some ruined properties in our
backlog that we think contain that unique attribute, and they will be shared soon.
This week we are asking, ‘Would you like to see more vehicle graveyards? -‘ as they are
popular sites that we haven’t covered often. They can be small and not enough for a full
documentary, but we could combine few to make an exciting episode. Let us know why
in the comments to possibly feature in our next upload.
In the early morning of a cold Winter day,
we headed for the old warehouse that runs beside a functioning trainline.
Sticking to the opposite side, it appeared that we could make it up to the building unseen.
Visibly damaged, with boards on each window,
it was clear that despite being joined to tracks buzzing with activity, few had entered the site
for years. It seemed fairly sealed until we found a breakthrough and made it in.
Wandering between the ruined trains was a surreal experience. A mix of falling rain slipping between
the holes in the ceiling, peaceful ambience of birds nesting in the rafters and the eerie
silence of a place vacant for decades formed a stunning scene that felt refreshing to us.
The long building boasts two passenger carriages that would have been inhabited by the public as
well as multiple freight cars, some seemingly more dated than others. Whether the trains were
being stored here for maintenance, we don’t know but clearly they hadn’t been worked on
for a long time. Some had even derailed at points, which might signify their future.
Our first target was the blue train that stretched the full length of the warehouse,
snaking over the two tracks that run parallel along it.
It is a Mark 2 car and would have been built at some point between the 60s and 70s.
The way our first interior had appeared, we had concerns that the cars may have begun
to get stripped, however, moments later, it turned out we were wrong.
Seeing the concise control panel for the modern carriage was very interesting,
especially after seeing these sorts of spaces on a grand scale. At a guess,
this car would have been sent to the shed over 20 years ago in the late 1990s.
To contrast, beside the newer train lied an old brake van, which would be placed at the
end of freight trains in the steam era to bring them to a halt, as older cars had no brakes.
We do think that the warehouse itself was disused before becoming a maintenance
structure for the train line. The dates of the types of trains doesn’t match the
decaying state of the building, so we assume workers would have dealt with
the dangerous surroundings, in order to keep their efforts in shelter.
Next up, we took a break from the newer car and
couldn’t resist heading inside the first class boasting, red Mark 1.
Built in the 1960s, this is a much older car than the modern one we entered,
which is definitely noticeable by its welcoming design and architecture.
The only downside to this car for us was that there wasn’t nowhere near as
much of it remaining as the blue train. One carriage was situated at one end of the shed,
which contained an array of seats, one private booth and some toilets.
After checking every inch of it for rare details, we made our way out and towards
the final carriage we hadn’t seen yet, which was located back in the blue train.
Despite being in decent condition, the progressive mould and our lack of
respirators was enough reason to rush our time inside. It was nice to find features
in all the separated trains that would, as a whole, make up one complete railroad vehicle,
such as the controller’s room, baggage area, buffet, toilets and a mail compartment.
It was a different sort of site to explore but we enjoyed every minute of it,
having never seen a complex like this before and not expecting to venture inside one in the UK.
Following our departure from the carriage,
we headed back onto another section of the gantry walkway where we could take in the whole scene.
With the maintenance depot located next to active tracks, we would anticipate that it won’t stay
like this forever as it’s size and land could be used for something that would help the line.
However, the structure is extremely destroyed in places and very outdated, so renovation would
be difficult and costly. It is up to the owners of the building as to whether they want to make
the plunge into a long, hard recovery process or demolish the warehouse to make use of it’s space.
We hope you enjoyed joining us as we explored the property. If you did,
feel free to like the video and subscribe to never miss a future upload.
Here are some of our photographs captured at the abandoned transport shed.
If you like the look of them, check out our Instagram page in the description where we
post images of our explores months before they are shared on YouTube.
Thanks for watching! Remember you can visit our
new website and discord server using the links below. See you next time!