Old Oak Common Depot, gone but not forgotten.

Withdrawn EWS type 3 37694 arrives at Old Oak Common on the back of a low loader having been brought down from Healey Mills in South Yorkshire.

Tucked away at the back of the Factory building is long withdrawn type 5 58045 in faded Mainline livery. The following day a tornado (NOT the aircraft) touched down just half a mile away from here. It got VERY windy!!

Fertis liveried 56032 sits on one of the turntable radiating roads as A4 60009 is turned on the turntable.

All the roads around the turntable were occupied, here is 31466 is EWS livery.

A pair of class 08 shunters sit out of use, 08919 is in RES livery and 08694 wears the colours of EWS.

With the overseas work now complete the hired out locos have returned to the UK. 56096 went to work abroad, having been hired by Fertis and was repainted into their livery.

John Lynch shows us his only skill!! ;-)

A4 60009 slowly reverses off the turntable with 56074 in the foreground.

56058 looks quite respectable and could still earn its keep if required.

As the steam loco was eased off the turntable it passed by 56081 with just a couple of inches clearance.

Grids 56081 and 56113 stand together.

Parked up behind 56113 is EWS liveried 56037. This loco did not go to France.

56074 is seen from across the turntable and is framed by the metal frame that supports the power cable to the electric motor. The turntable was taken to the Swanage Railway when the depot was closed and demolished.

Another view of 56074 this time framed between 56081 and 56133.

The clean lines of type 5 56058.

Elsewhere on the shed were a further seven members of the class all returned from France, including Romanian built 56007 and Doncaster built 56071.

Amidst the falling wet snow of a West London morning, 37694 is seen again awaiting its fate.

Former OOC shed pilot loco 31420 has reached the end of the line as preparations are in hand for it to be loaded onto a low loader to remove it for scrap. The serviceable loco is in faded InterCity livery and only needed a set of batteries and it would start for more work.

The Brush type 2 has been pulled up the ramp onto the trailer and a start has been made to secure it.

Inside the "factory" building is First Great Western class 57/6 loco 57604. The former 47209 is used for hauling the TOC's sleeper services to and from Penzance and have been troublesome from the start.

Also in the Factory are locos undergoing restoration or repairs. Type 4 50035 sits beside LNER A4 pacific 60009 "Union of South Africa". The class 50's were based at Old Oak Common during their BR Western region service. A4's were never allocated here!

Another class of loco synonymous with OOC were the class 52 Westerns and just to prove a point is main line approved D1015 Western Champion resting between main line runs.

Outside the Factory on the stabling lines are EWS type 5s that have been withdrawn and some employed overseas. Loadhaul 56112 is flanked by Transrail 56070 and 56133.

Transrail branded 56113 looks as if it has just come off a diagram. Beyond it is Fertis liveried 58016.

Heavy weight 37701 is long withdrawn and awaiting its call to the scrapman. This sub class had alternators in place of generators, regeared CP7 bogies and ballast weights added.

Another member of the 37/7 sub class is 37719 in faded Trainload Petroleum subsector livery.

37892 is also a 37/7 sub class member and has Mainline branding applied to its work weary two tone grey livery.

Many class 58 locos saw a second period of use on infrastructure trains in France and Spain. 58048 was not one of those and looks forlorn in battered EWS livery. I suspect it supplied spare parts for those that did go abroad.