Birkenhead Mollington Street was a former Traction Maintenance Depot

Traction maintenance depot

In the United Kingdom, a traction maintenance depot, or TMD, is a railway depot where locomotives are serviced and maintained. A traction and rolling stock maintenance depot, or T&RSMD, is a maintenance depot where locomotives, multiple units and rolling stock are serviced and maintained. Each rail...

 located at Mollington Street in Birkenhead

Birkenhead

Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, on the Birkenhead Dock Branch

Birkenhead Dock Branch

Birkenhead Dock Branch is a presently disused railway line running from the South junction of Rock Ferry, to the site of the former Bidston Dock on the Wirral Peninsula, England....

 railway. The depot serviced steam and subsequently diesel locomotives until 1985 when it was closed and demolished. The depot code was BC during the British Rail

British Rail

British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...

 era and 6C during the earlier steam era. Steam locomotives stabled at the depot in early British Railways days included GWR 6800 Class

GWR 6800 Class

The Great Western Railway 6800 Class or Grange Class was a mixed traffic class of 4-6-0 steam locomotive. There were 80 in the class, all built at the Swindon works.-History:The GWR locomotive standardisation policy pursued by G.J...

, GWR 5101 Class

GWR 5101 Class

The GWR 5101 Class or Large Prairie was a class of 2-6-2T steam locomotives of the Great Western Railway. They were medium-sized tank engines used for suburban and local passenger services all over the Great Western Railway system...

 and GWR 5700 Class

GWR 5700 Class

The Great Western Railway 5700 Class is a class of 0-6-0 pannier tank steam locomotive, built between 1929 and 1950. 863 were built, making them the second most-produced British class of steam locomotive.- Overview :...

. When the London Midland Region imposed its policies, LMS loco classes stabled at Birkenhead included Black Fives

LMS Stanier Class 5 4-6-0

The London Midland and Scottish Railway's Class 5 4-6-0, almost universally known as the Black Five, is a class of steam locomotive. It was introduced by William Stanier in 1934 and 842 were built between then and 1951...

, Class 8F and Class 9F

BR standard class 9F

The British Railways BR Standard Class 9F 2-10-0 is a class of steam locomotive designed for British Railways by Robert Riddles. The Class 9F was the last in a series of standardised locomotive classes designed for British Railways during the 1950s, and was intended for use on fast, heavy freight...

.

External links

• Photograph of three Class 40 locomotives at Mollington Street depot in 1983.
• The same area photographed in 2004.
• Photograph of another Class 40 locomotive at the depot in 1982.
• The same area photographed in 2004.
• Photograph of another Class 40 locomotive in 1983 with a clear view of the depot's trackwork.
• Photographic collection of steam locomotives at the shed.