Heaton TMD
Railway maintenance depot in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England
title: "Heaton TMD" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["buildings-and-structures-in-newcastle-upon-tyne", "railway-depots-in-england", "transport-in-newcastle-upon-tyne", "north-eastern-railway-(united-kingdom)"] description: "Railway maintenance depot in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England" topic_path: "geography/united-kingdom" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaton_TMD" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Railway maintenance depot in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox Railway Depot"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Heaton TMD |
| image | HeatonDepotNewcastle.jpg |
| caption | Heaton Depot, September 2025. |
| location | Newcastle upon Tyne, England |
| coordinates | |
| grid_ref_UK | NZ278659 |
| owner | Northern |
| depotcode | |
| type | Electric, HST, DMU |
| original | North Eastern Railway |
| pregrouping | North Eastern Railway |
| postgrouping | LNER |
| :: |
| name = Heaton TMD | image = HeatonDepotNewcastle.jpg | image_size = | caption = Heaton Depot, September 2025. | location = Newcastle upon Tyne, England | coordinates = | grid_ref_UK = NZ278659 | owner = Northern | depotcode = | type = Electric, HST, DMU | opened = | closed = | original = North Eastern Railway | pregrouping = North Eastern Railway | postgrouping = LNER
Heaton TMD is a railway traction maintenance depot situated in the Heaton area of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, it is located next to the East Coast Main Line, around 2 mi east of Newcastle Central station. Heaton was a sub-shed of Gateshead between 1963 and 1967.
History
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Heaton_Locomotive_Depot_geograph-2354955-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg" caption="NER Class J21]] No.65110 in ex-works condition at Heaton Shed, 1954"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Heaton_Locomotive_Depot_geograph-2899256-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg" caption="Ex-NER No.26500/BR Class ES1]] at Heaton Shed"] ::
Originally built by the North Eastern Railway to provide steam locomotives serving principally the extensive Heaton marshalling yards and freight traffic, but also a considerable proportion of main line and local passenger traffic from .
The location meant that it provided motive power to the .75 mi and steep Riverside Branch. Unliked by crews due to the need to pass through three tunnels and the resultant toxic smoke in their cabs, in 1905 it was electrified using 750 VDC technology, with power supplied via both overhead catenary and, within the tunnels, third-rail. Both of the BTH/Brush 640 hp (BR Class ES1) locomotives were based at Heaton, designed as a Bo-Bo with central cab. They worked from the shed until 1967.
Coded 52B in the NE Region (Newcastle District) under British Railways, in 1954 it had an allocation of 95 locomotives, comprising:16x 4-6-2; 17x 2-6-2; 1x 4-4-0; 14x 2-6-0 (9 LNE + 5 LMS-type); 14x 0-6-0; 12x 2-6-2T; 1x 0-6-2T; 18x 0-6-0T; and 2x ES1's.
On 22 March 2022 a TransPennine Express Class 802 derailed at Heaton depot and collided with concrete barriers. There were no injuries reported.
Present
After demolition and redevelopment to diesel traction in the 1960s by British Railways, today the depot is operated by Northern Trains, and mostly houses Northern and LNER rolling stock. The depot code is HT.
The basic allocation consists of Class 156 and British Rail Class 158 diesel multiple units operated by Northern. TransPennine Express, London North Eastern Railway and Lumo use the depot for storage or servicing of units.
Northern Trains Class 150 units also regularly visit Heaton for maintenance.
Network Rail's New Measurement Train is allocated to Heaton. Maintenance on its recording equipment is carried out at the Railway Technical Centre in Derby.
Sewage and clean out
Heaton is used by the main express operator of the East Coast Main Line to store stock overnight. In 2004–06, this led to a dispute between the RMT and then operator GNER. Legally in the UK, train operators are allowed to discharge 5 impgal of sewage per carriage per journey, onto the railtrack. Most Mk3 carriages have only holding tanks, not fully compliant toilet tanks. Further, Heaton then had no toilet clean-out facilities. However, in the 2000s both the RMT and politicians were concerned at the environmental impact of this legacy issue. In 2006 the RMT agreed waste tank and clean out developments at Heaton with GNER, plus new clean out procedures at all other depots, to solve an ongoing dispute over sewage spray.
Location
The nearest station, from which the depot can also be seen, is Chillingham Road Metro station, whilst the nearest mainline station is .
References
Notes
Sources
References
- (5 May 2006). "The all-time guide to UK Shed and Depot Codes". TheRailwayCentre.com.
- (22 March 2022). "Newcastle train derailment causes rush-hour disruption". BBC News.
- Pickering, Graeme. (November 2025). "'Gannin canny' for a century and a half".
- (6 August 2006). "Toilet waste 'sprays' track staff". BBC News.
- "depot information northern".
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