New Railway shed - work in progress

Railroaded through: The proposed depot has been approved

You may have seen a new, very long structure running alongside the railway. It is quite dominant. You may also have seen a large crane, or sometimes two. You may have heard noise from plant and machinery, hammering for six days a week. The structure already stretches from beyond the gas holders, going southwards down Hornsey Park Road. This is still more work to do. The end is not yet in sight. The railway is currently constructing new "stabling" for the maintenance and repair of trains on, as I understand it, the entire North-South line. This stabling apparently is going to be one of two such places in the whole of England - and we have got it all to ourselves. Lucky old us. It will be used mainly during the night hours.

The new depot as seen from Hornsey Station

I suspect the building is much longer and much higher than most imagined. It dwarfs all surrounding buildings. It continues to snake its way through our Ward.

During the consultation progress, we were told at a meeting with the railway that there would be some slight increase in background noise for local residents. When the matter was approved by the Planning Committee (despite many objections from residents), the Council were told by a different, and more senior railway representative, there would be no extra noise at all. What's the truth? We shall be the judge of that.

Although only the skeleton of the structure is currently in place , the former views of Alexandra Palace have already gone (save for the upper part of the aerial). At present we can see Heartlands School, but not for much longer. We shall no longer see trains, just hear them. As the location is on the West of Hornsey Park Road, there will also be some loss of the Sun during part of the day.

New Railway shed - work in progress

Related posts:

Environment