Bletchley TMD

Bletchley TMD was a railway traction maintenance depot situated in Bletchley, Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, to the north of Bletchley Station on the West Coast Main Line (and the Marston Vale Line). The depot was operated by Ernest Midland. The depot code was BY but, in steam days, the shed code was 1E.

Bletchley TMD began in the modern era in 1965 (though had existed since 1850, in the age of steam). It closed on 30 June 2008 and its (expired) lease returned to Network Rail. Bletchley had won awards for the reliability of its trains as recently as March 2007, and was said to deliver six times better than average reliability. London Midland phased in the fleet of 37 Class 350//2 Desiro trains, which are maintained by Siemens at Northampton. These replaced the Silverlink Class 321 fleet which had been serviced at Bletchley. Most of the engineers transferred to the Siemens site and the cleaners to London Midland.

Impact
The local press expressed concern that diesel trains used on the Marston Vale Line, which were previously serviced here, now have to come from Tyseley TMD in Birmingham, with consequent long delays to service resumption in the event of train failure.

Allocation prior to closure

 * Class 08
 * Class 150
 * Class 321