Long Marston Happy to be off the beaten track

August 15th 2008

The Long Marston rail complex is isolated. It has had to be. It used to serve one of the British Army’s main strategic supply depots. The complex is secure. Tucked away in the Warwickshire countryside between Stratford-Upon-Avon and Evesham, it is surrounded by high fencing topped, in places, with rolls of razor wire.

The access from the main road resembles Checkpoint Charlie and, whilst there are no guns on show, it is a little intimidating. Security is still maintained, but it is provided to control the safety of the high value goods that now come and go onto the site. Hidden away in the acres of warehouses are stocks of new Mercedes cars and other desirable commodities, rather than army supplies.

Secluded standage

Colin Flack and his partner Ruth Dunmore look after the railway facility at Long Marston on behalf of landlords St. Modwen. He used to run all the MOD rail depots in the UK in his Army career, so he is well able to extend his skills to this corner of rural England. His office - the Control Tower - a rather grand title for a flat roofed military building with steel window frames and antiquated plumbing - is as far away from the main entrance as it is possible to be. In turn, it is further protected by more gates and fences.

He does, though, have a view to die for out of his first floor office window over the shimmering unspoilt marshland - even allowing for the backdrop of tanker wagons.

Winding around the facility is a complex layout of railway tracks. There are fifteen miles of secluded standage and five miles of running lines. This is where rolling stock comes to be mothballed, to be stored and sometimes to be renovated. It is a temporary staging post for the obsolete, for the tired and unfashionable.

There are fading incongruous train operating liveries on ageing coaches. There are also rakes of brand new freight wagons waiting for their handling facilities to be ready. Occasionally, casualties of high profile incidents are hidden away from prying eyes. For Long Marston is secure - very secure.

Potential for industry trials

Paradoxically, access by rail is relatively straightforward. Long Marston is served by a connection from the Worcester to Oxford railway via a connection near Honeybourne. Tokens issued at Worcester permit access and once a train is ’inside’ at Honeybourne groundframe, it is independent of the main line. Movements within the layout away from the reception and run-round facilities are performed by one of the sturdy heritage shunting locomotives regaled in idiosyncratic colour schemes - ’plum and custard’ is sported by an ex-Swindon Works worthy.

Railway industry trials

Alongside Motorail’s storage capacity is the potential for using the layout for railway industry trials. Of course, this is not a high speed railway - the track is typical MoD, with 75lb. flatbottom rail installed during or after the war years. It is, though, a place where experimental track panels can be laid and shaken down by regular slow speed passing traffic. New track products can be trialled at the very early prototype stages with there being no possibility of hard won trade secrets being lost even to casual observers. Strangers are spotted straightaway - they’re always lost and can be seen driving aimlessly around the flat marsh land, their cover long blown.

The potential test facility is about 4km long in a loop within the establishment. Off the main loop, there are numerous turnouts and sidings. Some of the curves are severe - or could be made to be severe if needed. Another unusual benefit of isolation is that there is little electronic noise - useful, perhaps, for signal equipment testing. Mobile phone reception is patchy - nobody will hear you when you scream!

Class 87 locomotives for Bulgaria

Colin has an aspiration to electrify short sections with basic overhead line equipment and maybe some parts with a third/fourth rail. The latter facility could be valuable for debugging prototype metro stock, the former to allow initial electrical testing of locomotives, as well as providing ’warm storage’ facilities for rolling stock. It is still an aspiration, although Colin is actively looking for a source of OLE kit.

The testing of main line electric locos is a current issue for Colin as he has 26 of them lined up in front of his Control Tower. All of the class 87 locomotives - except for four that have been scrapped - are undergoing a refurbishment programme. Terry Whitley’s article on page 28 gives more detail on this project. The rows of 87s were the main focus of a recent rail enthusiasts’ tour and there was evidence of a certain amount of spring cleaning being carried out in preparation. This year, Long Marston was almost overwhelmed, but in the process raised more than £30,000 for charity.

Tailpiece

Colin is proud of the achievements at Long Marston and is enthusiastic about future opportunities. Being out of the way is, for once, a distinct commercial advantage.

The final twist in this tale of isolation is the exquisitely polite, but hopelessly lost security guard on the main gate who had never heard of Motorail - at least that’s what he said. It is easy to get lost on the site, with repeated film-set style warehouses and anonymous concrete roadways. Some of the one-way systems have signs pointing in two directions. Nothing is certain in the shady world of security!

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