In its 150-year history, it is unlikely that the 90-acre railway workshops at Derby Litchurch Lane have ever welcomed 40,000 people over a three-day period. This was the Greatest Gathering, not of people, but of over 140 rail vehicles and other railway attractions. This made it by far the largest event of Railway 200 which celebrates 200 years of the modern railway.
The event was perfectly described by Alstom Managing Director Rob Whyte who said: ”The Greatest Gathering is a once in a generation celebration of Britain’s railway heritage and future and it simply would not have been possible without the extraordinary support of so many. Together we’ve created the world’s largest gathering of historic and modern railway vehicles and a truly unforgettable experience for tens of thousands of visitors.”
Carriage and wagon works
The Litchurch Lane workshops have been producing railway vehicles for 150 years since opening in the mid-1870s, when the Midland Railway decided it needed a separate workshop to produce coaches and wagons of which it once produced respectively 10 and 200 per week.
The history of each workshop was detailed on interpretative panels produced by the Midland Railway Society (MRS). The QR code below shows some of the MRS’s history of the works which includes some fascinating information. For example, in Midland Railway days, the works timber stocks amounted to over 3,000 miles of timbers being seasoned.
In British Rail days, it was the main workshop producing Mark 1 coaches. In the early 1950s it produced lightweight diesel multiple units (DMUs). In 1970, the works became part of a newly created subsidiary, British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL). During the 1980s it produced the Pacer railbuses and, later, Mark 3 coaches.
BREL was privatised in 1989. At this time the works started to produce 180 of the aluminium-bodied Class 158 DMUs and 680 aluminium 1992 tube stock cars for the Underground Central line. BREL was acquired by ABB in 1992. In 1996 it became part of Adtranz which was taken over by Bombardier in 2001.
After British Rail was privatised, the works produced over 500 vehicles of Class 170 Turbostar DMUs between 1997 and 2012, and over 2,700 vehicles of Electrostar EMUs between 1999 and 2017. The works also produced 1,403 vehicles of S7 and S8 stock cars and 376 Victoria line cars for London Transport between 2008 and 2017. Bombardier started developing Aventra EMUs in 2009 and, after obtaining an order from the Crossrail programme, started producing them in 2015. As the Aventras make greater use of digital technology a ‘Train Zero Delivery’ facility, as described later, was opened for the testing train systems in 2014.
Litchurch Lane is much more than an assembly plant. Since 2005, it has been the only UK facility able to design, build, engineer, and test trains. In 2021 it was announced that the works will be part of the production line for HS2 trains, probably from 2027 onwards. Yet in September 2023, Alstom warned that 1,400 jobs at Litchurch Lane and 900 jobs in its UK supply chain were at risk as the Aventra production was coming to an end. The company also confirmed that it was mothballing production facilities and restarting its redundancy programme.
Thus, when the last of more than 2,600 Aventra vehicles produced by the works was rolled out in March 2024, with no new train orders, the workshop’s production dropped from 13 to zero vehicles per week. Fortunately, in June 2024, Alstom was eventually given an order for a further 10 x 9-car Aventra trains for the Elizabeth Line. This was very much at the eleventh hour and as the local MP noted it required: “many meetings, letters and challenging private conversations with the Secretary of State.”
Thus, the works were reprieved from closure but faced a long pause in production. This required the works to diversify to undertake activities such as component overhaul. However, it also was recognised that this presented an opportunity to do something special. Thus, in September 2024, Alstom announced that it would host ‘The Greatest Gathering’ on 1-3 August 2025.
At the time, Alstom was confident it could make this claim as the gathering only needed to attract a few more than the 50 vehicles that were at the National Railway Museum’s 2012 Railfest. As it turned out, its gathering attracted almost three times this number.
Steam locomotives
There were over 20 steam locomotives, of which the oldest working locomotive was the 1863 0-4-0 Furness Railway No. 20. After becoming too small for the growth in rail traffic, it was sold to a steel works in 1870 where it remained until it was replaced by diesel traction in 1960. After a time in the grounds of a local primary school, it was purchased for preservation and returned to steam in 1998.
The locomotives on display included main-line express locomotives of the four pre-nationalisation railway companies. Only three of these used 4-6-2 ‘Pacific’ locomotives. The examples on display included a Bulleid-designed Merchant Navy class for the Southern, a Gresley-designed A4 class for the East Coast, and a Stanier-designed Princess class for the West Coast. The Collet 4-6-0 designed King class was the most powerful class of locomotive on the Great Western which did not use Pacific locomotives as its express locomotives needed a wide route availability for the branch lines on which they had to operate.
The Class 9F 2-10-0 heavy freight train locomotive, 92214, was amongst the last British Railways built steam locomotives. This was built by the Swindon Works in 1959 and had a short working life of six years. Like many steam locomotives that were later preserved, it was sent to Barry Scrapyard in South Wales after being withdrawn. After being purchased for preservation in 1980 it was finally returned to steam in 2011.
It is worth noting that the decision of Woodham Brothers to defer scrapping steam locomotives at its Barry scrapyards increased the number of preserved locomotives restored to steam by about 150.
The newest steam locomotive on display was ‘Tornado’, built in 2008 as a modern recreation of a 4-6-2 LNER Peppercorn ‘A1’ class. This locomotive is also pioneering the use of ETCS on a steam locomotive.
Although it is not possible to detail all the steam locomotives on display, it would be wrong not to mention the one built in Derby. This was 4-4-0 Midland Railway Compound built in 1902, designed by Johnson, and later developed by Deeley. Such compound engines were rare in the UK despite being designed to extract more power from steam. The Midland Compound did this by first expanding steam at a high pressure in a small cylinder inside the locomotive frame and then again at a lower pressure in two larger cylinders outside the frame.
Modern traction
Built at Derby in 1952, Class 08 diesel shunter 13000 was the first of 996 built, making them the most numerous class of UK diesel locomotives. Around 80 of these shunters are still in use today, of which three were on display. One of these, Class 08e 08308 has been converted to battery power.
In addition to seven shunters, no less than 57 main-line diesel locomotives of 29 different classes were on display. The oldest of these registered for main line use was the 1,000 hp Class 20 20007 built at English Electric’s Vulcan works in 1957. The different types of diesel locomotives from the late 1950s and 60s illustrated the wide range of classes produced as part of the 1955 BR modernisation programme, including those with hydraulic transmission.
Some of these 60-plus-year-old locomotives have been rescued from scrapyards and preserved. Others, 20007 and six of the seven Class 37 locomotives on display, have been in continuous use since they were built. The newest diesels on display were two 3,690hp Class 70 locomotives build by General Electric in the USA between 2009 and 2017.
There were 16 electric locomotives on display from 12 different classes. The oldest of these was London Underground’s Bo-Bo locomotive No 12 Sarah Siddons, which was built in 1922 and hauled trains on the Metropolitan line up to 1961. It is now maintained in operational condition for heritage tours.
There were five preserved Class 8x locomotives built between 1961 and 1973 for the West Coast Main Line electrification – 87002 was the last of these to be withdrawn in 2006 and is now used for charter work. The Class 91s built for the East Coast Main Line electrification were represented by 91101 ‘Flying Scotsman.’ This was one of 31 built at Crewe between 1988 and 1991. Only 12 now remain.
The newest, and most powerful electric locomotive on display was 99001, a Class 99 Co-Co bi-mode locomotive which is currently undergoing testing. When operating as an electric locomotive it has a power of 6,170 kW. When powered by diesel, its power is 1,790kW.
There was a line-up of high-speed traction comprising of a 300km/h Eurostar Class 373 power car and the 200km/hr UK trains: an Avanti Class 390 Pendolino, a Class 43 HST power car, and a Class 91 locomotive. There was also a 160km/hr Class 55 Deltic locomotive
One item of rolling stock recently built at Derby was the RGX-02 Rail Grinder which was built by Loram UK which has a depot close to Litchurch Lane offering modification, overhaul, and life-extension services.
Multiple Units
There are only a small number of locomotive-hauled passenger trains on today’s railway. Multiple units are generally far more cost effective and offer other advantages, especially at terminal stations. On display were 27 different multiple units comprising of seven diesel units, a hydrogen powered unit, and 19 electric multiple units (EMUs).
Large-scale main line multiple unit operation started with the construction of the first diesel multiple units (DMUs), such as the Class 108 DMU on display. These were built as two, three, or four car units at Litchurch Lane between 1958 and 1961, the last of which was withdrawn from passenger service in 1993. The 333 Class 108 DMU vehicles were part of over 4,000 first generation DMU vehicles produced as part of the 1955 modernisation plan.
Though these first-generation units offered significant cost savings when they were introduced, by the 1980s it was clear there was a need for more reliable units that were cheaper to operate. This resulted in the development of second generation DMUs of which the first were the Class 150 introduced in 1984. On display was a Porterbrook example, number 150231 which was built at York in 1986. The newest DMU on display was a Class 197 assembled by CAF in Wales from 2022 onwards.
Of the 19 EMUs on display, seven collected DC current from a third rail. These included the oldest EMU on display – a preserved Class 423 VEP Southern DC unit built at York in 1967. Some consider these units to be ideal commuter units as they have slam-doors at each passenger bay which minimises passenger dwell times. However, this posed a significant safety risk as, at terminal stations, it was not uncommon for many passengers to open the doors and leave the train before it stopped.
The Class 313 units were the first to have both a third rail collector shoe and a 25kV AC pantograph. They were also the first production units derived from British Rail’s prototype suburban EMU design and so had sliding doors. When withdrawn in 2023 they were the oldest main-line units, having entered service in 1976.
Of the eleven 25kV EMUs on display, three were bi-mode units. Two of these were built by Stadler. The 2018-built Class 755 FLIRT has a short diesel-power car in the middle of the unit while the Class 398 is a tram-train unit that can be powered by batteries. The newest EMU on display was a five-car 25kV Class 730/2 Aventra unit built at Litchurch Lane in 2024.
Train rides
The numerous other attractions on offer included various train rides. These were:
- A trip on a Class 345 Aventra (No 345055) on the works’ 1.4km test track.
- A ride behind steam locomotive 45627 ‘Sierra Leone’ or diesel locomotive 37516 ‘Loch Laidon’ on another part of the works’ track network.
- A cab ride in the tri-mode Class 93 locomotive 93009 which is currently under test.
A two-foot gauge line on which were offered rides on coaches that were ‘top and tailed’ by the world’s oldest operating narrow-gauge locomotive, the Ffestiniog Railway’s 1863-built Prince and Trankil No 4. Both of these locomotives were 0-4-0 saddle tanks. Trankil No 4 was built by Hunslet for a sugar mill in Java in 1971.
A 15-inch gauge track on which were offered rides behind the 1896-built 0-4-0 saddle tank ‘Katie’ from the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway.
The 10 ¼-inch gauge locomotives built by the University of Sheffield and a combined Alstom / University of Derby team for the IMechE’s Railway Challenge offered rides on coaches from the Stapleford Miniature Railway where the challenge is held.
Rides inside one of the workshops behind steam locomotives on a five-inch gauge line provided by the Derby Society of Model and Experimental Engineers.
Visitors also had the opportunity to ride on one of the fleet of 22 vintage buses which ferried visitors between the workshops and Derby railway station.
Other attractions included live music, street food stalls, family entertainment, and fairground rides. Inside the workshops were an impressive model railway display, a railway marketplace, a heritage and preservation zone, and a ‘meet the railway family’ area. This included organisations such as the Railway Industry Association (RIA) and Chartered Institution of Railway Operators (CIRO).
The modern railway
Though a large part of the gathering celebrated the railway’s past, there was also much to see about the railway’s present and future. The STEM hub showed visitors the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) of the modern railway which hopefully inspired some visitors to become future railway engineers. This was hosted by Alstom’s graduates, engineers, and apprentices who demonstrated interactive exhibits such as virtual reality and driving simulators.
This also included an exhibition of the history of railway signalling from the first fixed signals in the late 1830s, telegraph signalling in 1850, block signalling in 1873, automatic train control in 1950, computer interlocking (SSI) in 1980, ETCS in 2000, to modular control systems such as Alstom’s MSC-I in 2024.
As its name suggests, the Train Zero Delivery (TZD) facility does not build trains. Instead, it is a software test site with static tests rigs of all types of Aventra units. These test rigs simulate the way the train’s software and hardware work together. This enables more thorough testing to be done than is practicable on a train. Hence, this is an essential part of the validation of the train’s design and any subsequent changes. Those visiting TZD could not fail to be amazed by the large volume of electronic equipment on a modern train, which is not obvious to passengers.
The gathering also provided an opportunity for a sneak preview of the emerging interior train design for the HS2 trains. These will be designated Class 895 and will be partially built at the Litchurch Lane works in a few years’ time as part of a joint venture between Alstom and Hitachi. Visitors were able to go inside full-scale wooden mock-ups of the saloon, catering, and bike and buggy spaces of these new trains.
It was explained that as the mock-ups were built to assess physical layouts they were in white, grey and black. At this stage the design team wished to avoid discussions about colour schemes. Visitors were also advised how these mock-ups had developed after extensive feedback from a wide range of user groups. Despite advances in virtual reality, it was felt that there was no substitute for a full-scale mock up to obtain worthwhile user feedback.
The 200-metre Class 895 units will have 504 seats and spaces for four wheelchairs, four bikes, and two children’s buggies. They will also offer more leg room. Despite this, the Class 895 will have 10% more seats per metre of train than the Avanti Pendolino trains. This will be achieved by placing almost all the train’s equipment below the coach. They will also offer level-boarding at HS2 stations and have a wider step to give an improved boarding at stations on the conventional network.
HS2’s trains will also have bio-reactor toilets that separate and treat waste on board which allows discharge to specialised station drains to extend toilet servicing from once every few days to once monthly.
Back to normal
Setting up the workshops for the gathering was no mean feat, though this was made possible by the two weeks beforehand being the works maintenance shutdown period. Although Alstom and its 350 volunteers deserve great credit for making this event happen, many other railway companies and organisations did a great deal to make it a success.
It is ironic that the gathering was only possible due the hiatus caused by the gap in train orders. For this reason, it is probably true to say that though Alstom is rightly proud to have hosted such a huge event, it doesn’t want to be in a position to do so again.
After the last visitors left, the job of getting the workshops back in business began. This was helped by half the workshop space being closed to the public during the gathering. It also required numerous train movements from the workshops which included trains with five diesel locomotives and four steam locomotives.
And so it was that, less than a day after hosting a once-in-a-generation celebration of the heritage and future of Britain’s railway, the Litchurch Lane workshops started producing its order for additional Elizabeth line trains. After seeing the scale and capability of this facility at the gathering, it is difficult to imagine that it would have closed had it not been for this order.
Image credits: David Shirres / Alstom