Crown Point traction maintenance depot nestles in the triangle of lines to London and North Norfolk, on the edge of town where the river Wensum joins the river Yare. It is the main depot for Greater Anglia, perfectly located but with very little scope for expansion. If that wasn’t enough, it is now chock-ablock with units rendered spare by Covid timetables and units under commissioning. The yard looks like Clapham sidings between the peaks, so space must not be wasted.
Apart from Covid, this was no surprise to the franchise holder, which included major investment in the depot as part of its all-newtrains bid. I’m visiting along with Steve Rees, one time Engineering Director (with lots of depot previous), who looks with envious eyes at the improvements made over the last two years. Our guide is Steve Mitchell, a ‘proper’ engineer who had a lot to do with the new train procurement, now Head of Fleet, North for Greater Anglia. I’ve also brought along Steve Dentith, who introduced ‘158s’ to Norwich in 1992. I thought about changing my name to Steve to avoid confusion.
FITTING ROOM
It must have seemed rather quaint to a Swiss train manufacturer that the train lengths on the Norwich to London route are go…
