South Gosforth TMD

South Gosforth Traction Maintenance Depot is a vehicle cleaning, maintenance and stabling facility used by the Tyne and Wear Metro, located in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne in Tyne and Wear, England.

Pre-Tyne and Wear Metro
The 8+1/4 mi single-track branch line of the Gosforth and Ponteland Railway was opened on 1 March 1905, passing through the depot near to the western terminus at South Gosforth. The branch line closed to passengers on 17 June 1929, with freight services continuing to serve the line until the late 1980s.

The former branch line was reopened as part of the Tyne and Wear Metro network on 10 May 1981, with services operating as far as Bank Foot. A further extension of the network saw the line extended to Newcastle International Airport on 17 November 1991.

In 1918, a fire broke out at Heaton carriage sheds, which destroyed the building, as well as 34 units. A replacement depot was required, with the Gosforth site acquired by the North Eastern Railway in 1921. The replacement depot opened in October 1923. At the time, there were ten lines in the depot building, with a further two serving the repair shop.

The depot was originally used to house rolling stock for the Tyneside Electrics network, which served Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, North and South Tyneside. Owing to falling passenger numbers during the 1960s, as well as rising costs, and the need to renew life expired infrastructure and rolling stock, the network was de-electrified and converted to diesel multiple unit operation in 1967. Following this, Class 101, 104 and 105 diesel multiple units were a common sight at the depot.

Post-Tyne and Wear Metro
Since 1980, the depot has been operated by the Tyne and Wear Metro. It is used for stabling, cleaning, maintenance and repair of the current fleet of Class 599 Metrocar, as well as an increasing number of Class 555 Metro, which are yet to enter service.

The depot is located in a triangle of land between Longbenton, Regent Centre and South Gosforth, and can be accessed by trains from both east and west. There is also a depot avoiding line running from east to west, which is not regularly used in public service.

In October 2020, prior to the arrival of new rolling stock towards, a satellite depot was near Howdon, North Tyneside. The site is currently being used as a temporary stabling and maintenance facility for up to 10 units.

Closure and replacement
As part of a £70 million depot refurbishment project, the first phase of demolition of the depot was completed in May 2021, with final closure in January 2023. Construction of the new 12 acre depot was completed in January 2024. The new facility provides facilities for preventative and corrective maintenance, overhauls, train presentation, storage space for parts and materials supplies and office space for training and support functions. In addition, there are inspection roads and pits, a separate wheel lathe building, a wash-plant to clean train exteriors, a component drop, monorail cranes on light maintenance roads, an overhead crane on heavy maintenance roads for lifting roof components and a new control room to manage train movements.