Talk:Wigan Springs Branch TMD

Control train?

Many years ago (1973)while on a conducted tour I strayed into the old buildings and saw a rake of very clean maroon-liveried coaches. I was called out before I saw very much. Since then I have learned there was an Emergency Control Train kept at Springs, is that what I saw and what was its purpose? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.97.106.233 (talk) 12:23, 8 December 2021 (UTC)

The "Control Trains" were assembled in the 1950s as mobile command centres for use in the event of a nuclear attack. There were at least six, each composed of several carriages which were surplus to traffic yet were of serviceable condition. The trains were stationed at various places around the country, and following the attachment of a suitable locomotive, could be moved to any place that was not threatened by nuclear attack. At the time, they were officially secret, and only became generally known in the early 1980s when they were disbanded and put up for sale. Some railway preservation societies bought one or more carriages each, because they were of pre-1948 design yet were in generally good condition. There was an article in Railway Magazine at this time. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 22:17, 8 December 2021 (UTC)