Railway renaissance at Washwood Heath

Having closed several years ago, the site of the old Metro-Cammell factory at Washwood Heath will soon have a new railway use, housing a major HS2 train depot. Peter Plisner visits the site to find out how work’s progressing.

It’s a site that’s steeped in railway history. The factory that stood at Washwood Heath, about a mile outside Birmingham city centre, was the place where (most recently, under the ownership of Alstom) the Class 390 Pendolino tilting trains were assembled.

But under its original name, Metro-Cammell, it built trains for railways and metro systems all over the world.

Opened in 1863 as the Metropolitan Railway Carriage and Wagon Company, it built carriages for a variety of the early railways, and later became the builder of choice for the London Underground.

Even trains running on the Glasgow Subway still bear the company’s name, although not for long as the old 1980s rolling stock is currently being replaced.

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