LSWR The
London and South Western Railway (LSWR) opened a carriage and wagon works at Eastleigh in 1891. In 1903, the Chief Mechanical Engineer,
Dugald Drummond, oversaw the construction of a large
motive power depot in the town; replacing the existing maintenance and repair shops at
Northam, Southampton. In January 1910, locomotive building was likewise transferred to the new workshops at Eastleigh from
Nine Elms in London. The first locomotives built at Eastleigh were the two
S14 delivered in September 1910, and these were followed by Eastleigh's first tender locomotives, the five
P14 , delivered between October 1910 and February 1911. Among the other locomotives produced by the LSWR under Drummond at Eastleigh, were the
M7 0-4-4 tank engines, the
T14 4-6-0, and
D15 4-4-0, classes. Following the appointment of
Robert Urie as Chief Mechanical Engineer in 1912, the works were responsible for the construction of the
H15,
S15, and
N15 (King Arthur)
4-6-0 classes, and the
G16 4-8-0, and
H16 4-6-0 tank engines.
Southern Railway Following the merger of the LSWR and other railways in southern England to form the
Southern Railway, as part of the
Railways Act grouping of 1923, Eastleigh was to become the principal works for the new railway. The new Chief Mechanical Engineer,
Richard Maunsell re-organised the works and directed the design and construction of various new classes. Like most of the railway works, Eastleigh was heavily involved in the war effort, producing, in 1938, sets of parts to convert
Blenheim bombers so that they could be used as fighters. The works was also part of a joint venture with other workshops, railway and private, to produce
Horsa gliders for the
D-Day airborne assault. With
Lancing works, it turned out 200 tail units. It also produced 1,500 anti-tank gun barrels and, with
Brighton railway works, 240 multiple rocket launchers, plus landing craft, fuel tenders and harbour launches. Under the Southern Railway, the works were responsible for building the Maunsell
SR Lord Nelson Class 4-6-0, the
Schools 4-4-0,
U1 2-6-0,
W class 2-6-4 tanks, and
Q class 0-6-0 locomotives. Under the regime of
Oliver Bulleid, after 1937, Eastleigh works constructed all thirty of the
SR Merchant Navy Class and six of the
West Country 4-6-2. During the
Second World War, Eastleigh works built 23 examples of the
London Midland and Scottish Railway designed
8F 2-8-0s. By the end of 1947, the works had built 304 locomotives with a further 16 before steam locomotive building ceased in 1950. In 1945, the carriage works began constructing all-steel carriages, both electric and steam hauled. It pioneered the use of plastics and glass fibre reinforced resin for doors, seating and roof sections.
British Rail In 1950, following the nationalisation of the Southern Railway to form the
Southern Region of British Railways new steam locomotive building ceased at Eastleigh. However the works were kept fully occupied between 1956 and 1961 in rebuilding over 90 of the Bulleid 4-6-2 classes. Thereafter the works gradually changed over to steam and diesel repairs. In 1962, the works was again reorganised with the carriage works site being sold, and carriage and
electric multiple unit repairs transferred to the main locomotive works. In 1962, Eastleigh Works built the first six electro-diesel locomotives of
British Rail Class 73 but the remainder of the class were built at the
Vulcan Foundry.
Post privatisation As part of the
privatisation of British Rail, the plant was acquired from
British Rail Engineering Limited through a
management buyout in June 1995 and rebranded Wessex Traincare. In 1998 it was sold to
Alstom and renamed Alstom Wessex Traincare. The site was used for carriage and multiple unit repairs. In 2004, Alstom announced the works were to close due to lack of work, which took effect in March 2006 after the completion of a contract to refurbish
Class 455s for
Southern. The site has been managed since 2002 by
St. Modwen Properties; with the site being lease to several sub tenants including
Knights Rail Services and
Arlington Fleet Services. , the site's facilities include overhead cranes, third rail electricity supply, paint facility, and refuelling facility. Additionally
Siemens undertook maintenance of its
South West Trains Class 444 and
Class 450s on site, and
Network Rail MPVs were stored on site. In January 2018 KPI Property Investments who are jointly owned by St Modwen Properties and Salhia Real Estate sold the works to the corporate pension fund clients of
Savills in a £20 million deal.
Knights Rail Services In 2007 Knights Rail Services (KRS) began operations on site, using it to store off lease rolling stock, as well as undertake repairs and refurbishments. It removed asbestos from withdrawn
London Underground A60, A62 and
1967 stock. In January 2012, KRS signed an extended lease on the site to 2016. In September 2012, KRS was purchased by co-tenant Arlington Rail Services.
Arlington Fleet Group Arlington Fleet Group is based at the site with and is composed of Arlington Rail Services providing storage facilities, Arlington Fleet Services providing repair and maintenance of railway rolling stock and Arlington Fleet Workshops providing paint shop facilities. It started in 2004 when Arlington Fleet Services Ltd was established by a group of railway engineering professionals to perform rail vehicle maintenance including heavy repair. In September 2012 Arlington took control of the work and various activities from KRS, becoming the dominant site tenant. ==Locomotive Depot==