Southall Railway Centre

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Southall Railway Centre is a private railway heritage site in Southall, west London, near the Southall station and the Grand Union Canal. It is not open to the public. The site was part of the Great Western Railway and is now partly run by Locomotive Services and West Coast Railways, who lease it from Network Rail.

Until 2021, part of the site was leased to the Great Western Railway Preservation Group (GWRPG). The group closed in September 2021, and its locomotives were moved to new owners (some remain at Southall, others are elsewhere).

A locomotive shed has stood at Southall since 1859. The original GWR shed (code SHL) became a six-road shed in 1884, was demolished in 1953, and was replaced by a British Railways steam shed (code 81C). Southall was the last London steam depot on the Western Region, closing to steam in December 1965. The depot then handled DMU maintenance for about ten years before final closure.

From 1993 to 1998 it was used as a base for the Heathrow Express electrification programme. Today the site, now known as the Southall Railway Centre, is used by independent operators including Locomotive Services and West Coast Railways. It also houses a collection of goods and passenger rolling stock.