Wasn't sure exactly how to title this post so let me explain:
As I understand it, under BR each depot had an allocation of locos/multiple units, for which it was responsible, but it was not uncommon for a loco to travel to a different region, be shedded at a TMD in that region and work some of their services for a few days (or longer) before either returning on a longer range service to their own region/depot or head to another one.
In other words, a Heaton 47 could end up working around South Wales for a bit, or a 37 from Scotland could end up in the midlands, for example.
It seems that BR had a fairly relaxed attitude to where their locos were - and each depot would just use whatever came to them and look after it accordingly too.
I don't know if that's an accurate picture of the real situation but it's what I've understood from various magazines etc... so here's my question:
Whilst that principle could not directly be applied on today's railway as a result of franchises and the different manufacturers/maintenance contracts/classes of units that work across the country... was that a better use of resources than today's system with specific depots for certain trains in some cases, etc?
As I understand it, under BR each depot had an allocation of locos/multiple units, for which it was responsible, but it was not uncommon for a loco to travel to a different region, be shedded at a TMD in that region and work some of their services for a few days (or longer) before either returning on a longer range service to their own region/depot or head to another one.
In other words, a Heaton 47 could end up working around South Wales for a bit, or a 37 from Scotland could end up in the midlands, for example.
It seems that BR had a fairly relaxed attitude to where their locos were - and each depot would just use whatever came to them and look after it accordingly too.
I don't know if that's an accurate picture of the real situation but it's what I've understood from various magazines etc... so here's my question:
Whilst that principle could not directly be applied on today's railway as a result of franchises and the different manufacturers/maintenance contracts/classes of units that work across the country... was that a better use of resources than today's system with specific depots for certain trains in some cases, etc?