Margam Servicing Depot was built on a landfill site and opened during March 1964. Its function was to service locomotives operating to and from Margam Knuckle Yard, which was acclaimed as being the most highly mechanised in the United Kingdom when it was opened in 1960. One of Margam’s iconic freight trains was the Port Talbot Docks to Llanwern Steel Works iron ore train. When it commenced running in March 1976, it was acclaimed as being one of the heaviest freight trains running in the United Kingdom. When Canton Traction Maintenance Depot closed in May 2004 many of its skilled staff transferred to Margam Servicing Depot together with some of its maintenance work. As a result of this, an extension was built onto the existing depot and equipped with a 2.5-ton overhead crane. Margam Servicing Depot eventually closed on 1 August 2009. Here, Martin Bray offers a wonderful photographic tribute to an important chapter in the story of the rail scene of South Wales.

Martin Bray has a lifelong interest in transport in South Wales, serving an apprenticeship with Ruston Diesels and maintaining a close relationship with staff at the two major South Wales railway depots at Canton and Margam.