Vic Berry
Vic Berry's Scrapyard was a large, railway scrapyard situated in the former Great Central Railway Braunstone Gate goods yard in Leicester.
Operations
Vic Berry established his Leicester scrapyard in 1973 on the site of what had been the former GC Braunstone Gate goods yard, just south of Leicester Central (GC) Station.[1] Like Woodham Brothers at Barry, Vic Berry focused initially on breaking up redundant passenger coaches and goods wagons. The first locomotives did not arrive until ten years later in April 1983 when three BR Class 76 electric locomotives arrived for breaking up.
The yard is best known for scrapping large quantities of Class 25 and Class 27 diesel-electric locomotives. This led to the famous 'stack' of Class 25 and 27 locomotives which reached its peak in 1987 with thirty examples stacked. The yard did not exclusively deal with these locomotives, as examples of classes 20, 31, 40, 45, 47, 50, 82, 83, 84, and 85 were scrapped on site, along with a large quantity of BR DMUs. Vic Berry also scrapped a London Underground train and ex-CIE 201 Class locomotives 208 and 219 in 1990.
Vic Berry also specialised in asbestos removal as well as scrapping withdrawn locomotives and rolling stock. This was of value to railway preservation societies, who sometimes would benefit from purchasing a locomotive from Vic Berry as it would have already been stripped of asbestos. As the scrapyard was connected to the Leicester to Burton upon Trent Line, the yard contained a large number of locomotives, coaches, wagons and DMUs which were held for either purchase or scrapping.
The yard moved from scrapping locomotives to DMUs and rolling stock in December 1990 when what was believed to be the last complete locomotive in the yard, 25213, was scrapped.[2] Another 18 class 25s were broken up by Vic Berry at other sites; five were broken up off-site while the other thirteen were also broken up off-site but with their cabs subsequently transported to Leceister.
Arson attack and closure
In March 1991, a serious fire broke out in the scrapyard, leading to the widespread distribution of airborne asbestos across the city. The fire was believed to have been started by homeless people who had been living in the rolling stock bodies in the yard, although the cause has never been determined. As a result of the fire and previous asbestos-related issues, Vic Berry closed permanently and the closed site was left significantly contaminated from the disposal process.
Redevelopment
The site was re-developed as a part of the Leicester City Challenge project in 1996 / 1997 as Bede Island.
References
External links
- map
- railcar.co.uk - photos
- railpics.sweetp.net - photos
- Derby Sulzers - Vic Berry Page - photos and insight by a Derby Works employee.