Old Tram Depots still in existence

[Coppercap]

Acton tram depot in West London celebrated its 100th birthday in 1992.  Though not used for trams after the 1930s when route 7 along the Uxbridge Road were replaced by the 607 trolleybus, it saw service as a trolleybus depot while Hanwell depot was being made ready for its new function.  In the 1950s bus route 7 used the forecourt as a terminus except when resurfacing was carried out and the remnants of the tram tracks removed and the residents of nearby Denehurst Gardens had a nice view of RTL buses laying over.  More recently bus route 207, which supplanted the 607 trolleybuses, was operated in two overlapping sections and the depot forecourt was again used as a turning point.

 

As far as I know the building is still there but I do not know if it is still in operational use.  It is easily found in the absence of a link, being on the south side of Uxbridge Road  west of the junction with Gunnersbury Lane and is convenient for the Red Lion and Pineapple, operated by J D Wetherspoon.

 

Chris

 

Think you'll be disappointed - have a look at google maps. The Streetview image of July 2012 shows a new building under construction, and the aerial image shows the depot being demolished (actual date not known).  

[melmerby]

Is this a former tram depot?

 

There was certainly a two road one here in the early 20th century and the building looks old in an aerial view but a new front must have been added if it is the same building!

 

https://maps.google.co.uk/?ll=52.453603,-1.866154&spn=0.00104,0.002064&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=52.453687,-1.866205&panoid=6uziHMlHsWGQpBOl7OVVMQ&cbp=12,83.72,,0,0

 

 

Keith

Edited March 14, 2014 by melmerby

[TheSignalEngineer]

I can only remember that as the Salvation Army, so it was a long time ago if it was altered.

[PhilJ W]

Pointhouse depot of the Rothesay Tramways on the Isle of Bute is still in use as a bus depot.

[melmerby]

I can only remember that as the Salvation Army, so it was a long time ago if it was altered.

It looks like it closed when the trams were electrified (c1915?) and were later extended further along Stratford Road.

 

There is another old tram depot location here on the corner of College Road:

 

https://maps.google.co.uk/?ll=52.443363,-1.856314&spn=0.00586,0.016512&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=52.443379,-1.856386&panoid=2DHavcAO-AFenqspIFkaWg&cbp=12,204.6,,0,0

 

The cluster of buildings on the right were there when the depot existed and the entrance appears to have been where the metal gate is.

 

I don't know if any of the buildings behind the "bog" are from the depot!

 

Keith

[TheSignalEngineer]

It looks like it closed when the trams were electrified (c1915?) and were later extended further along Stratford Road.

 

There is another old tram depot location here on the corner of College Road:

 

https://maps.google.co.uk/?ll=52.443363,-1.856314&spn=0.00586,0.016512&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=52.443379,-1.856386&panoid=2DHavcAO-AFenqspIFkaWg&cbp=12,204.6,,0,0

 

The cluster of buildings on the right were there when the depot existed and the entrance appears to have been where the metal gate is.

 

I don't know if any of the buildings behind the "bog" are from the depot!

 

Keith

More maps in the second post here

http://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=41469

[melmerby]

More maps in the second post here

http://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=41469

I've got most of the Godfrey maps for the greater Birmingham/West Midlands area and that's where most of my info is gleaned from.

They are very useful for locating trams/railways etc.

 

(Also used to live quite close to Straford Road, Sparkhill.)

 

Keith

Edited March 14, 2014 by melmerby

[Beatty 139]

I just had a good nose through the various maps on www.Old-Maps.co.uk the 1:2,500 are normally quite useful.

 

I would say that the WC's stand a chance of being contemporary with the Trams they are very much in the same style as those opposite the 'knob' at Alcester Lanes End.

 

But I would say that when any thing else ends at that site. following the sequence of maps you can see that the site is cleared then redeveloped with the church and hall. I do agree that the gates are most likely where the depot access lines where.

 

What is interesting on the 1916 1:2,500 map a rough fan of sidings are shown off the end of the turning triangle head shunt, on the meadows at the side of the river Cole, a few years ago I could have asked great gran what that was all about but with the march of time those who would know are no longer with us.

 

Any one else have any ideas?

 

Andy

[TheSignalEngineer]

I thought possibly an ash tip but the trams were electric after 1905/6. Possibly some other maintenance works use. That site was later used for prefabs IIRC, before being cleared and grassed.

Edited March 15, 2014 by TheSignalEngineer

[andytrains]

The old tram depot at 582 Moseley Road, Birmingham is still there.

The offices and canteen were unoccupied the last time I went there and the shed is being used as a skatepark and indoor climbing facility being run as Creation Skate Park. (No connection, apart from taking my two sons there several years ago).

Picture of the offices and canteen building. With one of Birminghams finest' cars outside.

 

 

Here is one of the inside of the Tram Shed building. Nice to see it being put to good use for our yoof!

 

Edited March 16, 2014 by andytrains

[jetmorgan]

Not quite in existance but the footprint of Sutton depot, part of the South Met system from Croydon to sutton is still there. Sadly the arches at the entrance have gone but I think the buildings are still there although clad in corrugated sheets now.

[melmerby]

 

 

I would say that the WC's stand a chance of being contemporary with the Trams they are very much in the same style as those opposite the 'knob' at Alcester Lanes End.

 

Andy

The ones opposite the "Knob" are barely standing these days as the vandals slowly demolish them.

 

Why did Crown Carveries have to rename the "King's Head" to "The Crown"? The Plume of Feathers they left alone!

Everybody still calls it the Knob or King's Head.

 

Keith

EDIT a closer look at the old maps seems to suggest that there was a path/road running alongside the sawmill (the still extant buildings on the right) between it and the depot, leading to the field behind it.

So maybe the toilet block came as a result of the demolition of the depot?

Edited March 16, 2014 by melmerby

[melmerby]

Here is one of the inside of the Tram Shed building. Nice to see it being put to good use for our yoof!

 

I wonder whether there is any remnants of track under the tarmac?

 

Keith

[Andy M]

Really interesting thread this is developing into.

 

The Huddersfield Corporation Tramways depot at Longroyd Bridge is still in existence, and has not been externally altered at all.

 

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1787795

 

http://jsh1949.co.uk/HUDDERSFIELD%20ILLUSTRATED/huddersfield%208273_1.jpg

 

 

The magnificent Great Northern Street works and depot however was tragically swept away a few years ago, to make way for the inevitable retail park.

 

http://jsh1949.co.uk/HUDDERSFIELD%20ILLUSTRATED/huddersfield%20404%20218204265_o.jpg

 

 

 

Regards,

 

Andy.

 

[geoff]

Really interesting thread this is developing into.

 

The Huddersfield Corporation Tramways depot at Longroyd Bridge is still in existence, and has not been externally altered at all.

 

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1787795

 

http://jsh1949.co.uk/HUDDERSFIELD ILLUSTRATED/huddersfield 8273_1.jpg

 

 

The magnificent Great Northern Street works and depot however was tragically swept away a few years ago, to make way for the inevitable retail park.

 

http://jsh1949.co.uk/HUDDERSFIELD ILLUSTRATED/huddersfield 404 218204265_o.jpg

 

 

 

Regards,

 

Andy.

The link below has a picture of the former tram and later bus depot in St James Road, Northampton. There is also a photo of the former Corporation Transport Offices.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Former_bus_depot_St_James_Road_Northampton.jpg#file

 

Geoff

 

[jamie92208]

I think that the Halifax depot from 1902 is still in use as a bus garage at Skircoat lane and certainly parts of the West Riding Tramways depot at belle isle in Wakefield are still in use as an Arriva Bus garage.  I don't think that Arriva will have any use for the old canal wharf at the back where  they used to unload coal for the boler house from barges.

 

Jamie

[andytrains]

I wonder whether there is any remnants of track under the tarmac?

 

Keith

Could be.

As I said, I have not been there for several years. I seem to remember that the floor had a concrete scim on it.

My sons, who I took there in their teens, never did believe my tale that I told them, that I invented skateboarding in the mid 1960's when I took a pair of roller skates apart and bolted a plank of wood between the front and rear one. (I obviously did not as it had been around since the 1950's).

Edited March 17, 2014 by andytrains

[Edwin_m]

Thought you were going to say you built the first skateboard out of bits of an old tram...

[andytrains]

Thought you were going to say you built the first skateboard out of bits of an old tram...

Wouldn't that have been a Bogie Board!

[jamie92208]

Thought you were going to say you built the first skateboard out of bits of an old tram...

The late Secretary of the LTHS described such a thing once that he saw in the 50's when a tram ground to a halt near the Corn Exchange in Leeds with one bogie out of action due to, I think either a broken axle or a seized gearbox.  Apparently the crew came along, jacked up the offending bogie and put a small set of wheel under it then diconnected the leads to that bogie befopre driving it off along Boar lane to Kirkstall Road works using the power on the other bogie, at quite a rate of knots.  Apaprently it looked as if it was on a skateboard.

 

Jamie

[Londontram]

Could be.

As I said, I have not been there for several years. I seem to remember that the floor had a concrete scim on it.

My sons, who I took there in their teens, never did believe my tale that I told them, that I invented skateboarding in the mid 1960's when I took a pair of roller skates apart and bolted a plank of wood between the front and rear one. (I obviously did not as it had been around since the 1950's).

have a scan over wih a metel detector, thats how I found most of the tracks around Yarmouh

[Edwin_m]

Wouldn't that have been a Bogie Board!

Not if it was a 4-wheel tram with stud contact! 

Edited March 17, 2014 by Edwin_m

[andytrains]

have a scan over wih a metel detector, thats how I found most of the tracks around Yarmouh

Londontram.

I am an exiled Brummie living in London, and my kids are grown up so I do not go there any more.

Andy

[melmerby]

 

I am an exiled Brummie living in London, and my kids are grown up so I do not go there any more.

Andy

 

Keith

[4630]

I think that the Halifax depot from 1902 is still in use as a bus garage at Skircoat lane...

 

Jamie

 

Skircoat garage in Halifax is still in use although there was talk a few years ago of this and the adjacent Elmwood garage being sold for re-development.

 

Here is a photo taken 17th March 2014.