Old Tram Depots still in existence

[PhilJ W]

The commemoration sign inside the sole surviving tram stop at Torre Station.

 

20181204_121030.jpg

 

Torre tramstop.jpg

Thats just asking to be modelled.

[melmerby]

The commemoration sign inside the sole surviving tram stop at Torre Station.

 

20181204_121030.jpg

 

Torre tramstop.jpg

Nice find, thanks

 

Keith

[Ruston]

Ossett tram depot still stands, with a 3-way point still set into the cobbles in front

 

http://www.yourlocalweb.co.uk/west-yorkshire/ossett/pictures/1000655-old-tram-depot-disused/

 

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/866009

 

.. well I thought it did until I saw this further down the page on a google image search

 

http://www.phpbb88.com/ossett/viewtopic.php?p=420&sid=8aa188b4fa1cbb78c0b682af5469eba2&mforum=ossett

That was the tram shed of the Wakefield & District Light Railways. It was demolished since Sam's post.

 

The other Ossett tram shed (Dewsbury & Ossett Tramways) is still showing in Google maps but I haven't passed there for a while, so it too may no longer exist.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Ossett/@53.6850026,-1.5819757,94m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x487960c3b4b717bb:0xbf4b6ac5750c9c15!8m2!3d53.681091!4d-1.578877?hl=en

 

This is the Carlinghow tram shed of the Dewsbury, Batley & Birstall Tramways.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.7196449,-1.6418784,3a,75y,38.65h,94.94t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7QM0b13asq7InFXuBV9MRQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en

The original part, on the left, dates from 1874, whilst the extension, on the right dates from 1889. If I remember correctly, the entrance under the 'indoor car showroom' sign as actually arched and behind the modern sign is (or was) the name of the tramway company, carved into the masonry.

[jamie92208]

That was the tram shed of the Wakefield & District Light Railways. It was demolished since Sam's post.

 

The other Ossett tram shed (Dewsbury & Ossett Tramways) is still showing in Google maps but I haven't passed there for a while, so it too may no longer exist.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Ossett/@53.6850026,-1.5819757,94m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x487960c3b4b717bb:0xbf4b6ac5750c9c15!8m2!3d53.681091!4d-1.578877?hl=en

 

This is the Carlinghow tram shed of the Dewsbury, Batley & Birstall Tramways.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.7196449,-1.6418784,3a,75y,38.65h,94.94t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7QM0b13asq7InFXuBV9MRQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en

The original part, on the left, dates from 1874, whilst the extension, on the right dates from 1889. If I remember correctly, the entrance under the 'indoor car showroom' sign as actually arched and behind the modern sign is (or was) the name of the tramway company, carved into the masonry.

The tram shed of the Dewsbury and Ossett tramways, may well have been demolished by now. Some years ago a friend of mine was quoting for the demolition contract and I helped arrange a potential deal to save the pointwork for a museum. However he didn't get the contract and I no longer live near enough to check.

 

Jamie

[melmerby]

 

 

The other Ossett tram shed (Dewsbury & Ossett Tramways) is still showing in Google maps but I haven't passed there for a while, so it too may no longer exist.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Ossett/@53.6850026,-1.5819757,94m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x487960c3b4b717bb:0xbf4b6ac5750c9c15!8m2!3d53.681091!4d-1.578877?hl=en

That has gone in the 2018 street view. It is now little boxes!

https://goo.gl/maps/sheQ4sFDs2A2

 

Go back to 2008:

https://goo.gl/maps/HsekeuBscRQ2

 

Complete with trackwork!

 

Keith

[Guest Lyonesse]

I can remember that this building

https://goo.gl/maps/kRSgPMjPQ1E2

in Stapleton Road, Bristol being a Bristol Omnibus bus garage.  My father, who grew up in the area pre-war, told me it had been built as a tram depot.

 

It used to extend right through from Stapleton Road to Fishponds Road, with entrances at both ends.  But the Fishponds Road half was demolished in the 1970s to make way for a telephone exchange.

 

When I worked at British Aerospace at Filton in the 1980s, the machine shop was still in the original corrugated iron clad Filton tram shed.  Sir George White both controlled Bristol Tramways and founded the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, that later turned into the mighty BAE/Rolls-Royce empire in Bristol.

[melmerby]

 

It used to extend right through from Stapleton Road to Fishponds Road, with entrances at both ends.  But the Fishponds Road half was demolished in the 1970s to make way for a telephone exchange.

The curved wall either side of the building on Fishponds Road suggest a much grander building than the Telephone Exchange now there.

I expect the exchange is probably out of use by now with the telephone switching gear located in a small cabinet.

 

Keith

 

See this side by side map:

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=18&lat=51.4718&lon=-2.5616&layers=168&right=BingSat

Edited December 27, 2018 by melmerby

[Guest Lyonesse]

The curved wall either side of the building on Fishponds Road suggest a much grander building than the Telephone Exchange now there.

I expect the exchange is probably out of use by now with the telephone switching gear located in a small cabinet.

 

Keith

 

See this side by side map:

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=18&lat=51.4718&lon=-2.5616&layers=168&right=BingSat

Thanks for that.

https://maps.bristol.gov.uk/knowyourplace/

has a 1949 aerial view

which shows the tram depot extending through to Fishponds Road (the lower one).

[Guest Lyonesse]

The curved wall either side of the building on Fishponds Road suggest a much grander building than the Telephone Exchange now there.

I expect the exchange is probably out of use by now with the telephone switching gear located in a small cabinet.

 

Keith

 

See this side by side map:

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=18&lat=51.4718&lon=-2.5616&layers=168&right=BingSat

Actually, your side by side maps are very interesting.  Where Fishponds Road meets Stapleton Road was known to generations of Bristolians as Eastville Junction.

 

Here are two trams on the Stapleton Road side; Fishponds Road runs past the White Swan in the background.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/46122021@N03/6208241930

But what I hadn't realised is that the line on Stapleton Road is only a siding, a tram terminus, that doesn't even extend as far as the tram depot.  This is also shown on this map:

https://i0.wp.com/www.wpehs.org.uk/historictransport/bach132.jpg

which also shows the location of the Bristol Tramways depots: Kingswood, Eastville, Bedminster, Brislington, St. George, Ashley Down, Staple Hill.  Some of these buildings, besides Eastville and Brislington, presumably still exist.

[melmerby]

I wondered whether the short Stapleton Road section was the original terminus and the route along Fishponds Road was an extension, however I could not find any mapping showing before and after.(but see below).

The other thing that strikes me as odd is, why bother with two tram depots on one radial arm of the route(s)?

Mind you St Georges and Kingswood are both on the same route(s)!

 

I have just found an 1883 map and it shows the track going only as far as the Eastville depot and no spur into Stapleton Road, so that and the route on to Staple Hill & depot must have been added later.

 

Keith

[Guest Lyonesse]

This building

https://goo.gl/maps/LnnwTtaWZm42

seems to have been the Staple Hill tram depot of Bristol Tramways.  As far as I can tell, WDM are road surfacing contractors.

[PhilJ W]

This building

https://goo.gl/maps/LnnwTtaWZm42

seems to have been the Staple Hill tram depot of Bristol Tramways.  As far as I can tell, WDM are road surfacing contractors.

If you view the building from behind the back of the bus you can see the upper part of the original building.

[Guest Lyonesse]

If you view the building from behind the back of the bus you can see the upper part of the original building.

The Albert Road end also gives an idea of the original appearance.

https://goo.gl/maps/DEF7swNJC3D2

 

Flickr also has a photo of the building in its final days as a bus depot.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/fray_bentos/1677974293

Edited December 28, 2018 by Lyonesse

[Guest Lyonesse]

I'm surprised that noone has mentioned the Edinburgh Shrubhill depot:

https://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2014/10/abandoned-shrubhill-tram-depot-exploring-underground-tunnels/

In the last year or so it's been lost to urban redevelopment, but it was still there in 2014when this thread started.

[Johann Marsbar]

Couldn't find any reference to the 1902/3 constructed Ipswich Corporation Tramways depot in Constantine Road.

It remains in use to this day by Ipswich Buses, though you won't find any of these there nowadays..........

[PhilJ W]

Couldn't find any reference to the 1902/3 constructed Ipswich Corporation Tramways depot in Constantine Road.

It remains in use to this day by Ipswich Buses, though you won't find any of these there nowadays..........

85-149.JPG

Yet they built a new depot to accomodate the trolleybuses that is now the Ipswich Transport Museum.

['CHARD]

Couldn't find any reference to the 1902/3 constructed Ipswich Corporation Tramways depot in Constantine Road.

It remains in use to this day by Ipswich Buses, though you won't find any of these there nowadays..........

85-149.JPG

 

Love this shot. Interesting that there are three styles of fleet number applied, and the 'ADX' prefix matches the name of this punk band also from Ipswich: 

 

https://youtu.be/6xdQz6ZWq60?t=11

[Johann Marsbar]

Yet they built a new depot to accomodate the trolleybuses that is now the Ipswich Transport Museum.

That's because the tramway route mileage of just under 11 route miles of 1903-1926 had expanded to a trolleybus network of something around 25-30 miles by the time Priory Heath opened in 1937. Further expansion out to the likes of Westerfield and Rushmere were planned as well - with operating powers obtained in several cases - though the War put a stop to that..........

No room for depot expansion at Constantine Road at that time, as it was still a functioning power station & refuse destructor, plus the new depot was out where all the housing developments in the 1930's were taking place..

Edited December 30, 2018 by Johann Marsbar

[Johann Marsbar]

Love this shot. Interesting that there are three styles of fleet number applied, and the 'ADX' prefix matches the name of this punk band also from Ipswich: 

 

https://youtu.be/6xdQz6ZWq60?t=11

 

All those 4 are (in theory...) still around, somewhere - though that picture was taken in 1985 for the IBT fleetbook.

 

63 is at the Ipswich Transport Museum, 64 is (or was) an open topper somewhere in Japan (!), 65 is preserved in ICT colours somewhere (used to be in Norfolk) and I think 67 - the open topper - is still about, though haven't seen anything about it lately.

[dunwurken]

I'm surprised that noone has mentioned the Edinburgh Shrubhill depot:

https://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2014/10/abandoned-shrubhill-tram-depot-exploring-underground-tunnels/

In the last year or so it's been lost to urban redevelopment, but it was still there in 2014when this thread started.

I think the other depot further down Leith Walk on the other side of the road has also just been demolished.

Malcolm

[roythebus]

Hythe Kent tram terminus. The depot building is still in existence behind hoardings and visible from the A259. the stonework nears the legend Folkestone Hythe & Sandgate Tramway South Eastern Railway. The stable building at the side is now converted to flats. the horse tram shed was timber and was sadly destroyed by fire a few years ago. Track is still visible behind the hoarding. The depot is behind where the photographer is standing.

Edited January 2, 2019 by roythebus

[melmerby]

I assume this is what you mean:

 

https://goo.gl/maps/EsHjsu98CKU2

 

https://goo.gl/maps/UFNi2KQpPTy

 

Keith

Edited January 3, 2019 by melmerby

[eastworld]

That's because the tramway route mileage of just under 11 route miles of 1903-1926 had expanded to a trolleybus network of something around 25-30 miles by the time Priory Heath opened in 1937. Further expansion out to the likes of Westerfield and Rushmere were planned as well - with operating powers obtained in several cases - though the War put a stop to that..........

No room for depot expansion at Constantine Road at that time, as it was still a functioning power station & refuse destructor, plus the new depot was out where all the housing developments in the 1930's were taking place..

The closure of Constantine Road depot and a move elsewhere in the town has been discussed many times over the years, but it still remains there. It probably will happen one day.

 

Stu

[Philou]

Hi chums,

 

Just found this thread.

 

In addition to the comments by Welsh Wizard and br2974 (posts #126 and 160 above) and OP's request regard overhead and traction poles, here are a couple of pictures from Google showing one of the two Cardiff tram depôts - Pendyrus Street/Clare Road. The second one that was at Roath, was demolished a good number of years ago.

 

Pendyrus Street was the original electric tram shed (1902) and when trolleybuses arrived, some were stabled here until 1953 when the depôt closed to electric traction. Roath depôt was opened in 1903, to trams, and then after 1953 the whole trolley bus fleet. The Roath shed was also close to a special siding where the trams were unloaded on arrival by train. It also adjoined the Cardiff Tramway Electricity Generating station (with twin cooling towers too) - but now long gone. The power station was demolished in about 1972 and Roath depôt around 1983.

 

When the trolleybus fleet was concentrated at Roath, the Pendyrus Street shed was used by other Corporation services and when they stopped, it became (recently) a discotheque - appropriately called 'The Tramshed' in one part. If I recall correctly the other part is for start ups. Until recently, there was a fan of rails leading into the shed from the junction of Pendyrus Street with Clare Road. These too, have now gone.

 

Here are some pictures and descriptions:

 

CardiffTramDepôt.pdf

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

[PhilJ W]

A former tram depot still in use today as a bus depot is the Silverhill depot in Hastings. It was also used by trolleybuses when they replaced the trams.