Old Tram Depots still in existence

[welsh wizard]

The central workshops for Cardiff city council in Clare road , I was told when I done my apprenticeship that they used to repair the trams there? and they still had the long full length pits in the workshops, don't know if anyone can confirm that it was originally a Tram depot ?

[adanapress]

And that at Streatham High Street, with just a few feet of track surviving outside,   was extant  let me see, maybe fifteen years ago,  now?  I don't know.  Of course not a depot but the northern entrance to the London Kingsway Subway survives,  with its few yards of conduit track on a remarkably steep slope.

[Judge Dread]

 the northern entrance to the London Kingsway Subway survives,  with its few yards of conduit track on a remarkably steep slope.

A few years ago now, my friend and I were on a "jolly boys outing" to London and having found ourselves in the area, we crossed the road to photograph the tram lines. When a voice behind us said,"Hello, hello, hello, what's going on here then?".The large police officer demanded an explanation as to our interest. I carefully explained the relic to the bygone tram way system and his reply was, "all the years I've been on this beat and I've never seen it before, how long has it been there?". My reply was, "well the last trams ran in 1952!" As he took a second look through the railings we slid slowly away.

Edited March 19, 2014 by Judge Dread

[melmerby]

This aerial shot is of Kyott's Lake Road, Birmingham which was the workshops for Birmingham's tram fleet.

 

The tall shed on the right had three tracks curving in from the left, (there almost seems to be a slight outline where the cars are parked) entering the site from Kyott's Lake Road itself to the left of the old building bottom right.

It was the paint and body shop.

 

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Kyotts+Lake+Road,+Birmingham&hl=en&ll=52.466037,-1.875584&spn=0.00104,0.002064&sll=52.447025,-1.933916&sspn=0.011771,0.033023&oq=kyotts+lake+Road,+Birmingham&hnear=Kyotts+Lake+Rd,+Birmingham,+United+Kingdom&t=h&z=20

 

PS The Sally Army church building on Stratford Road, I posted earlier was not converted from the tram depot, it was new and the toilet block by College Road was built across where the entrance to the depot would have been, neither site has any trace of the depots remaining!

 

Until recently the frontage of the Steam Tram depot in Dawlish Road, Bournbrook still remained, but has now been replaced by some newish flats.

 

Keith

Edited March 20, 2014 by melmerby

[melmerby]

Here is an aerial shot of Silver Street (KIng's Heath Steam tram) depot as mentioned by Beatty139 earlier: (Post #82)

 

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Silver+Street,+King%27s+Heath,+Birmingham&hl=en&ll=52.433614,-1.893798&spn=0.001036,0.002064&sll=52.496145,-1.918391&sspn=0.004157,0.008256&oq=silver+Street,+Birmingham&t=h&hnear=Silver+St,+Birmingham,+Kings+Heath,+United+Kingdom&deg=180&z=20

 

The slightly lower section is newer but the tall gable end of the original building behind is still discernable.

There were two car sheds at right angles, accessed directly from High Street (not along Silver Street!)

The track would have passed through where the corner building is now situated.

 

Keith

[Beatty 139]

Here is an aerial shot of Silver Street (KIng's Heath Steam tram) depot as mentioned by Beatty139 earlier: (Post #82)

 

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Silver+Street,+King%27s+Heath,+Birmingham&hl=en&ll=52.433614,-1.893798&spn=0.001036,0.002064&sll=52.496145,-1.918391&sspn=0.004157,0.008256&oq=silver+Street,+Birmingham&t=h&hnear=Silver+St,+Birmingham,+Kings+Heath,+United+Kingdom&deg=180&z=20

 

The slightly lower section is newer but the tall gable end of the original building behind is still discernable.

There were two car sheds at right angles, accessed directly from High Street (not along Silver Street!)

The track would have passed through where the corner building is now situated.

 

Keith

As a quick aside on this same area, what I remember as the MEB shop on the corner (I work in Moseley but avoid the traffic hell that Kings Heath High St is so can't say for sure what it is now) had for many year one continuous linked ownership.

It was the original steam tram waiting room, which then got purchased by the Corporation at the end of there lease, as it was no longer required as a waiting room it passed to the City of Birmingham Electric Supply department as did all the private electricity generation plant from the tramway companies, then on Nationalisation of the Electricity industry it passed to the MEB, which when privatised and the yet another historical asset of the City was stolen from its rate payers and given away to foreign utilitys, it became something like an npower shop.

Its only in the last few years that store has lost that historic link back to its start...... isn't history great!

[melmerby]

As a quick aside on this same area, what I remember as the MEB shop on the corner (I work in Moseley but avoid the traffic hell that Kings Heath High St is so can't say for sure what it is now) had for many year one continuous linked ownership.

It was the original steam tram waiting room, which then got purchased by the Corporation at the end of there lease, as it was no longer required as a waiting room it passed to the City of Birmingham Electric Supply department as did all the private electricity generation plant from the tramway companies, then on Nationalisation of the Electricity industry it passed to the MEB, which when privatised and the yet another historical asset of the City was stolen from its rate payers and given away to foreign utilitys, it became something like an npower shop.

Its only in the last few years that store has lost that historic link back to its start...... isn't history great!

I don't think the store that is now Wilkinson's (Wilko today) was the original waiting room.

It is part of a re-development done quite some years ago, in which the first tenant was the MEB (replacing a location the original building?)

 

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Silver+Street,+King%27s+Heath,+Birmingham&hl=en&ll=52.434001,-1.892923&spn=0.00076,0.001534&sll=52.8382,-2.327815&sspn=8.671124,25.136719&oq=silver+street+birmingham&t=h&hnear=Silver+St,+Birmingham,+Kings+Heath,+United+Kingdom&z=20&layer=c&cbll=52.434001,-1.892923&panoid=_U2_OZOPjDbO78bdPY3qFQ&cbp=12,235.43,,0,-4.21

 

An early map show the tracks at the side of Silver Street running through where part of the current building is.

If you look at the modern aerial shot the tracks would have needed a pretty sharp double bend to miss it when coming out of the NE facing car shed!

(the map shows the track as straight)

 

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Silver+Street,+King%27s+Heath,+Birmingham&hl=en&ll=52.433707,-1.8934&spn=0.00076,0.001534&sll=52.8382,-2.327815&sspn=8.671124,25.136719&oq=silver+street+birmingham&t=h&hnear=Silver+St,+Birmingham,+Kings+Heath,+United+Kingdom&deg=180&z=20

 

 

Keith

 

EDIT

Incidentally the last old building in that block of shops, (the one with the pitched roof, which had Greggs and a card shop as the last tenants) has now gone and the replacement double fronted shop (still to let) forms part of a now contiguous block with a flat roof.

 

Nice picture of a tram here:

http://www.birminghamforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=867.33

 

Third picture down

More here:

http://www.birminghamforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=867.22

 

This site is worth a good browse!

Edited March 22, 2014 by melmerby

[Judge Dread]

This may not fall exactly into the theme but, at the rear of Telephone House in Hull there was the generator station for Hull's trams. I use to look down on it from my office window until one day the demolisher's arrived. They proceeded to take off the roof and reduce the walls down to about 6 feet high. There was nothing inside the building by the way, they then cut a hole in one wall for access and built a ramp but left the floor just as it was. Now the telephone department has the only car-park I'm sure with a parquet floor!  For those who don't know what such a floor is, it consists of hard wood blocks set in a "herring bone" pattern and was very much in vogue about 100 years ago, and still is.   

[melmerby]

Plan of Silver Street depot here:

 

http://www.birminghamforum.co.uk/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=867.0;attach=4308

 

It shows all the buildings and their uses, it doesnt however completely tie-up with an OS map of the period!

 

Keith

Edited March 22, 2014 by melmerby

[Astockfan101]

Okay this was a trolly bus depot as far as I know but trams may have used it.

It is in ilford on the road called ley street and is now used by the redbridge people and it sill has a old sign saying Ilford something the rest of it is now unreadable sadly.

Also redbridge are thinking of building a school on the site.

At the moment they use it to keep buses and dustcarts in.

[PhilJ W]

Okay this was a trolly bus depot as far as I know but trams may have used it.

It is in ilford on the road called ley street and is now used by the redbridge people and it sill has a old sign saying Ilford something the rest of it is now unreadable sadly.

Also redbridge are thinking of building a school on the site.

At the moment they use it to keep buses and dustcarts in.

Indeed it was a tram depot. It passed to London Transport in 1933, with the trams which were replaced by trolleybuses circa 1938. The trolleybuses were replaced in 1959 when the depot reverted to Ilford Borough Council (now L.B. of Redbridge.)

[Craig Watson]

Both depots of the Falkirk tramway system still exist, the depots are only a few hundred yards apart on Larbert Road between Camelon and Larbert, the original depot is part of the Larbert depot of First bus, and the later depot is now an auto electricians, as the system closed in the mid 30's pictures of the depots in use are pretty rare but a search on google comes up with a link to this pic of the one which is now the auto electrician, http://collections.falkirk.gov.uk/search.do;jsessionid=C4492519ACF06FD92937C94E48745EAD?id=178494&db=object&view=detail

 

And a link to this pic which shows the original depot which is now part of the bus depot under construction, http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-000-492-755-C

 

Here are pics of the depots from google streetview as they exist today.

 

 

 

Some information on the system can be found at http://www.falkirklocalhistorysociety.co.uk/home/index.php?id=57

 

Cheers

 

Craig

 

[melmerby]

It's amazing how long some of these ex-tram depots have lasted.

Some are well over a hundred years old and have existed in a second life much longer than they ever did as tram depots!

 

Keith

[Talltim]

Another Sheffield one, Shoreham Street

http://goo.gl/maps/y6Xvu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shoreham_Street_tram_depot_-_General_view_01-04-06.jpg

I've seen this so many times and never made the link between big doorway and trams

Edited April 11, 2014 by Talltim

[Talltim]

I only first came to Sheffield in 97

[sir douglas]

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

[Catkins]

Lincoln tram depot is still standing, albeit now coverted to a shop - not bad considering the system was closed in 1929...

 

Lincoln tram shed

 

History of Lincoln Corporation Tramways

The shop was a motorbike clothing store, but the group went bust a couple of years ago. I'm not sure of the status of the building with regards to if it is listed or not, but I'm not confident of a quick re-use.

[Pyewipe Jct]

The shop was a motorbike clothing store, but the group went bust a couple of years ago. I'm not sure of the status of the building with regards to if it is listed or not, but I'm not confident of a quick re-use.

Yeah, I noticed the other day that it was empty again.

 

Sadly it's not listed, so has little or no protection should an aspiring developer see potential in the site (it is on the 'Local list' as a building of local importance - "39) Tram Sheds, Newark Road – 1882. Former Tram Sheds, important in terms of social history of the locality and the City's transport history" - but that offers no security whatsoever, unfortunately...).

[Andy Reichert]

The frequent conversion of tram depots to trolleybus use, set me thinking and digging down into in the bone pit of my man cave.

 

I tried to temp Brain Harrap of Quai 87 with the London trolley bus video of a combined turntable and traverser, but so far he's reticent. . .

 

But I have discovered that there have been/are some commercial parts that could be combined/converted into quite reasonable semblance of a Tram or Trolleybus depot with some "operating magic". Here's a shot of what I found.

 

 

The"grand office building" frontage reminded me of Walthamstow's Chingford Road Depot. I don't think I have time to jump in on this myself for a coupla years yet, but maybe it will stimulate some others?

 

Andy

[BEN LINE 457]

Also there is Brighton's Lewes Road depot still used for Buses to this day. I believe there are rails visible in a number of places on the site.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton_Corporation_Tramways

[roythebus]

The horse tram depot at Hythe Kent is indeed still there. Behind the temporary hording erected when the wooden tram shed burnt down years ago is a pair of tracks that used to go into the car shed. Above the car shed on the end wall is the legend South Eastern Railway Folkestone Hythe and Sandgate Tramway. the building at the side was the stables for the horses and can still be identified as such.

 

Somewhere I have some pics.

 

The building is clearly visible from opposite the Red Lion pub.

[roythebus]

A couple more from London, Wandsworth Bus Garage formerly the Original sightseeing Tour base just south of Wandsworth Bridge is still there and has some track inside, as well as repair shops at 90 degrees to the main shed. It is a listed building, so no internal or external alterations can be made.

 

Stamford Brook bus garage on Chiswick high Road was the London united tram depot and had visible access track until fairly late into the 1980s. The substation and switch house is till there, last used as a night club. when I visited there in the 1980s I managed to get inside and took a number of pictures of the inside of that building. It still had the route diagram and all the switch gear in place from the trolleybus days. The ornate handrails on the staircases and balconies were also intact and I understand were retained when it was converted to a night club.

 

There was a conduit change-pit on Commercial Road until the redevelopment of the area in the late 1980s. I understand that was removed and is now preserved at Crich.

 

South of Battersea Bridge was a short spur which led to a wharf. That still had track leading into it when I went to school in Battersea in the mid 60's.

 

As for trolleybus memorabilia, there's still a few poles in the Raynes Park area complete with cut-off span cables dangling down!

 

The Tram Shed in Tooting certainly was a tram shed too. My sons used to use it when it was the Tram Shed Bar.

 

I'm also informed there's still a bit of track visible in upper Holloway on Holloway Road between 2 terraces of shops. not forgetting Holloway Bus Garage which was the tram depot!

Edited December 6, 2014 by roythebus

[Edwin_m]

Looks like this one:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.7614377,-1.771723,3a,75y,180h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sNX6K0S2TWvymvrxwQVywLA!2e0

[jamie92208]

Looks like this one:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.7614377,-1.771723,3a,75y,180h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sNX6K0S2TWvymvrxwQVywLA!2e0

I'm not sure that they were tram tracks I think that they were part of the Low Moor Iropn Company network whose main foundry was on Halifax Road.

 

Jamie

[deeslexia]

Interesting topic as I love old buildings.