Stewarts Lane
Encyclopedia
Battersea
Battersea is an area of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is an inner-city district of South London, situated on the south side of the River Thames, 2.9 miles south-west of Charing Cross. Battersea spans from Fairfield in the west to Queenstown in the east...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England, founded by the London Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) in 1862, to serve London Victoria railway station. It was sited in the midst of a maze of railway lines between 'Factory Junction' and 'Stewarts Lane Junction', adjacent to the site of the former Longhedge Railway Works
Longhedge Railway Works (Battersea)
Longhedge railway works was a locomotive and carriage works built by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway in the borough of Battersea, South London to serve their new London terminus at Victoria...
. Prior to 1962 it was one of the largest motive power depots
Motive power depot
Motive power depot, usually abbreviated to MPD, is a name given to places where locomotives are stored when not being used, and also repaired and maintained. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine sheds", or, for short, just sheds. Facilities are provided for refuelling and...
in the UK. Following the end of steam traction in the early 1960s it was converted into a Traction Maintenance Depot
Traction maintenance depot
In the United Kingdom, a traction maintenance depot, or TMD, is a railway depot where locomotives are serviced and maintained. A traction and rolling stock maintenance depot, or T&RSMD, is a maintenance depot where locomotives, multiple units and rolling stock are serviced and maintained. Each rail...
which is currently operated by DB Schenker
DB Schenker
DB Schenker is a logistics company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG. The company, created by reorganisation and rebranding of various Deutsche Bahn subsidiaries, comprises a logistics division encompassing air, land and sea freight, and a rail division made up from a variety of...
.
Motive power depot
In 1860 the London, Chatham and Dover RailwayLondon, Chatham and Dover Railway
The London, Chatham and Dover Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1859 until the 1923 grouping which united it with other companies to form the Southern Railway. Its lines ran through London and northern and eastern Kent to form a significant part of the Greater London...
purchased 75 acres (303,514.5 m²) of land in Battersea, formerly part of the Long Hedge farm, to establish their locomotive works and the motive power depot
Motive power depot
Motive power depot, usually abbreviated to MPD, is a name given to places where locomotives are stored when not being used, and also repaired and maintained. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine sheds", or, for short, just sheds. Facilities are provided for refuelling and...
, to provide motive power for services from the new London Victoria railway station (then under construction). The depot was originally known as ‘Longhedge’. In February 1862 a semi-roundhouse
Roundhouse
A roundhouse is a building used by railroads for servicing locomotives. Roundhouses are large, circular or semicircular structures that were traditionally located surrounding or adjacent to turntables...
running shed
Motive power depot
Motive power depot, usually abbreviated to MPD, is a name given to places where locomotives are stored when not being used, and also repaired and maintained. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine sheds", or, for short, just sheds. Facilities are provided for refuelling and...
was opened with space for 26 locomotives. The site was expanded in 1875/6 with 40 tracks around the central turntable
Turntable
A turntable is generally a rotating platform, and may refer to:-Music:* Turntable, a motor-driven platform that normally rotates a gramophone record at a constant rotational velocity as part of a phonograph....
, although only half were under cover.
The original depot was demolished in 1880/1 and replaced by a larger 16-road through shed on the same site, which was officially known as Stewarts Lane – but usually referred to as ‘Battersea’ or ‘Longhedge’ by the men. A coaling stage, turntable
Turntable
A turntable is generally a rotating platform, and may refer to:-Music:* Turntable, a motor-driven platform that normally rotates a gramophone record at a constant rotational velocity as part of a phonograph....
and wheel drop
Wheel drop
A drop table or wheel drop is a device used in railway engineering during maintenance that require the removal of locomotive or rolling stock wheelsets...
were provided. The depot was re-organised and a large mechanical coaling plant was added to enable the depot to deal with an increased locomotive allocation after 1932, following the closure of the nearby London Brighton and South Coast Railway Battersea shed. Stewarts Lane was provided with an asbestos
Asbestos
Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...
roof in 1934 It suffered from bomb damage during the Second World War, some of which was never repaired. Otherwise it remained largely unchanged until closure to steam in 1963. Thereafter the tracks remained in use for stabling diesel locomotives, although much of the original building was destroyed by fire in 1967.
Traction maintenance depot
A new asbestos carriage shed was built adjacent to the running shed in the late 1950s and equipped with third railThird rail
A third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost...
electrification to enable it to service both electric multiple units (EMUs) and electric locomotives. During the 1960s the former goods shed on the site was also converted to service diesel and electric locomotives, and both remain in use for the Stewarts Lane Traction maintenance depot
Traction maintenance depot
In the United Kingdom, a traction maintenance depot, or TMD, is a railway depot where locomotives are serviced and maintained. A traction and rolling stock maintenance depot, or T&RSMD, is a maintenance depot where locomotives, multiple units and rolling stock are serviced and maintained. Each rail...
. The depot is currently operated by DB Schenker
DB Schenker
DB Schenker is a logistics company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG. The company, created by reorganisation and rebranding of various Deutsche Bahn subsidiaries, comprises a logistics division encompassing air, land and sea freight, and a rail division made up from a variety of...
.
Shed codes
Under Southern Railway the depot had the code ‘BAT’. This was changed to the depot code ‘73A’ by British Railways and is now ‘SL’.Locomotive allocation
Stewarts Lane was the largest depot of the former LCDR, providing express passenger locomotives from Victoria and Holborn ViaductHolborn Viaduct railway station
Holborn Viaduct was a railway terminus in central London.-History:During the 1860s and 1870s, had begun to struggle with increasing numbers of trains. At the time, the LCDR was suffering financial problems, and so was unable to raise capital to expand the station...
stations to Dover
Dover Priory railway station
Dover Priory railway station is the main station in Dover in Kent, with the other station being Kearsney situated on the outskirts of Dover. . All train services are provided by Southeastern...
, Ramsgate
Ramsgate railway station
Ramsgate railway station serves the town of Ramsgate in Thanet in Kent, England, and is located about 10 minutes away on foot from the town centre. The station lies on the Chatham Main Line 127 km east of London Victoria, the Kent Coast Line, and the Ashford to Ramsgate line...
and Ashford
Ashford International railway station
Ashford International railway station serves Ashford in Kent, England. Services are provided by Southeastern, Southern and Eurostar.International services use platforms 3 & 4, whilst domestic trains use the original platforms 1 & 2, and a new island built when the Channel Tunnel opened...
, and suburban trains to Bromley
Bromley South railway station
Bromley South railway station is a major interchange and station in Bromley town centre within the London Borough of Bromley in southeast London. It is in Travelcard Zone 5, and the station and all trains are operated by Southeastern...
, Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace (High Level) railway station
Crystal Palace railway station was a station in the London Borough of Southwark in south London. It was one of two stations built to serve the site of the 1851 exhibition building, the so-called Crystal Palace, when it was moved from Hyde Park to Sydenham Hill after 1851.-History:The Crystal...
and Greenwich Park
Greenwich Park railway station
Greenwich Park railway station was a railway station in Greenwich, London opened in 1888 by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway. It was intended to rival the South Eastern Railway's Greenwich railway station which had opened over 50 years earlier. It served as the terminus for the Greenwich Park...
. After the formation of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway
South Eastern and Chatham Railway
The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee , known by its shorter name of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Eastern Railway and London, Chatham and Dover Railway , that operated services between...
in 1899 the depot became the largest on the new system, with an allocation of well over 100 locomotives. The allocation declined in the early years of the Southern Railway (Great Britain)
Southern Railway (Great Britain)
The Southern Railway was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent...
, after 1923, as more suburban lines were electrified, but then increased dramatically to more than 170 locomotives in 1934 after it took over from the former Battersea shed. 159 locomotives were allocated there in 1939 including large numbers of King Arthur
LSWR N15 Class
The LSWR N15 class was a British 2–cylinder 4-6-0 express passenger steam locomotive designed by Robert W. Urie. The class has a complex build history spanning three sub-classes and eight years of construction from 1919 to 1926...
and Lord Nelson
SR Lord Nelson Class
The SR class LN or Lord Nelson class is a type of 4-cylinder 4-6-0 steam locomotive designed for the Southern Railway by Richard Maunsell in 1926. They were intended for Continental boat trains between London and Dover harbour, but were also later used for express passenger work to the South-West...
classes.
During the early 1950s there were still 126 locomotives allocated and 700 men employed at Stewarts Lane, and the allocation included Pacific locomotives
4-6-2
4-6-2, in the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and two trailing wheels on one axle .These locomotives are also known as Pacifics...
of the Merchant Navy
SR Merchant Navy class
The SR Merchant Navy class , was a class of air-smoothed 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotives designed for the Southern Railway of the United Kingdom by Oliver Bulleid...
, West Country and Battle of Britain classes and, for a short period, two Britannia
BR standard class 7
The BR Standard Class 7, otherwise known as the Britannia Class, is a class of 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive designed by Robert Riddles for use by British Railways for mixed traffic duties. Fifty-five were constructed between 1951 and 1954. The design was a result of the 1948 locomotive exchanges...
class locomotives. The number of locomotives began to decline rapidly after 1959 following the electrification of the Chatham Main Line
Chatham Main Line
The Chatham Main Line is a British railway line that runs from either London Victoria to Dover Priory / Ramsgate or London St Pancras to Faversham, with both services travelling via Medway...
.
Today the depot provides a home to the Gatwick Express, Venice Simplon Orient Express (VSOE Southern Division) and one steam locomotive which operates the VSOE trains from London Victoria. SR 4-6-2 Merchant Navy Class
SR Merchant Navy class
The SR Merchant Navy class , was a class of air-smoothed 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotives designed for the Southern Railway of the United Kingdom by Oliver Bulleid...
steam locomotive no 35028 Clan Line currently resides at the depot, while rebuilt West Country no 34067 Tangmere is undergoing an overhaul at Southall, West London.
External links
An overhead view of the depot.Sources
- Bradley, D.L., (1979) The locomotive history of the London Chatham and Dover Railway, Railway Correspondence & Travel Society ISBN 0-901115-47-9
- Griffiths, Roger and Smith, Paul, (1999) ‘’The directory of British engine sheds: 1, Oxford: OPC. ISBB 0-86093-020-3
- Hardy Richard, ‘’A Shedmaster's Life at Stewarts Lane,’’ (1999), http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ms.draper/FNRM_SoE/Talks_Reports/sp1399.html
- Hawkins, Chris and Reeve, George, (1979) ‘’An historical survey of Southern shed,, Oxford: OPC. ISBB 0-86093-542-6
- ’’Rail Atlas Great Britain & Ireland’’, S.K. Baker ISBN 0-86093-553-1
- ‘’Southern Railway Locomotive Allocations 1939,’’ (1982) Railway Correspondence and Travel society.