Trivia: 'Super' depots that have replaced smaller depots

[Simon75]

When First Potteries (Stoke-on-Trent) was PMT they built in the c 1990s Adderley Green, to replace Hanley and Longton.
What other examples of current, past or future?

 

[Dai Corner]

Bristol Omnibus, now First West of England via various incarnations, have consolidated all their depots in the city to just two; Lawrence Hill and Hengrove.

 

[Flange Squeal]

First Glasgow's Caledonia depot I believe replaced Larkfield and Parkhead, albeit in two phases a year or two apart, rather than all in one swoop?

 

[James101]

Arriva Belmont consolidated the previous operations of Durham, Peterlee and Bishop Auckland depots.

 

[Ken H]

Leeds City Transport had Sovreign St, Torre Rd (2), Seacroft, Headingley, Bramley and Middleton.

Now First Leeds have just Hunslet and Bramley. Most of the others are depots for council vehicles like dust carts etc.

Complicated because Yorkshire Rider bought some of West Yorkshire Road Car Co (WYRCC) assets. So perhaps we should include Roseville Rd (Leeds), Wetherby and Otley in the closed depot list.

Quite a contraction.

WYRCC morphed eventually into Transdev York and Country (incl Coastliner), Harrogate Bus Company and Keighley Bus Company. They have lost Scarborough, Pateley Bridge, Otley, Ilkley, Skipton, Grassington, Bradford and Leeds but gained Idle. (No jokes about idle bus drivers please!)

 

[Roger1973]

Depends what you mean by a 'super depot' and how far back you want to go.

In the 1980s, London Transport had a programme of new garages replacing multiple older sites, e.g.

Ash Grove replaced Dalston and Hackney
Plumstead (PD) replaced Plumstead (AM) and Abbey Wood (AM was on a different site to PD.)
Westbourne Park replaced Middle Row and Stonebridge Park

There was a plan in the early 90s for a new site at Chadwell Heath to replace Barking and (depending on what version you hear) Romford North Street and / or Seven Kings, but for various reasons this never happened.

And many of the London bus garages / tram depots built in the early years of motor bus / electric tram operation replaced multiple smaller garages / stables, The London County Council's New Cross tram depot (the site that's now London Central's New Cross garage) replaced a handful of horse tram depots, the sites of two (Old Kent Road and Rye Lane) later became bus garages, and a depot site at Greenwich was expanded to become the LCC Tramways power station. Similarly, the large tram depot at Holloway (now Metroline's Holloway garage) replaced a number of horse tram depots (I'd have to go and look it up to see just where.)

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Bristol Omnibus, now First West of England via various incarnations, have consolidated all their depots in the city to just two; Lawrence Hill and Hengrove.

Is that really a super-depot? After all, Hengrove opened and Muller Road stayed open for many years? I think that's just the rationalisation of depots over a period of time rather than opening a site in order to consolidate depots which is what I think the OP was getting at.

Similarly for @Ken H's, there's a lot of those that were simply just closed and merged into existing depots without a super depot being created... Headingley was merged into the existing Kirkstall Road (IIRC), Roseville Road went into Headingley, whilst Torre Road was simply replaced by Cherry Row, like for like. However, if you want a West Yorkshire super depot, then the Hall Ings depot replaced a few in the 1970s.


Other ones that would definitely fall into the super depot category... Stagecoach closed the Whitehaven and Workington depots and merged them in a single site at Lillyhall. Arriva NE did indeed merge Peterlee, Bishop and Durham into Belmont as mentioned. Western National centralised maintenance at their Camborne depot so that everything except the most basic maintenance was undertaken there. The LT Ash Grove, Westbourne Park and Plumstead ones would fit that category (and there was a plan for a Chadwell Heath super-duper depot at one point).

A tricky one is Olive Grove in Sheffield. It was East Bank depot, but closed and mothballed. It reopened and it might have taken in Herries and Leadmill depots. The site opposite (the old SUT depot) was then demolished and that allowed Greenland Road to be accommodated and ultimately, it's taken Rotherham and Halfway depots too. However, it was an original depot, closed and reopened and then expanded... moot point??

Also, GMPTE built some big depots in the 1970s and think Bolton might have allowed some amalgamation of sites in the town, same with Ashton/Tameside but it's not an era I know well?

 

[DanNCL]

Go North East's Riverside depot in Gateshead. Opened some point in the mid 2010s (can't remember the exact year) to replace the Sunderland Road and Winlaton Depots which both closed the same year.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Go North East's Riverside depot in Gateshead. Opened some point in the mid 2010s (can't remember the exact year) to replace the Sunderland Road and Winlaton Depots which both closed the same year.

Winlaton closed at the end of 2013 IIRC

Go North East also did the same with the opening of Deptford depot - I think it originally opened with Park Lane and Philedelphia depots going in and when that was done, they then folded South Shields in as well.

Another one might be the Stagecoach (was Busways/TWPTE) depot at Sunderland which was opened in order to accommodate two separate depots at Fulwell and Hylton Road.

Away from the North East, United Counties opened a new depot in Milton Keynes (Winterhill) and closed Bletchley and Stony Stratford depots.

 

[DanNCL]

Winlaton closed at the end of 2013 IIRC

I've just googled them, both Winlaton and Sunderland Road closed on 2nd Feb 2014, the same day that Riverside opened, although both continued to house withdrawn vehicles for a short time after that.

 

[Whisky Papa]

...

Also, GMPTE built some big depots in the 1970s and think Bolton might have allowed some amalgamation of sites in the town, same with Ashton/Tameside but it's not an era I know well?

The Bolton depot replaced three smaller ones, at Bridgeman Street, Crook Street and Shiffnall Street. The first was just south of the town centre and all-enclosed, while the second was quite close to to the new garage and had a yard that I can recall spotting in in the 70s. Shiffnall Street was behind the offices on Bradshawgate and seemed to have heavier engineering facilities than the others. All vehicles had moved to the new site by the time I worked at Bradshawgate in late 1980, as had the canteen, so the schedules staff had a daily trek across the town for lunch! How the routes and vehicles were distributed between the depots is unfortunately just out of my time, but I do know that all three depots had shared a common pool of staff - I was shown the coloured tags that used to be attached to the Almex ticket machine boxes when they were handed in so they could be directed overnight to the correct depot for the driver's / conductor's next start.

Tameside depot in Dukinfield replaced one in Ashton and one in Stalybridge (Mossley Road and Tame Street respectively). As these had origins in different operators, and were rather further apart than the Bolton ones, AFAIK they operated entirely indepentently until the Tameside deopt opened.

 

[Glasgowbusguy]

First Glasgow's Caledonia depot I believe replaced Larkfield and Parkhead, albeit in two phases a year or two apart, rather than all in one swoop?

Caledonia also replaced Cumbernauld depot

 

[DunsBus]

Winlaton closed at the end of 2013 IIRC

Go North East also did the same with the opening of Deptford depot - I think it originally opened with Park Lane and Philedelphia depots going in and when that was done, they then folded South Shields in as well.

Another one might be the Stagecoach (was Busways/TWPTE) depot at Sunderland which was opened in order to accommodate two separate depots at Fulwell and Hylton Road.

Away from the North East, United Counties opened a new depot in Milton Keynes (Winterhill) and closed Bletchley and Stony Stratford depots.

Stagecoach's Wheatsheaf depot in Sunderland was opened under Busways, in 1987. I could be wrong, but I think Hylton Road closed at deregulation with its vehicles then moving to Fulwell ahead of Wheatsheaf's opening.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Stagecoach's Wheatsheaf depot in Sunderland was opened under Busways, in 1987. I could be wrong, but I think Hylton Road closed at deregulation with its vehicles then moving to Fulwell ahead of Wheatsheaf's opening.

I think you're right that Hylton Road closed at dereg. I guess the second stage and opening of Wheatsheaf was planned under TWPTE and executed under Busways

 

[DunsBus]

I think you're right that Hylton Road closed at dereg. I guess the second stage and opening of Wheatsheaf was planned under TWPTE and executed under Busways

The Wheatsheaf depot was one of the final acts of Tyne & Wear County Council as well as of TWPTE. The council provided the funding with the foundation stone being laid in mid-March 1986, a few weeks before it was abolished.

 

[Roilshead]

However, if you want a West Yorkshire super depot, then the Hall Ings depot replaced a few in the 1970s.

Hall Ings depot, situated beneath the bus concourse of Bradford MetroTravel Interchange opened in 1977. It replaced former Bradford City Transport depots at Bankfoot, Bowling, Duckworth Lane, Horton Bank Top, and Saltaire, non of which was particularly large - Horton Bank Top's allocation was the smallest at c23 vehicles, Bankfoot was the largest with an allocation in the mid-30s - so whether Hall Ings could be counted as a "super depot" in terms of size on opening is doubtful. Initially the original motor omnibus depot at Ludlam Street and Thornbury depot (where the central workshop was also located) remained open, both of these depots had allocations of c100. Once things had settled down with the amalgamation of the smaller depots - all of which had problems being ex-tram depots, Bankfoot had lost its forecourt and main road entrance during the widening of Manchester Road and new entrances had to be constructed in a narrow suburban side-street, Bowling had poor access off a narrow side street, Duckworth Lane was a constricted site within which it was impossible to turn vehicles, Horton bank Top was a primitive tin shed in an exposed location which was held down by guy-ropes, Saltaire was probably the best of the lot but again a small site configured for tramcar movements - Ludlam Street depot closed. Thornbury depot remained open for a further ten years, until it was closed at deregulation. Hall Ings garage was never entirely satisfactory: the waterproof membrane which had been laid beneath the tarmac surface of the bus carriageways in the bus concourse had been damaged by contractors walking over it, with the result that it, and consequently the roof of the depot below, always leaked, despite repeated costly attempts to rectify the problem.

 

[Ken H]

Hall Ings depot, situated beneath the bus concourse of Bradford MetroTravel Interchange opened in 1977. It replaced former Bradford City Transport depots at Bankfoot, Bowling, Duckworth Lane, Horton Bank Top, and Saltaire, non of which was particularly large - Horton Bank Top's allocation was the smallest at c23 vehicles, Bankfoot was the largest with an allocation in the mid-30s - so whether Hall Ings could be counted as a "super depot" in terms of size on opening is doubtful. Initially the original motor omnibus depot at Ludlam Street and Thornbury depot (where the central workshop was also located) remained open, both of these depots had allocations of c100. Once things had settled down with the amalgamation of the smaller depots - all of which had problems being ex-tram depots, Bankfoot had lost its forecourt and main road entrance during the widening of Manchester Road and new entrances had to be constructed in a narrow suburban side-street, Bowling had poor access off a narrow side street, Duckworth Lane was a constricted site within which it was impossible to turn vehicles, Horton bank Top was a primitive tin shed in an exposed location which was held down by guy-ropes, Saltaire was probably the best of the lot but again a small site configured for tramcar movements - Ludlam Street depot closed. Thornbury depot remained open for a further ten years, until it was closed at deregulation. Hall Ings garage was never entirely satisfactory: the waterproof membrane which had been laid beneath the tarmac surface of the bus carriageways in the bus concourse had been damaged by contractors walking over it, with the result that it, and consequently the roof of the depot below, always leaked, despite repeated costly attempts to rectify the problem.

Saltaire is now a brewery/pub. So from trams to trolleybuses (you can still see the niches in the door soffits where the wires went) to buses to a boozer. Thats some repurposing!

 

[Mwanesh]

Chesterfield had Stonegravels Road. When East Midlands bought Chesterfield Transport they closed their depots in town and Clowne. The Old Bus depot buildings are still in use

 

[Eyersey468]

The new depot that is being built for East Yorkshire at Scarborough is replacing the existing depots at Barry's Lane and Westwood

 

[Strathclyder]

First Glasgow's Caledonia depot I believe replaced Larkfield and Parkhead, albeit in two phases a year or two apart, rather than all in one swoop?

A year and a bit apart roughly, so indeed it was done in two phases. Larkfield was closed in October 2014, while Parkhead went in January 2016.

Caledonia also replaced Cumbernauld depot

My memory is a bit hazy, but I believe all the services Cumbernauld ran at the time of First vacating it were initially transferred to Parkhead, then they moved again to Caledonia when Parkhead shut.

 

[Simon75]

Arriva Telford ? Replacing Shifnal and Wellington?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Arriva Telford ? Replacing Shifnal and Wellington?

Shifnal closed years before Telford opened, in Jan 2009 . Telford was a straight replacement for Wellington which closed in April 2012.

 

[DunsBus]

McGills' Deans depot, opened under First in the late-nineties, replaced the two depots which First had in Livingston at Almondvale and Centrex. Centrex was, itself, a replacement for Bathgate which had closed a few years earlier.

 

[daodao]

Also, GMPTE built some big depots in the 1970s and think Bolton might have allowed some amalgamation of sites in the town, same with Ashton/Tameside but it's not an era I know well?

There has been a significant decline in major bus depots in Greater Manchester since the formation of GMPTE, with the closure of all the ex-NWRCC and ex-LUT depots and other consolidation; there are no longer any major depots in the boroughs of Bury or Trafford. However, the large original former Manchester Corporation tramcar depots at Queens Road and Hyde Road are still extant.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

There has been a significant decline in major bus depots in Greater Manchester since the formation of GMPTE, with the closure of all the ex-NWRCC and ex-LUT depots and other consolidation; there are no longer any major depots in the boroughs of Bury or Trafford. However, the large original former Manchester Corporation tramcar depots at Queens Road and Hyde Road are still extant.

There is a difference. The OP was highlighting the creation of a new super depot in order to consolidate and close a number of depots, either simultaneously or in a phased programme, which is what happened with Bolton and Tameside under GMPTE auspices.

The fact that there are just fewer depots per se as sites are closed and folded into other ones is commonplace. They may, by default, become a super depot as depots close incrementally.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Sorry

No need to apologise - we all forget “stuff”