Chris M
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Post by Chris M on Jun 29, 2010 18:44:57 GMT
When did Ealing Common Depot open? I'm looking for something more precise than 1904 (which is all Dave's main website says) or 1905 (some of bowroaduk's photos), but am not having any luck.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2010 20:45:08 GMT
What does 'open' mean in this case?
The Ealing & South Harrow trains (2 A stock) were based at South Harrow (from 1903); the next section of District electrification opened (for public service) 1905-06-13: which may well be when Ealing Common first provided trains for public service, but it could have done so for the E&SH before then. Lots Road power station started up on 1905-02-01 - I would assume that marked the point at which test electric working could start, the first time when Ealing Common could do something as it were. When did delivery of the B stock start? - that AIUI was done to EC depot.
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SE13
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Post by SE13 on Jun 29, 2010 21:00:23 GMT
Interesting one, because the architecture almost suggests 1920's, there is a building close to here that looks very similar and that's from that era.
I've never managed to get back any further than that myself.
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Post by ruislip on Jun 29, 2010 23:48:42 GMT
Would you consider the architecture of EC depot to be Holden-esque?
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Post by tubeprune on Jun 30, 2010 6:36:42 GMT
I haven't got an exact date for an "opening" as such but the first new (B Stock) cars were delivered to the depot via South Acton on 26th-27th March 1905. They were left in the sidings on the north side of the S. Acton branch overnight. I doubt it would have opened as in "I declare this new depot open" but it would have been done in bits. I think the Ealing end was the first to be connected to the main line. The new cars were delivered to the depot without equipment so the workshops would have been an assembly area to begin with. W.A. Agnew (who wrote Electric Trains Virtue, 1937) was appointed in 1904 and he would have overseen the equipment of the depot. The A Stock cars were brought into the depot during the summer of 1905 for conversion to B Stock standards.
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Chris M
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Post by Chris M on Jun 30, 2010 8:47:35 GMT
So 1905-06-13 looks likely to have been the first date passenger trains left the depot under their own power to form public service trains?
As the opening date of stations is typically taken to be the first day of passenger service, even if there has been months of non-public testing before this. The first day of providing trains for passenger service seems an equivalent date for a depot.
Thanks
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Post by Dstock7080 on Jun 30, 2010 10:09:18 GMT
Could Ealing Common have held steam stock too, around the time of the changeover?
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Post by tubeprune on Jun 30, 2010 15:11:03 GMT
I would imagine the A Stock working the S Harrow service would have used the depot on an occasional basis up to the time of the opening of the S Acton - Hounslow electric service in June. Some steam trains did visit Ealing Common Depot (It was then variously known as Mill Hill Park Works/Yard/Depot) and they stored a lot of the redundant locos there too after electric services started. The depot at Lillie Bridge had to be cleared as soon as possible to allow it to be rebuilt for the Picc. The staff train to S Harrow was steam for a time at the start of electric services too.
They were quite relaxed about depot working. Trains weren't timed to leave depots like they are now. The WTTs showed a train departing a station at a certain time and you had to look to see what the time allowance was supposed to be to get the train from the depot to that station. If the train started from Ealing Common or Acton Town, the allowance was 5 minutes, I think. Trains were stabled in the depot and in the sidings on the north side of the main line at Mill Hill Park.
I wrote a lot of this up in Underground News, March to August 2009.
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Post by singaporesam on Jul 4, 2010 6:56:57 GMT
Interesting one, because the architecture almost suggests 1920's, there is a building close to here that looks very similar and that's from that era. I've never managed to get back any further than that myself. No its definately that old , the spiral staircase that used to be near the Timekeepers office had 1903 cast into it. It disappeared during the extended arm refurbishment of 1992-1993. They also pulled out a load of small diameter lead insulated cable from the walls , if the buildings had been 1920's it would probably have been made out of rubber or early polymers and not lasted ! Interestingly most of the rails in the sheds are significantly older as they were used when they were installed. Plus of course the ash in the top levels of the track bed was also waste from the operating railway. |
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Post by harlesden on Jul 4, 2010 9:25:04 GMT
I would imagine the A Stock working the S Harrow service would have used the depot on an occasional basis up to the time of the opening of the S Acton - Hounslow electric service in June. I learned something today. I had always had the idea the S. Acton service was nothing more than a S. Acton-Acton Town shuttle - similar to the Holborn-Aldwych shuttle. |
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