Slade Green Depot is a major railway depot in

Slade Green Slade Green is an area of South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bexley. It lies northeast of Bexleyheath, northwest of Dartford and south of Erith, and east-southeast of Charing Cross. Historically Slade Green was part of th ...

, South East London. The depot is situated south of Slade Green railway station.

History

Development

The late-

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edward ...

hamlet of Slade Green consisted of two small farming communities until the South Eastern Railway's (SER) development of the

North Kent Line The North Kent Line is a railway line which branches off the South East Main Line at St Johns junction west of Lewisham station in Greater London and runs to Rochester Bridge Junction near Strood, Medway where it links to the Chatham Main Line ...

from

Strood Strood is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in Kent, South East England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rochester, Gillingham and Rainham. It lies on the northwest bank of the River Medway at its lowest ...

and

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock ...

to London Bridge. After considering enlarging the existing depot at Bricklayers Arms, it was concluded that the growth in freight traffic necessitated a new depot. Land was purchased on

Crayford Crayford is a town and electoral ward in South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bexley. It lies east of Bexleyheath and north west of Dartford. Crayford was in the historic county of Kent until 1965. The settlement deve ...

marshes A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

, with plans for a brick-built 10-road shed of in length, with two of these feeding a repair shed located in the north eastern corner. With a budget of £55,000, construction started in April 1898, with an allowance for building 145 railway workers houses. On 1 May 1895 a triangular junction was opened with the

Bexleyheath Bexleyheath is a town in south-east London, England. It had a population of 31,929 as at 2011. Bexleyheath is located south-east of Charing Cross, and forms part of the London Borough of Bexley. It is identified in the London Plan as one ...

line. The shed, initially called ''Whitehall, Erith'' was completed on 27 October 1899, under the South Eastern & Chatham Railway (SE&CR). Better equipped than major depots at Stewarts Lane or

Ashford Ashford may refer to: Places Australia *Ashford, New South Wales *Ashford, South Australia *Electoral district of Ashford, South Australia Ireland *Ashford, County Wicklow *Ashford Castle, County Galway United Kingdom * Ashford, Kent, a town ** ...

, the main building was fed by two

turntables A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

, with a water tank feeding out via a dedicated

water softener Water softening is the removal of calcium, magnesium, and certain other metal cations in hard water. The resulting soft water requires less soap for the same cleaning effort, as soap is not wasted bonding with calcium ions. Soft water also ext ...

. The repair shed was equipped with two 5-tonne travelling cranes, allowing full reconstruction of all allocated engines. By the time the first locomotives arrived in November 1899, an external contractor had constructed the 158 houses of the new railway village. The total cost of the project was £74,500, and in scale it was only second to Stewarts Lane, able to service 100 steam locomotives. But its opening allowed closure of the smaller sheds at Woolwich Arsenal and

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home ...

. Slades Green railway station was opened to serve the depot and adjoining community on 1 July 1900, and by 1910 the full "railway village" of houses and ancillary community buildings had been completed.

Southern Railway

After grouping in 1923, the Southern Railway (SR) began the

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histo ...

of the former SE&CR suburban lines, but using the

London and South Western Railway The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exete ...

660 V

third-rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...

system. It was planned that the line to Dartford would be an early conversion, so the new trains required servicing. In 1924 the SR proposed reconstruction of Slade Green into a dedicated electric maintenance and repair unit. A budget of £30,000 was allocated to convert the existing shed, added to by an adjoining heavy maintenance shed facing Dartford, capable of all repairs and maintenance. Work started immediately, including conversion of the roof to a flat form, and were completed by the end of 1925, with electric services to Dartford commencing on 6 June 1926. In 1935, along with

Orpington Orpington is a town and area in south east London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross. On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St Mary ...

, the site became home to the first mechanical carriage washer in the UK.

British Rail Southern Region

With the introduction in 1952 of the BR Class 415 4EPB units, under the

Southern Region of British Railways The Southern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948 until 1992 when railways were re-privatised. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s. The region covered south London, southern England and the south ...

, in June 1954 the shed was extended by at its London end to fully accommodate a complete 10-carriage unit. The bricks purposefully replicated the original 1899 building, while the new roof had a hump to allow for better rain water removal. On completion, on 1 August 1953, the depot and adjacent

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

officially became ''Slade Green''.

1990/1: Networker depot rebuild

With the introduction of the Class 465 Networker and Class 466 Networker fleet, it was proposed in 1990 by British Railways to demolish the 1925 shed and build a brand new eight road structure. Allocated a budget of £20million, the new maintenance depot was officially opened on 8 April 1991, with original BR green 4EPB No. 5001 and a cab mock-up of No. 465001. The new building still had the facilities to carry out heavy repairs on the 1952 slam-door 4EPB stock, a function it fulfilled until the final 4EPB withdrawals in March 1995.

Present

Today the site is owned by

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

and operated by Southeastern, providing berthing for a range of different EMUs. It consists of the Networker shed to the northside, and on the other side of the Main line associated sidings to the south, which are linked by a pedestrian overbridge. EMU types that are stabled there include Class 465 Networker, Class 466 Networker, Class 375 Electrostar, Class 376 Electrostar and Class 707 EMUs.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Slade Green Depot Railway depots in London Transport in the London Borough of Bexley Train driver depots in England Railway sidings in England