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I have registered to provide a token of thanks for this freely available list which I have resorted to whilst away from home and my books on the subject. It is in respect of your description of Purley being a permanent way depot. No, but temporary overnight security use by p.w. staff would have been made to save vehicle journeys. Opened in 1901 as an operating depot, it was closed by LPTB in September, 1937. It was reopened in November, 1937, when LPTB transferred Cohen's scrapping operation at Croydon depot (aka Aurelia Road - another story) to there. Scrapping continued until 1939 when the depot became a wartime storage facility (except for one week when reopened as an operating depot for a 16/18 'skeleton' shuttle service!!!). Scrapping resumed in 1945 but this operation was transferred to Brixton Hill in 1947 allowing the building to be renovated as an Annex to Charlton Works hence the transfer of the tractors to work there. This use ended in 1949 followed by scrapping five Felthams! From January, 1950, to April, 1951, it reopened as an operational depot taking over from Thornton Heath for its conversion. Purley depot nearly became a bus maintenance facility to permit the reconstructed TC and, the then to be, TH garages being purely bus parks. I have seen the drawings for the bus maintenance bays within the existing buildings and appreciated why this scheme did not materialise leading to its sale to Henry Streeter as a heavy commercial vehicle maintenance garage. So I do recommend that the title of this entry be changed to ''Purley Tram Depot''. |
