Well, after all the
mysteries last week with the signalling works that no one seems to know
anything about – this week I’ve got to a works where I’ve got so much
information– and loads of pictures – that I’m going to be in difficulty knowing
what to choose.
Incidentally – with
last week’s signalling works. I put out an appeal for info via the editor of a
railway history magazine. I’ve had
various emails and some of them are from men who really really study the
history of railway signals. Not one of
them knows anything about that factory at all.
But thank you to all of them for getting in touch.
When I started writing
about Charlton I said that I would look at works which were connected to the
Angerstein railway as a start to describing Charlton industries. On the east – the Charlton – side of the
line, there was an important works right on the Woolwich Road. I am sure many people will remember the
‘Airfix’ building where a line of large brick gables spelt out A I R F I X in
capital letters. It was demolished in
the 1990s and I always understood that this was in order to recycle the high
quality bricks it was built from. The
actual original site is now a car parking area alongside the Angerstein Line
and apparently in the possession of BOC Gases. Of course, it wasn’t originally
built by Airfix – but by the London County Council.
The original way into
the site was from Woolwich Road down a turning just past the Charlton side of
the bridge which takes the Angerstein Railway over the main road. This is Felltram Way and now it goes
absolutely nowhere except to some houses, and a car repair workshop. It was
named after A.L.C.Fell who was the Chief Officer of the London County Council
Tramways. And this was the Central Repair Depot.
Greenwich seems to
have had some sort of a special attraction for the LCC Trams. There was of course Greenwich Power Station
built originally to provide power for the entire tramway system. Also later on
I will get further on in Charlton to the Tramatorium where London’s by then
unwanted trams were sadly stripped and burnt.
But here next to the Angerstein railway trams were repaired and cleaned.
The site was chosen because of its rail access – it was connected to the
Angerstein Line from 1911 - and because it was close to the river and wharf
facilities. The seven acre site cost £3,850 and the works was opened on 6th
March 1909 by the Chairman of the London County Council. They were said to
employ 1,000 people there – and yes, some photographs show women at work there
and not just as tea ladies and receptionists.
Initially only trams
from south London were processed because of the difficulties of getting
vehicles across the river. In 1926 there
was an agreement with the Metropolitan Electric Tramway Co. to let LCC trams
over some of their system to access the repair depot. However by 1931 alterations to the Kingsway
Tunnel meant that this was unnecessary.
It was a requirement
of the Metropolitan Police that all public service vehicles should be
overhauled and repainted every year –although in the 1920s this was extended to
once every two years.. There were over 1,000
tram cars and new services were planned, so a facility to undertake the work
was urgently needed. By the time the
depot was ready it was already too small and an extension was immediately
ordered. Another third extension would
have allowed 1,800 trams to be services every year but was never built because
of the Great War. It was eventually opened in 1926 with facilities for
‘Pullmanisation’ which seems to mean comfier seats and a nicer interior. In the late 1920s a large stores department
was also added, thus freeing up space in working depots.
It might also be noted
that in the Great War some of the capacity of the works was used for armaments
manufacture
There were also a multiplicity
of other departments besides routine cleaning and maintenance – a foundry,
blacksmith, tinsmith, pattern making, and much more. There was special equipment for plough
repairs – that’s the device under the tram which connects with the power source
– and other features.
Half the ground floor
space was however used for painting and drying the vehicles. Upstairs were
offices and an apprentice school.
In the main pit was a transverser
which ran the whole length of the building. This had been specially made locally
by Appleby’s, whose works was on the Peninsula on the site which is now
Hanson’s aggregate works.
Throughout the works
was a narrow gauge railway system where trolleys were moved around by hand. At some stage in the 1980s – when all of this
was long gone – I wickedly and dangerously trespassed up the side of the
Angerstein line when you could then look down into the area of the old tram
depot which had by then been demolished.
The whole of the ground level was laid out in a network of rails and
included a circular turntable. I guess
all of that was pulled up years ago and that nothing remains even in the
undergrowth along the bank.
Trams were moved about
the site by a ‘small saddleback steam locomotive’. On arrival the tram would be
inspected. The next day the car body would be put on a moving ‘ropeway’ and
overhauled as necessary. Meanwhile its
‘trucks’ and motors would be taken elsewhere to have their own inspection and
overhauling procedures. Seat cushions were removed, and all electrical fittings
inspected, tested, and probably replaced.
Next the car would be washed down and then various parts spray painted
black. Back on the ‘ropeway’ the body
would be painted in colour and the various texts and letters applied as
transfers.. This all took around 16
hours and there were usually eight cars in the depot being processed at any one
time.
At the end of the work
the newly clean and bright tramcar was taken along Woolwich Road to Charlton
Church Lane and back – which doesn’t seem to me to be a long way for a test
run. However it was then taken to
Camberwell and the Chief Inspector for another test run. It would then have to be re-licensed by the
police.
As a relic of the tramways
I remember a metal structure left on the side of the road down near the
Blackwall Tunnel entrance. I looked it
up and found out it was a tramway telephone box for staff use. I guess it had
been left as a little monument to the trams.
However – come the Olympics and some ‘tidying up’ on the Peninsula and
it was gone. I don’t suppose they knew
what it was anymore than I did.
I must admit to not
remembering the trams at all, despite my great age. Brought up in Gravesend we
only ever had buses – LT Green buses to the west, M&D to the east and you
dare not get on the wrong sort of bus in the other company’s area I am aware of a lot of nostalgia for the
trams and perhaps a realisation of how efficient they were, and how they should
have stayed..
Oh – and Airfix – I
really don’t know about them. A couple
of years ago I actually bought a history of the Airfix Company and it didn’t
even mention Greenwich and/or Charlton. Not once
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