Stabling the trams for the night ……. in Leicester ..... where they looked after their trams

Now the inscription on the red plaque beside the entrance pretty much says it all.

“Stoneygate Tram Depot 1904-1922. 

A rare example of a 'District Car Shed’ built to stable and service trams on a newly extended and electrified municipal tram route. 

For Further information visit www. transportheritage.com”

And the link offered up that “Red Wheels commemorate Britain's rich and globally important legacy in the development of transport. 

Our aim is to present a comprehensive overview for each site, in a way that will attract a new and wider audience.

The most significant of these locations are marked by erecting a National Transport Trust Heritage Plaque or “Red Wheel” on the physical site. 

You can use the extensive search functions within this website to locate sites of greatest significance. To date we have placed over 150 Red Wheels around the UK”.

And at some point, they got round to placing the plaque on a big brick shed on Leicester’s London Road which is a wide and busy place.

Our Joshua fell across it recently commenting "it’s round the corner from us, an old tram stop I never knew existed".

According to the accompanying notice board Leicester Corporation built the district depot in 1904 at the end of the Stoneygate route.  

“It could house six tram cars [and] was close to the racecourse. On race days up to 30 trams would wait at the terminus to take racegoers back to town.  The depot closed in 1922 when the Central Depot was enlarged.  The last of Leicester’s tram ran in 1949.

Since 1922 the Depot has been used for various purposes including a garage, a wartime fire station and a railway museum complete with full scale locomotives.  And because we all need them the outer building was converted into a public lavatory.”

So that is it.   But I like the idea of stabling the trams.

Location; Leicester

Pictures; Stoneygate Tram Depot, 2022, from the collection of Joshua Simpson