Stockwell bus garage documentary

[Slo-mo]

This is about 18months old now, but I really enjoyed it. Not so much a transport documentary as a portrait of the people who come from all over the world to work on London's buses.



Really worth a look if you haven't seen it already.

 

[editor]

Response on Twitter:

 

[Puddy_Tat]

This film (c. 1962) has some chunks filmed at Stockwell (the shiny new Routemaster on somewhat fictional route 48 was borrowed from Poplar garage - at that time, they were only in use at ex trolleybus garages)



the comments may not be good for the blood pressure, though...

 

[RoyReed]

The doors into the bus garage were open when I walked past the other day, so I took a photo. Such a great space.

 

[Ol Nick]

I like the little curtained areas for when the buses need some privacy.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

I like the little curtained areas for when the buses need some privacy.

when they have to put the screens round, you know it's serious...

 

[Puddy_Tat]

in terms of architecture, wythenshawe / northenden bus garage (completed by Manchester City Transport in the early years of WW2) is a lesser known earlier version of the same concept -

1942: Wythenshawe Bus Depot, Manchester – The Twentieth Century Society

c20society.org.uk

Wythenshawe Bus Depot, Northenden, Manchester

Wythenshawe Bus Depot is a Grade II* listed building in Northenden, Manchester, England. See why it was listed, view it on a map, see visitor comments and photos and share your own comments and photos of this building.

britishlistedbuildings.co.uk

one of these makes the point that bus garages are ideal with big open spaces for moving buses around in. tram depots can have lots of walls or pillars as unless something goes very wrong, you can be inch perfect getting through a narrow gap with a tram...

 

[happyshopper]

I wish people wouldn't do this when I've got jobs to do.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

A couple of other asides -

The Stockwell site had been identified for a trolleybus depot in the late 30s, when the plan was to replace all of london's trams with trolleybuses (the war interrupted this plan, leaving S London with trams until the early 50s) - stockwell was intended to replace norwood tram depot and brixton hill tram depot - it more or less did this post-war, but with buses not trolleybuses.

If it hadn't been for a shortage of steel at the time, the stockwell building would probably have ended up more akin to the old peckham bus garage

although the latter was closed in the 1990s with (allegedly) roof problems - although the speed at which most of the site was sold off has led to some doubt about this...