Blackpool Tramway - Tram Depots

Tram Depots

Over the years seven depots were built to service the fleet:

• Bispham Depot was built in 1898 and extended in 1914 by Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramroad Company, to house 36 trams on six tracks. A substation was built to the side of depot. The depot was used to receive pantograph cars in 1928 and Brush cars in 1940. It closed on 27 October 1963 and was used as a store until the mid 1970s. The building was eventually demolished to make way for a Sainsbury's supermarket and the depot's headstone was installed at Crich's National Tramway Museum.

• Bold Street Depot opened in January 1899 and had a capacity of four cars on two tracks. The depot was used only by the last two trams to Fleetwood in the evening and the first two trams in the morning. After Blackpool Corporation took over the Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramroad Company in 1920, the depot was closed. Wires were taken down in 1924 when the Fleetwood loop was built. After World War II the depot was used by Fisherman's Friend. It was demolished in 1973 to make way for flats.

• Blundell Street Depot opened in 1885 to house ten conduit trams. It was extended in 1894 an 1896, and in 1898 when the roof was raised to accommodate overhead wiring. After extension, the depot housed 45 trams on five tracks. The depot became a store in 1935 when the new central depot opened at Rigby Road. The inspection pits were filled in after World War II and after 1956 the building was used as a bus garage. The depot was reopened for trams in March 1963 after the closure of Marton depot. A new entrance was built in July 1964 but capacity was restricted by the presence of an ambulance station in the building. Following damage to the central roof caused by a gale, the depot was demolished on 4 November 1982.

• Copse Road Depot was built in 1897 by the Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramroad Company with six tracks, capable of housing 18 trams. It was originally used as a store and service depot. After passing to Blackpool Corporation Tramways it was used to dismantle old trams. Between 1925 and 1949 a line connected the depot with the railway and was used to shunt wagons. The depot is now a car showroom and the substation still feeds the Fleetwood section.

• Marton Depot was built in 1901 to accommodate 50 trams. It was used for central routes but declined in use after the closure in 1936 of the Layton and Central Drive sections. The depot closed for tram use between 1939 and 1944 due to the war, and accommodated aircraft of the Vickers Aircraft Company. The depot closed on 11 March 1963, with the last car to leave the depot being Standard car 48. The front half of the depot was demolished with the rear half in commercial use. A petrol station is now on the site.

• Rigby Road Depot was built in 1935 and is still in use. It has a capacity of 108 trams. It was designed to replace the Bispham and Blundell Street depots and has been modernised several times. In 1955 tracks 15 to 18 were enclosed by a partition to be used as an electrical compound and in 1962 a tram washing plant was built, along with the replacement of the roller-blind doors by folding aluminium doors. As the years have gone by it has increasingly become primarily a bus depot.

• Starr Gate Depot was built during 2011 as part of the complete network refurbishment, and cost £20m. It officially opened in Easter 2012, and is now fully operational. It has a maximum capacity of 20 trams. It was built to house the 16 new supertrams. A planned expansion with a public attraction to display heritage units is currently unfunded.