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Coventry Corporation Transport Society

Foleshill Depot

The Foleshill depot opened in 1884 as the depot for Coventry & District Tramways. It was the depot for the steam tram engines and trailers. Coventry Electric Tramways began operations from the depot on in December 1895. The tram depot had 6 tracks, each with a tram pit running the length of the depot. The depot was long enough to house at least four electric tramcars on each track, so 24 or more tramcars could be accommodated under cover. It is unclear how many tracks connected to the street tramway system, but there may have been only one, with a "Y" junction connecting North and South. The Foleshill depot was the location of the original power station supplying the electric tramway system. The power station was replaced by a new one at the Priestley's Bridge depot when that opened in 1899.

After the November 1940 air raid, the tram system was abandoned and the bus fleet was greatly expanded. Temporary, dispersed, overnight parking areas at the football ground and at Lythalls Lane was used during the war years. In 1946, when the overnight dispersal was no longer required, a bus parking area was added to the Foleshill depot, to supplement the parking at Harnall Lane Garage.

The depot closed in 1954, when buses were allocated to the newly opened Sandy Lane garage. The depot was in use as either a tram depot or a bus depot for 70 years.

Foleshill In
Figure 1: Trams outside the Foleshill Depot.  The three tracks on the North side of the depot can be seen clearly.  There were three parallel tracks on the South side.
Foleshill Out
Figure 2: Trams inside the Foleshill Depot.  Five of the six tracks, together with three of the tram pits, can be seen clearly. 

Acknowledgements

Figure 1: Reproduced from R Bailey, Coventry Transport 1884-1940, Tempus Publishing (2006)
original citation  Travel Lens

Figure 2: Reproduced from A S Denton and F P Groves, Coventry Transport 1884-1940, BTHG (1985)
original citation  H B Priestley

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