Priestley's Bridge Depot

In 1899 the depot opened on Stoney Stanton Road, and a new electrical generating station was opened there, replacing the one at Foleshill Rd. The depot occupied the northern part of a piece of land on which Harnall Lane Garage was built, with its main entrance at the southern end of the site. 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 was connected to the street tramway system by a single line which made a tight turn from the South.

Later, repair shops were added and the first buses were based there until the opening of Harnall Lane Garage in 1921. The paint shop, machine shop and body shop facilities were destroyed in the air raid of November 1940. In 1946, when the overnight dispersal of buses was no longer required, the depot was used to supplement the parking at Harnall Lane Garage.

After the opening of Sandy Lane Garage in 1954, Priestley's Bridge depot became the paint shop for Coventry Corporation's bus fleet. It remained in use until the site was closed in 1986, after Coventry Corporation Transport's operations had been transferred to WMTE, in 1974. The depot was in use as a tram depot, bus depot or a paint shop for Coventry Corporation Transport for 75 years.

Acknowledgements

Figure 1: Reproduced from A S Denton and F P Groves, Coventry Transport 1884-1940, BTHG (1985)
original citation  H B Priestley

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