Ewer Street & Southwark Depots
This was an
interesting depot arrangement, situated upon a long thin site positioned
immediately adjacent to the incline linking the London Bridge and Blackfriars
lines. It formed part of the then newly created SE&CR Joint Managing Committee’s
London Bridge area improvements. This had included the widening of the original
London & Greenwich viaduct to the east of the terminus, which provided an
additional two running lines and saw the abolition of the unique right-hand
running on the Greenwich line. Terminating platforms at London Bridge were
increased by four, by transferring the continental freight depot from here to a
purpose-built facility at Southwark, upon a brick-built platform, level with the
top of the viaduct. Situated immediately north of the ascending Blackfriars
tracks, Southwark Continental Freight Depot essentially comprised a wide
platform surface of two faces, serving eastward-facing terminating tracks. The
platform was provided with a pitched roof canopy, and the depot’s entry lines
were controlled by a signal box positioned at the eastern end of the platform
surface. Incorporated into the depot’s site was a locomotive stabling point,
which included a 54-foot 10-inch turntable flanked by a 30-foot long water tank,
a coal stage, and a coaling crane. Thus, the facilities on offer here were those
typically found at a motive power depot although, of course, there was an
absence of any form of shed building. Despite being situated upon what was
virtually the same site as the freight depot, the locomotive stabling point was
instead referred to as ‘’Ewer Street’’, after the road which ran from north to
south alongside the site’s eastern elevation.
The 1901 opening of Ewer Street equipped the ex-SER London termini with a
plethora of turntables; Belvedere Road, on the South Bank, served Charing Cross;
Cannon Street was served by no less than two turntables at Stoney Street
Junction (again, south of the river: one of these turntables fed a five-road
semi-roundhouse); and, of course, rotation facilities were not far down the line
at Bricklayers Arms. Ewer Street acted as a useful alternative to Bricklayers
Arms, in the capacity of rotating engines and topping up coal and water
supplies. It avoided the need for many light engine movements between the
termini and the principle suburban shed of the ex-SER lines, which would
otherwise have blocked paths of scheduled services.
The swift electrification of ex-SE&CR suburban lines under Southern Railway
auspices resulted in the abolition of many steam locomotive facilities. On 28th
February 1926, scheduled electric services commenced between the ex-SER London
termini and Orpington, the latter at which the marginally earlier third rail,
brought round from Bickley Junction in 1925, was met. The 50-foot 2-inch
turntable at Belvedere Road was removed, and a short stub siding laid in its
place. Closure was brought to Cannon Street shed, and its associated turntable
was removed. However, the second turntable, which lied to the west of the Cannon
Street approach tracks at Stoney Street Junction (which itself was removed
during layout alterations), was retained, along with the stabling point at Ewer
Street. About a decade later, the SR upgraded the arrangement at the latter, the
most notable additions being a water column and a cylindrical water softener, to
tackle the hard, chalky water associated with the Eastern Section lines.
The Kent Coast Electrification period of the British Railways era brought many
changes to the infrastructure arrangement described. In October 1960, a huge
depot, purpose-built to handle continental traffic, was commissioned at Hither
Green. This was positioned alongside the ‘’up’’ tracks from Orpington, to the
south of the station. Thereafter, Southwark Depot ceased to function in this
capacity, but the site and buildings here remained in use to handle parcels
traffic. In the meantime, electrification of the Eastern Section’s main lines
also signalled the end for the diminutive Ewer Street Depot. The full
accelerated electric timetable came into use on the ex-SER main line on 18th
June 1962, but Ewer Street had served its last locomotive the previous year –
steam-hauled services from Charing Cross and Cannon Street had all but
disappeared. Steam locomotive numbers from the former had already been hit hard
in 1958, on the commencement of diesel services to Hastings. Bricklayers Arms
lingered on as a steam depot for just a year after the closure of Ewer Street,
the former providing traction for freight services until the end.
In 1969, Southwark Depot also ceased handling parcels traffic, and as a result,
all structures upon the elevated platform were demolished. Sadly, this also
included the destruction of a splendid three-storey-high red-brick building,
which resided at ground level beside the depot, along Great Suffolk Street. This
structure formed the freight depot’s offices, and demonstrated a pair of
elaborated pitched-roof sections. Today, only the front wall of the bottom floor
of this building now survives. The demolition of the depot during 1969 permitted
the laying of EMU stabling sidings on part of the land, and the site became
known as ‘’Southwark Sidings’’. Stabling sidings were also laid upon Blackfriars
Bridge at this time. A decline in commuter traffic levels in the early 1980s
generated surplus rolling stock storage space, and as a consequence, Southwark
Sidings were decommissioned during May 1983. Thereafter, the former continental
and steam depot sites were used partly as an open-air car park, and partly as an
exposed store for the permanent way department. This remained the situation
until 2004, when the area became host to four-storeys worth of prefabricated
mobile offices, belonging to infrastructure owners Network Rail.
16th March 2008
A view from ground level shows the huge brick base of Southwark Continental Freight Depot. The prefabricated
offices on top are only fairly recent additions, having emerged during 2004. They are accessed via the archway
at street level, on the right. To the left is the bottom floor of what was once a splendid three-storey-high red-brick
structure, frescoed with stone. David Glasspool
16th March 2008
A complex series of bridges present themselves at the western end of the former depot, the rear wall of which
can be seen on the left. The arch in the distance carries the four tracks onto Waterloo and Charing Cross; the
tallest bridge, in the centre, carries the triple-track spur to Blackfriars; finally, the steel bridge in the foreground
forms the access road to the former depot. David Glasspool
16th March 2008
A westward view shows the depot entrance road, seen in the previous picture, plunging into the tunnel on the
right. The wall on the extreme right is the ascending Blackfriars spur from London Bridge, the steel bridge on
the far left is the London Bridge to Charing Cross line and, finally, the bridge dominating the background is
that which carries the line from Herne Hill and Elephant & Castle. David Glasspool
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