Stewarts Lane

Motive power depot

In 1860 the London, Chatham and Dover Railway purchased 75 acres (300,000 m²) of land in Battersea, formerly part of the Long Hedge farm, to establish their locomotive works and the motive power depot, to provide motive power for services from the new London Victoria railway station (then under construction). The depot was originally known as ‘Longhedge’. In February 1862 a semi-roundhouse running shed was opened with space for 26 locomotives. The site was expanded in 1875/6 with 40 tracks around the central turntable, although only half were under cover.

The original depot was demolished in 1880/1 and replaced by a larger 16-road through shed on the same site, which was officially known as Stewarts Lane – but usually referred to as ‘Battersea’ or ‘Longhedge’ by the men. A coaling stage, turntable and wheel drop were provided. The depot was re-organised and a large mechanical coaling plant was added to enable the depot to deal with an increased locomotive allocation after 1932, following the closure of the nearby London Brighton and South Coast Railway Battersea shed. Stewarts Lane was provided with an asbestos roof in 1934 It suffered from bomb damage during the Second World War, some of which was never repaired. Otherwise it remained largely unchanged until closure to steam in 1963. Thereafter the tracks remained in use for stabling diesel locomotives, although much of the original building was destroyed by fire in 1967.

Traction maintenance depot

A new asbestos carriage shed was built adjacent to the running shed in the late 1950s and equipped with third rail electrification to enable it to service both electric multiple units (EMUs) and electric locomotives. During the 1960s the former goods shed on the site was also converted to service diesel and electric locomotives, and both remain in use for the Stewarts Lane Traction maintenance depot. The depot is currently operated by DB Schenker.

Shed codes

Under Southern Railway the depot had the code ‘BAT’. This was changed to the depot code ‘73A’ by British Railways, then '75D', and is now ‘SL’.

Locomotive allocation

Stewarts Lane was the largest depot of the former LCDR, providing express passenger locomotives from Victoria and Holborn Viaduct stations to Dover, Ramsgate and Ashford, and suburban trains to Bromley, Crystal Palace and Greenwich Park. After the formation of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway in 1899 the depot became the largest on the new system, with an allocation of well over 100 locomotives. The allocation declined in the early years of the Southern Railway, after 1923, as more suburban lines were electrified, but then increased dramatically to more than 170 locomotives in 1934 after it took over from the former Battersea shed. 159 locomotives were allocated there in 1939 including large numbers of King Arthur and Lord Nelson classes.

During the early 1950s there were still 126 locomotives allocated and 700 men employed at Stewarts Lane, and the allocation included Pacific locomotives of the Merchant Navy, West Country and Battle of Britain classes and, for a short period, two Britannia class locomotives. The number of locomotives began to decline rapidly after 1959 following the electrification of the Chatham Main Line.

Today the depot provides a home to the Gatwick Express, Venice Simplon Orient Express (VSOE Southern Division) and one steam locomotive which operates the VSOE trains from London Victoria. SR 4-6-2 Merchant Navy Class steam locomotive no 35028 Clan Line currently resides at the depot.