Fulwell bus garage
Fulwell bus garage is a Transport for London bus garage located in Twickenham in west London. It is north of Fulwell railway station and operates as two halves, with entrances on the A311 Wellington Road and B358 Stanley Road. It is currently operated by London United Busways and Abellio.
History
Fulwell bus garage was originally built as a tram depot for London United Tramways in 1902. The site formerly formed the southerly part of the Freake Fulwell Park Estate and came on the market following the death of the Dowager Lady Freake in 1901. London United Tramways acquired a 99 year lease of the site in April 1902 for a new tram depot. This was completed in March 1903, just as new tram routes to Hampton Court started operating.[1]
The depot had an entrance at each end, in Stanley Road and Wellington Road. The shed had 20 tracks under cover but was never used to its full capacity. In 1931 London’s first trolleybuses moved in alongside the trams and the last trams left in 1935. In 1933 the newly formed London Passenger Transport Board took over London United Tramways. Fulwell became London Transport’s main trolleybus works making use of some of the space available. It was thus one of the last two depots to convert to Motor Buses on 9 May 1962.[2]
The amount of work increased after 18 April 1970 when the small Twickenham Garage (AB), near Richmond Bridge, closed. In 1986/7 the garage was rebuilt, remaining open throughout. Instead of being split along its length, it is now split across its width.[2]
Fulwell was allocated to the London United Busways subsidiary when London Buses was split up, along with five other garages. 90 vehicles were initially allocated to the garage.[3] It later became the company's head office.[4]
Layout
As a bus garage Fulwell was divided in half along its length with the sports ground between the garage and South Road. The northern half of the garage, together with the front yard at the Wellington Road end, and a small rear yard were used for bus operation. The southern half of the garage, together with the Stanley Road entrance, and the remainder of the front yard were let out.[2]
The rear part of the garage was initially used by the London Buses sales department, for the sale of withdrawn London Transport buses. With the privatisation of London Buses, the sales department was wound down and closed.[2]
The construction company Kelly used the site for a short time whilst they were laying cable TV in the area.[2]
Today
Today both halves of the garage remain in operation: the Wellington Road end with London United Busways, and the Stanley Road end with Abellio London.
Route 267 terminates on the forecourt of the London United Busways Garage. As the Stanley Road end is owned by TfL and leased to Abellio London, part of the forecourt is used as a terminus for TfL routes that are not operated by London United Busways. At present these are Night bus N22, operated by London General.
Route 33, also operated by London United Busways also terminates here as the route had originally been operated by NCP Challenger (later NSL Services). The terminus has not changed since NSL was absorbed by London United Busways.
Awards
In 2004 Fulwell was named as one of the best in London for customer service.[4]
References
- ↑ Woodriff, Bryan (2003). Fulwell: Home to Trams, Trolleys and Buses. Middleton Press. ISBN 1-904474-11-X.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Fulwell Depot: Teddington: The Twickenham Museum
- ↑ McLachlan, Tom (1995). London Buses 1985-1995: Managing The Change. Venture Publications. ISBN 1-898432-74-0.
- 1 2 Adlam, James (22 October 2004). "Bus depot on route for award". Richmond and Twickenham Times. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
Coordinates: 51°26′5″N 0°20′59″W / 51.43472°N 0.34972°W
