In Pictures: New Strathallan Depot taking shape

Due to be officially opened on Easter Monday, 13th April, the new Strathallan Depot – which will provide a home for the trams of the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway – is making excellent progress with the main structure now in place. Work will be continuing over the next month or so (with any luck that’s all the time it takes anyway as the opening isn’t that far away!) to complete the structure which will provide a secure home for the remaining horse trams for many years to come.

The old Strathallan Depot had caused concerns for several years with the structure basically considered unsafe with holes in the roof and concerns over its stability and so it was in November 2018 that Tynwald approved plans to raise the old building to the ground and replace it with a new depot (including staff facilities) with demolition starting at the end of the same month. The new building has been designed to look as similar as possible to the 1902 structure. This will be just a single storey building with the old offices which had been built on top of the depot not part of the new stricture. There will be some staff facilities in the building as well as housing the complete fleet of horse trams which currently remain split over several locations on the Isle of Man.

With the building due to be “officially opened” on 13th April it is currently planned that the operational season for the horse trams will start a week later on 20th April. At this stage is not known what sort of service will start from that date as Prom reconstruction works are continuing with the project seemingly behind schedule. It is hoped that at some point during 2020 trams will be able to run between Derby Castle and a point approaching Broadway but no details of when this may be possible are known.

Taken from the other side of the Prom road the basic structure is seen here. Although there remains plenty of hoardings in the way you can see the building taking shape.

With the gates open a closer look at the depot with the old trackwork remaining in place.

Where once there seemed to be gaping hole at the back of the depot with protective sheeting in place now there is a back to the building as can just about be made out in this shot.

And a closer view of the interior of the depot building. (All Photographs by Geoff Pickles, 3rd March 2020)

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