London 1981

Peter MARSHALL


Stoney St, Southwark, 1981
29u-33: works, offices,

You can click on the image to go to the next picture

I'd always been rather mystified by these railway arches along the west side of Stoney St, it looked like a railway line but ended running into the curve of the South Eastern Railway running towards London Bridge. And going north, there appeared to be no continuation of the line across Clink St, where old warehouses stood on the opposite side.
 
Looking at the map from 1873 solved the conundrum, with a little help from Google. Points led from the two tracks at the east side of Cannon St Railway Bridge into a turntable at the south end of this area at the high bridge level, where a large turntable was then used to direct the engines which could then go back into a high level five-road engine shed. This was the Cannon Street MPD (Motive Power Depot.) Until 1916, the South Eastern and Chatham Railway reversed all Charing Cross services into Cannon St, which apparently made this facility necessary, and it remained in limited use until the newly formed Southern Railway electrified its passenger services in 1926. A wall of the engine shed was retained in the construction of a substation, and I think later a signal box was built on the site.
 
There was also another turntable on the west side of the tracks above Bank End and the start of Park St; the turntable has gone but satellite imagery shows two sidings there.
 
The buildings on the right in the picture are now Laithwaite's wine, a company which I happily drink too much in support of.