Continuing my series of depots in and around Edinburgh we visit one of the oldest depots in use. In 1901 plans were laid for a depot and power house to serve the cable tram routes in the east of the city. This was situated on Portobello High Street at Pipe Street, and brought into use in 1902, replacing the Rosefield Place horse-car shed. Two 500 hp engines drove the cable drums by gears rather than ropes as at the other 3 depots, and these provided traction for 22 trams on the GPO (Waterloo Place) to Joppa route.
In 1923 transfer to electric traction was made and an extension to the south-west elevation of the depot enabled accommodation for trams on services 5, 15, 20, 21, 22 and a share of the 12 and 26. Older ‘wooden standard’ types outnumbered the modern domed trams and one of the oldest fleet 78, built at Shrubhill in 1923, is seen returning from service 12. The depot also housed Edinburgh’s largest trams, known as the ‘Pilchers’ and restricted to route 21 (to Levenhall). Depot destination screens were ‘Bath Street’ , ‘King’s Rd P’Bello’ and ‘King’s Road’ the latter still in use today. In 1954 all trams in the east of Edinburgh were withdrawn, the duties on service 12 moved to Leith depot and services 5, 15 and 26 were replaced by buses carrying the same route number, Service 21 was replaced by a new Scottish Omnibuses route to Galt Road and Wallyford. The depot site was restricted for operational bus use but the shed continued in use for bus storage until demolished the site now occupied by flats and a car park.
