In message , Nick
Hewitt writes
I had a rough idea where Riverside was, but I needed
confirmation. I didn't know, until fairly recently, that there was a
trolleybus depot in Hammersmith. Bearing this in mind, can I
contribute something, simply from looking at the 2 photos on
http://www.trolleybus.net/resume.htm 'numbered' CR217 and GB1.
Aaargh! I hadn't spotted that first photo - CR217. I think that answers
the question of location. The road on the left, from which all the
traffic is turning is Butterwick, which I think was driven through the
area in 1959/1960. Since trolley-route 630 was replaced by buses in July
1960, this almost certainly dates the photo to early summer 1960.
The road with parked cars behind the trolleybus is Great Church Lane,
and the car coming in from the right is emerging from the newly-widened
Talgarth Road (the Hammersmith flyover had not then been built, so the
new one-way system was still carrying all of the A4 traffic in 1960).
So, the original suggestion of the garage being in Great Church Lane was
correct. Rob was right in saying that it was to the east of the
district/piccadilly station, but not in thinking that it backed onto the
railway site. It was further east - just east of Butterwick, hence the
reason why it survived demolition when Butterwick was knocked through,
and went on after trolleybuses ceased as a garage for the BEA coach
service for a few years in the early 60s. I think it must have
eventually gone in the 1970s, when the blocks to the east side of
Butterwick were redeveloped.
This location also explains how trolleybuses gained access before the
creation of Butterwick and the one-way system - down a short length of
Great Church Street going east from the top of Fulham Palace Road.
It seems extraordinary to think that the entire Hammersmith one-way
system must have been rewired for a very complex overhead trolley system
with numerous junctions, only to have the whole lot torn down a few
months later when trolleybus operations ceased.
Something else comes to mind. The trolleybus depot had the garage code
HB. What would the letter B have stood for? Broadway? Butterwick?
I agree with Rob - Broadway seems much more likely, even though the
garage wasn't on the Broadway itself. The site was probably part of the
grounds of the old Butterwick House, but that had been demolished in
1836 and I don't think the name was used again until resurrected for the
new road in around 1960.
I'm rather glad that I didn't ask for the exact locations of Fulham,
Albany Street, Rochester Mews and Kilburn depots!!! God knows what
sort of arguments THAT would have started.
Oh, no great arguments at all - just a fascinating debate. I totally
agree with Rob that this area, where I lived in the early 70s, has gone
through so much change that it is very hard to reconstruct a picture of
what it was like. Its been an interesting experience to try!
Incidentally, this very point is exemplified by the photos at:
http://www.la21.org.uk/traffic/photo.html
These show the re-development of the very area that we have been
discussing, albeit too small to see details of trolleybus routes and the
HB garage.
--
Paul Terry