Description

Built by the Eastern Countries Railway as far back as 1841, Stratford, in London’s East End, is one of the oldest established locomotive works and traction depots on the BR system. Over 150 years, Stratford enjoyed mixed fortunes. Well into the twentieth century, demand for both construction and maintenance repeatedly outstripped facilities available, and both Works and Depot became an intermingled hotch-potch of outgrown Victorian buildings.

Depot: Stratford traces this fascinating story and surveys a vibrant Traction Repair shop, the Maintenance Depot alongside and its 110 strong fleet of locomotives at work in 1990. (Since closure of Stratford Depot in 1991 this video has become an important historic record).