Heritage Forum

The remains of rails are one of the most obvious momentos of a form of transport which has either vanished (ie early street trams) or whose horns have been pulled in (freight branches to industrial concerns). If the tramtracks are in a main street. the council will make them vanish within a few years. But once they are off the main highway the situation can be radically different. In the village of Rhosllanerchrugog. the depot of the Wrexham and District Transport Co exists to this day, with foiur tracks of the 3ft 6in tramway running into the still existing depot of 1912. The tram system closed in 1927.

What are people's feelings on listing the trackwork (or the building, as well) ? How often has this happened in Britain ? I read in the (entirely different) Irish edition of one of the London dailies that this has apparently happened at a tram depot in the suburbs of Dublin (the story came up because of proposed redevelopment). Irish listings seem to be somewhat based on British. I seem to remember reading that a stretch of street track in Portsmouth has also been preserved (not in the town centre, of course). More info would be appreciated, so I can have a go at Cadw.

The owners of the Rhos track are very proud of it. The depot was used for buses for many years, and the track seemed to have been given a concrete insert. When the depot was surveyed for an expert volume on tram depots, the building was said to be "derelict". When I passed subsequently, a transport firm was in occupation, the track fan had been cleaned, and the company was very proud of its possession, and the depot was in fine condition, as well.