Preston Workshops
Miller Street entrance in April 2013
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| Location | |
|---|---|
| Location | Miller Street, Preston |
| Characteristics | |
| Owner(s) | VicTrack |
| Operator(s) | Yarra Trams |
| Rolling stock | 1 B1-class 35 B2-class 23 E-class |
| Routes served | 11, 86 |
| History | |
| Opened | 1926 |
Preston Workshops are located on a block surrounded by Miller Street, St George's Road, Oakover Road and the South Morang railway line in Preston, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. As well as being Yarra Trams heavy maintenance facility, since April 2016 it has been an operational depot, being one of eight on the Melbourne tram network.
The Preston Workshops were erected by the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board (MMTB) in 1924-26, to provide manufacturing and maintenance facilities for Melbourne's trams in conjunction with the introduction and production of the W class trams.
The earlier tram maintenance workshops were located on the corner of Holden Street and St Georges Road, Fitzroy, where today only a tramways substation remains, following demolition and sale in 1937.
In the mid-1920s, the MMTB sought a suitable place to build its own tramcars, having previously manufactured the steel chassis and truck frames at the Cable Repair Workshops at Nicholson Street, Fitzroy North, built the wooden bodywork in temporary sheds behind the Fitzroy cable car shed, done painting and varnishing at Preston and Glenhuntly depots, and let tenders to private companies for completed bodies. The running maintenance and overhaul was conducted at workshops attached to the Malvern, Hawthorn, Coburg and Essendon depots.
A single comprehensive workshop was desperately needed, and a site was ultimately chosen opposite Thornbury depot on St Georges Road adjacent to the Miller Street line, covering 17 acres. Tenders were let progressively for each building - the paint and car erecting shops and first traverser completed early in 1925; the main store and sub-station in 1925/26; the large truck, wheel, machine, fitting and electrical shops and second traverser to the car shop in late 1926; the timber storage racks, office block, blacksmiths and plate shops, foundry and pattern shop in the next few months; and finally the mess hall and amenities.
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