About Henderson Row, Edinburgh - former cable-tram depot

In 1888 the Edinburgh Northern Tram Company built a power station and depot for its cable-trams at Henderson Row, on the northern fringe of the city’s Georgian New Town. With conversion from cable to electric operation, on 24 January 1921 the power station closed as those at Shrubhill and Tollcross were sufficient to power the new network, and the site was sub-sequently used as a bus depot and as Edinburgh’s police garage. In 1991 the Scottish Life Assurance Company (now part of the Royal London Mutual Insurance Society) redeveloped the site, retaining the façade on which a plaque tells the building’s story. Preserved on public display round the back on the east side is a pulley unit used to carry the cables.

The cable-hauled trams operated by gripping on to a continuously moving cable located within a groove between the rails. A small section of cable tram track survives at Waterloo Place Waterloo, which is the eastward continuation of Princes Street from its intersection with North Bridge and Leith Street.