The article tells about what a depot is, about the origin of the word, what its varieties are and why this structure is needed at all.
Ancient times
Nowadays, if you want and the availability of funds, you can overcome huge distances in minimal time, for example, by plane. And the trip around the world does not seem something supernatural and terribly complicated. But this was not always the case, and a few centuries ago people spent a huge amount of time and energy for traveling, since there were simply no developed transport systems.
For a long time, the only relatively fast transport remained horse-drawn carts and ships, and in the way of people at one step or another they were in danger. But gradually everything changed, and railways had a great importance in the development of transport systems and in general the development of the continents. Now the speed of those locomotives and the length of the tracks seem frivolous, but at the beginning of the operation of such roads they were a real technological breakthrough. But, like any complex equipment, steam locomotives and trains require preventive maintenance and service, which is performed at the depot. So what is a depot? This we will understand.
Origin
This word has French roots, and in the original it sounds like dépôt - warehouse, storehouse. It has several meanings. It used to be called, among other things, some management and basing places, for example, a recruit or commissar depot. But in our time, such use is no longer used, and the depot is an enterprise that carries out the basing, repair and operation of railway transport and urban public transport, in particular. For example, a bus or tram depot. But what is its purpose?
Meaning
Machinery and rolling stock of railways requires thorough prevention, and at times repair. And besides this, and the place of basing, as in the open air you can’t always leave trains and locomotives, and they will occupy the road lines. Therefore, for their maintenance and build a depot - large buildings that contain such vehicles and have all the technical means for its repair and maintenance. So we figured out what a depot is.
Other values
As already mentioned, in the old days some kinds of state institutions were called by this word. The last of them existed relatively recently - in the first years after the 1917 revolution in Russia. And before that there were depot maps, military topographic, hydrographic and others.
Urban transport. Tram depot
In addition to vehicles moving on rails within the city, trams and trolleybuses, wheeled buses with fire engines also have their depots. They are also involved in the storage, repair and prevention of this type of transport. So now we know what a depot is.