In 1860, the London, Chatham and Dover Railway purchased 75 acres (300,000 m2) of land in Battersea, formerly part of the Long Hedge farm, to establish their locomotive works and the motive power depot, and to provide motive power for services from the new London Victoria railway station (then under construction).

The depot was re-organised and a large mechanical coaling plant was added to enable the depot to deal with an increased locomotive allocation after 1932, following the closure of the nearby London Brighton and South Coast Railway Battersea shed which is often confused with Stewarts Lane, but was a separate Roundhouse type shed on the other side of the LBSCR mainline from Stewarts Lane.

During the 1960s the former goods shed on the site was also converted to service diesel and electric locomotives, and both remain in use for the Stewarts Lane Traction Maintenance Depot.

[1] Stewarts Lane was the largest depot of the former LCDR, providing express passenger locomotives from Victoria and Holborn Viaduct stations to Dover, Ramsgate and Ashford, and suburban trains to Bromley, Crystal Palace and Greenwich Park.

The allocation declined in the early years of the Southern Railway after 1923, as more suburban lines were electrified, but then increased dramatically to more than 170 locomotives in 1934 after it took over from the former Battersea shed.

It also acts as a servicing and staging point for steam locomotives operating both the VSOE, and some other special trains starting from the London area.