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Stations, Junctions, etc
Engine Sheds
Other
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London North Western
Railway:
Midland
Railway:
Stratford
Midland Junction Railway
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Curzon Street Engine House
The Engine House was opened on 12th November 1837 when goods
trains started to run between Birmingham and Rugby. Its location, just a few
hundred feet in front of the passenger station, reflected the initial practice
of basing railway operations on those adopted for horse-drawn road vehicles and
canals. This manifested itself in many ways, from early railway carriages being
built with each compartment looking as if it was a stage coach to the
accommodation of steam locomotives being based on the practice of stabling
horses at Inns etc. In this respect it meant that locomotives were to be
stabled next to the station. This close proximity, together with the unexpected
volume of traffic generated necessitating the construction of New Street
station, meant that the Engine House would be closed within twelve years
despite being extended twice in this short space of time. When the Engine House
closed in 1859 the men from Curzon Street were transferred to Monument Lane
shed which had opened in November 1858.
Richard Foster in the first volume of his excellent series
on New Street Station 'Birmingham New Street - Background and Beginnings the
years up to 1860' quotes Cheffin's London & Birmingham Railway in
describing the facilities when the Engine House was first opened. 'The
Locomotive Engine-house is a building with sixteen sides, capable of holding
sixteen engines and tenders or thirty-two engines alone: these stand with their
ends towards the sides of the building, one against each, on sixteen ways, all
meeting on a turn-plate in the centre, by which the engines are sent to their
respective lines of rails, which run from the Engine-house to the Station.
Under each engine is a pit, three feet deep, which enables the engine-men to
get underneath the engine to examine, clean, or repair it. In front of the
Engine-house are store rooms, offices, and workshops, over which is a tank,
holding one hundred and seventy tons of water, with provision for a
steam-engine to work a pump from a well below, in case the supply from the
Water Works Company should fail. The engine-house is built on land about twenty
feet lower than the present surface, under which are store rooms for coke, and
a communication to a large vault under ground, which opens to the canal'.
Richard also provides information from Francis Wishaw's
description of the station in 1842 in which he notes that the building was
erected some 88 feet from the canal, 418 feet away from the last row of
turntables used to access the lines running into the station's train shed and
was 124 feet in diameter. Towards the passenger station a building projects out
which is 60 feet in depth and 63 feet in front: in the middle of this is the
entrance for the locomotives. The turntable in the centre of the shed is 15
feet in diameter, from which 16 lines radiate out with two lines continuing
outwards. One line is for outgoing engines and the other is for incoming
engines. The centre portion of the building had no roof whilst the sides
covering the radiating lines was covered by a light iron roof. Wishaw writes
'On each side of the outgoing line is a circular shaft into an arched way
below, for the purpose of raising coke therefrom. The passage communicates with
the coke-vault, which being nearby on a level with the canal, the coke is
readily transferred to it from the barges. Along the middle of the passage a
single line of way is laid down with a gauge of 18 inches: on this the coke is
moved from the cellar, by means of small trucks, to underneath the eyes or
shafts above mentioned. The vault being at right angles to the passage, a small
turntable is placed at the meeting of the two lines in the middle of the vault;
the second line runs down to the canal. The coke vault is arched, is about 300
feet long, 30 wide, and 20 feet high, and is calculated to hold about 1400 tons
of coke. The communication between the locomotives shed and the vault beneath
is by means of a flight of 27 steps, each rising 8¼ inches'.
If you are interested in knowing more about Curzon Street
Shed you can do no better than to read Richard Foster's series of books on
Birmingham New Street - The Story of a Great Station including Curzon
Street published by Wild Swan Publications Ltd of Didcot. I would like to
take this opportunity of crediting Richard Foster as being the source for much
of the rich information provided in the captions to the photographs.
The LMS and its successor, British Railways, undertook to
film various aspects of operating steam locomotives and other railway
operations. We have provided below links to some of the films related to shed
operation that we know exist. Films on other aspects of railway operations can
be viewed via our Video and Film Clip
section.
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"Wash and Brush Up" 1953
Shows the procedures that a steam
engine goes through as part of its regular maintenance cycle. The locomotive
being featured in the film is a British Railways Standard Class 5MT 4-6-0 No
73020 at 6D Chester (Midland shed. (25 minutes 19 seconds) |
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LMS On the Shed - Part One of Two
Various shots of an engine
being prepared and serviced ready for its next trip. Includes actions and
responsibilities of crew. (9 minutes 44 seconds) |
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LMS On the
Shed - Part Two of Two
Various shots of an engine being prepared and
serviced ready for its next trip. Includes actions and responsibilities of
crew. (9 minutes 31 seconds) |
Select an image below to view the larger version with
accompanying text:
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