Train shed

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Inside Isambard Kingdom Brunel's wooden train shed at Bristol Temple Meads Bristol Temple Meads railway station train-shed engraving.jpg
Inside Isambard Kingdom Brunel's wooden train shed at Bristol Temple Meads

A train shed is a building adjacent to a station building where the tracks and platforms of a railway station are covered by a roof. It is also known as an overall roof. It should not be confused with a carriage shed, whose primary purpose is to store and protect from the elements train cars not in use.

Contents

The first train shed was built in 1830 at Liverpool's Crown Street Station. [1]

The biggest train sheds were often built as an arch of glass and iron, while the smaller were built as normal pitched roofs.

The train shed with the biggest single span ever built was that at the second Philadelphia Broad Street Station, built in 1891.

Types of train shed

Early wooden train sheds

Ashburton, Devon, England, United Kingdom (now closed) Ashburtonstation.jpg
Ashburton, Devon, England, United Kingdom (now closed)

The earliest train sheds were wooden structures, often with unglazed openings to allow smoke and steam to escape. The oldest part of Bristol Temple Meads is a particularly fine – and large – example, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel with mock-hammerbeam roof.

Surviving examples include:

Classic metal and glass

Frankfurt, Germany Frankfurt am Main - Hauptbahnhof - Neues Dach.jpg
Frankfurt, Germany

The middle of the nineteenth century saw many large stations covered by iron, steel and glass train sheds, inspired by The Crystal Palace at The Great Exhibition in 1851. The best have been described as "like cathedrals" and feature curved roofs; other structures have pitched roofs.

Surviving examples of curved roof train sheds include:

Newcastle Central, Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom Newcastle Railway Station.JPG
Newcastle Central, Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom
Ballarat, Victoria, Australia Ballarat railway station train hall.jpg
Ballarat, Victoria, Australia

Surviving examples of pitched roof train sheds include:

Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom Beverley-station-int.jpg
Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
Glasgow Central, Scotland, United Kingdom GlasgowCentral.jpg
Glasgow Central, Scotland, United Kingdom
Stoke-on-Trent, England, United Kingdom Steamtrain-sharp.jpg
Stoke-on-Trent, England, United Kingdom
Wemyss Bay, Scotland, United Kingdom Wemyss Bay railway station.jpg
Wemyss Bay, Scotland, United Kingdom

Surviving examples of Bush-type, developed by American civil engineer Lincoln Bush, and related train sheds include:

Interior view of Ketterson train shed at Toronto Union Station Via 68-1.jpg
Interior view of Ketterson train shed at Toronto Union Station
New glass roof shed at Toronto Union Station Glass roof at Toronto Union Station.jpg
New glass roof shed at Toronto Union Station

Surviving examples of other train sheds include:

Concrete

Munchen Hbf Panorama.jpg
München Hauptbahnhof train shed, dating to the 1960s

The middle of the twentieth century saw concrete used as a structural material.

Surviving examples include:

Modern steel and glass

Waterloo International (across the foreground) with the older Waterloo station beyond (June 2004) Waterloo from London Eye.jpg
Waterloo International (across the foreground) with the older Waterloo station beyond (June 2004)

After many years with few, if any, significant new train sheds, recent years have seen some major stations given graceful train sheds by using modern technology.

Examples include:

In the United States, the Walt Disney World Monorail System has some trainsheds along its route, including the entrance-gate station and the main hall (or Grand Canyon Concourse) of the Contemporary Resort.

Niigata Station Train shed (2024 Japan) JR EAST Niigata Station Train shed.jpg
Niigata Station Train shed (2024 Japan)

Open-air canopy

View through the open-air roof that encircles the platform area at Denver Union Station (May 2014) Denver Union Station Train Hall.jpg
View through the open-air roof that encircles the platform area at Denver Union Station (May 2014)

Car barn

In North America, tram cars are called streetcars or trolleys and are sometimes stored in structures that are called car barns or car houses. These buildings are usually enclosed and provide cover for trams from the elements.

List of car barns:

Former Georgetown Car Barn, Washington, D.C. (between 1980 and 2006) Georgetown Car Barn, Washington, D.C.3.jpg
Former Georgetown Car Barn, Washington, D.C. (between 1980 and 2006)

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Biddle 1973, p. 20.
  2. ↑ ProjectWest. "What's New?". www.rtd-fastracks.com. Retrieved 18 April 2018.

Bibliography

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