1.
Motive power depot
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Motive power depot, usually abbreviated to MPD, or railway depot is a term given to places where usually locomotives are housed when not being used, and also repaired and maintained. They were originally known as running sheds, engine sheds, or, for short, facilities are provided for refuelling and replenishing water, lubricating oil and grease and, for steam engines, disposal of the ash. There are often workshops for day to day repairs and maintenance, although locomotive building, mPDs in Britain are now often known as traction maintenance depots. The equivalent of such depots in German-speaking countries is the Bahnbetriebswerk or Bw which has similar functions, with major repairs and overhauls being carried out at Ausbesserungswerke. The number of these reduced drastically on the changeover from steam to diesel and electric traction and most modern Bw in Germany are specialised depots, engine sheds could be found in many towns and cities as well as in rural locations. They were built by the companies to provide accommodation for their locomotives that provided their local train services. Each engine shed would have an allocation of locomotives that would reflect the duties carried out by that depot, others, such as Kings Cross engine shed in London, predominantly provided locomotives for passenger workings. Nearly all depots at this time had a number of shunting locomotives, normally 0-4-0T or 0-6-0T tank engines, these would be allocated to shunt turns and could be found in goods yards, carriage sidings, goods depots and docks. Many large rail connected industrial sites also had engine sheds primarily using shunting locomotives and those in roundhouses could be inside or outside such as that at the East Broad Top Railroad & Coal Company Roundhouse, Rockhill, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, USA. There were six primary activities that took place at the sheds, when a steam engine arrived on shed it would drop its fire and the ash that had built up would be removed. Disposal of the ash was a job and carried out at quiet times although some bigger depots had facilities for disposing of ash more efficiently. Study of photographs from the era show it was not uncommon for piles of ash to be scattered around the depot site. After completing their last duty and arriving on shed locomotives would have a regular boiler washout to remove scale, improve efficiency, initially this job was done by hand and many depots had significant coal stacks on site. These would be constructed with the outer walls constructed of dry blocks much in the style of a dry stone wall with smaller pieces behind these. As technology advanced and the bigger sheds got busier this process became mechanised, the sheds were not clean places to work. The large London depot of Stratford had a dormitory and its occupants would “wake up with a layer of coal dust covering them. Another key requirement of the engine is a supply of water which is carried in the tenders or tanks of the engines. In Australia water was carried in water gins due to longer distances covered
2.
Goods shed
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A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train. There will also be a door to move goods to or from road wagons and vans, inside the shed will generally be a platform and sometimes a small crane to allow easier loading and unloading of wagons. Some goods sheds had more than one track, planks or portable bridges were normally provided for this purpose. When no longer required for goods traffic goods sheds have often been converted for other uses, such as the office at Paignton railway station. When many rural lines in New Zealand were closed, goods sheds along the closed branches often formed integral parts of the depots of road freight companies that replaced the railway. Those at Exeter and Didcot are still intact, the term can also be applied to a shed on a pier in a harbour where cargo is/was transferred from rail cars or trucks to ships and vice versa. The cargo was stored in the shed. Goods station or goods depot - a facility used exclusively for handling goods rather than passengers, goods yard - one or more sidings, generally near a passenger station, where goods wagons can be loaded and unloaded. There may or may not be a shed, depending on the nature of the regular traffic handled. Goods warehouse - generally used to denote a larger goods shed, the larger size was used to store goods for longer periods. Some would be for a specific traffic
3.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
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Brunel built dockyards, the Great Western Railway, a series of steamships including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship, and numerous important bridges and tunnels. His designs revolutionised public transport and modern engineering, though Brunels projects were not always successful, they often contained innovative solutions to long-standing engineering problems. Brunel set the standard for a railway, using careful surveys to minimise grades and curves. This necessitated expensive construction techniques, new bridges, new viaducts, one controversial feature was the wide gauge, a broad gauge of 7 ft 1⁄4 in, instead of what was later to be known as standard gauge of 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in. Brunel astonished Britain by proposing to extend the Great Western Railway westward to North America by building steam-powered iron-hulled ships and he designed and built three ships that revolutionised naval engineering, the Great Western, the Great Britain, and the Great Eastern. In 2002, Brunel was placed second in a BBC public poll to determine the 100 Greatest Britons, in 2006, the bicentenary of his birth, a major programme of events celebrated his life and work under the name Brunel 200. Brunels name is an amalgamation of his parents names and he inherited the family name of his father, and his middle name is his mothers surname. Brunels first name, Isambard, comes from his fathers middle name, Isambard is a Norman name of Germanic origin, meaning iron-bright. A cognate name is the German surname Eisenbarth, which can still be found today among Bavarians and German-Americans and he had two older sisters, Sophia and Emma, and the whole family moved to London in 1808 for his fathers work. Brunel had a childhood, despite the familys constant money worries. His father taught him drawing and observational techniques from the age of four, during this time he also learned fluent French and the basic principles of engineering. He was encouraged to draw interesting buildings and identify any faults in their structure, when Brunel was eight he was sent to Dr Morrells boarding school in Hove, where he learned the classics. When Brunel was 15, his father Marc, who had accumulated debts of over £5,000, was sent to a debtors prison. After three months went by with no prospect of release, Marc let it be known that he was considering an offer from the Tsar of Russia. In August 1821, facing the prospect of losing a prominent engineer, Brunel subsequently studied under the prominent master clockmaker and horologist Abraham-Louis Breguet, who praised Brunels potential in letters to his father. In late 1822, having completed his apprenticeship, Brunel returned to England, Brunels father, Marc, was the chief engineer, and the project was funded by the Thames Tunnel Company. The composition of the riverbed at Rotherhithe was often more than waterlogged sediment. The latter incident, in 1828, killed the two most senior miners, and Brunel himself narrowly escaped death and he was seriously injured, and spent six months recuperating
4.
Bristol Temple Meads railway station
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Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is an important transport hub for transport in the city. In addition to the services there are bus services to many parts of the city and surrounding districts. Bristols other main station, Bristol Parkway, is on the northern outskirts of the conurbation. Temple Meads was opened on 31 August 1840 as the terminus of the Great Western Railway from London Paddington,116 miles 31 chains from Paddington. The railway was the first one designed by the British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, soon the station was also used by the Bristol and Exeter Railway, the Bristol and Gloucester Railway, the Bristol Harbour Railway and the Bristol and South Wales Union Railway. To accommodate the number of trains, the station was expanded in the 1870s by Francis Fox. Brunels terminus is no part of the operational station. The historical significance of the station has been noted, and most of the site is Grade I listed, the platforms are numbered 1 to 15 but passenger trains are confined to just eight tracks. Most platforms are numbered separately at each end, with odd numbers at the east end, Platform 2 is not signalled for passenger trains, and there is no platform 14. Temple Meads is managed by Network Rail and the majority of services are operated by the present-day Great Western Railway, other operators are CrossCountry and South West Trains. In the 12 months to March 2014,9.5 million entries, the name Temple Meads derives from the nearby Temple Church, which was gutted by bombing during World War II. The word meads is a derivation of mæd, an Old English variation of mædwe, meadow, as late as 1820 the site was undeveloped pasture outside the boundaries of the old city, some distance from the commercial centre. It lay between the Floating Harbour and the cattle market, which was built in 1830. The original terminus was built in 1839–41 for the Great Western Railway, the first passenger railway in Bristol, and was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and it was built to Brunels 7 ft broad gauge. The station was on a viaduct to raise it above the level of the Floating Harbour and River Avon, the latter being crossed via the grade I listed Avon Bridge. The station was covered by a 200-foot train shed, extended beyond the platforms by 155 feet into a storage area, Train services to Bath commenced on 31 August 1840 and were extended to Paddington on 30 June 1841 following the completion of Box Tunnel. A few weeks before the start of the services to Paddington the Bristol and Exeter Railway had opened, on 14 June 1841, its trains reversing in and out of the GWR station
5.
Station building
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A station building, also known as a head house, is the main building of a passenger railway station. It is typically used principally to provide services to passengers, a station building is not to be confused with the station itself. Whereas the latter is the whole facility giving passenger access to trains at a particular location, normally, a station building will be of adequate size for the type of service that is to be performed. It may range from a simple building with limited services to passengers to a large building with many indoor spaces providing many services. Some station buildings are of monumental proportions and styles, both in the past and in recent times, especially when constructed for a modern high-speed rail network, a station building may even be a true masterpiece of architecture. A typical railway station building will have an entrance hall off the road or square where the station is located. Near the entrance will be a counter, ticket machines. There will also be one or more waiting rooms, often divided by class, from the waiting rooms, there will usually be direct access to rail passenger services. Medium to large size station buildings will also have offices for rail staff involved in the management. Smaller or more stations will have no station building at all. Several decades were needed to find a formula for station building architecture that, like churches and town halls, the first station buildings gave no special emphasis to their function, being essentially a variation on the house or office building. Often the earliest station buildings were so modest that the visible element of the station was the train shed. Some early station building design teams tried to develop representative characteristics, initially, this was by use of traditional architectural symbols, primarily related to the form of a gate, such as a portico, a triumphal arch or Propylaea. But none of them have proved to be suitable for expression of specific railway station functions. One of the ideas was to form the station building porticos to highlight the driveway. This motif is present in the Newcastle Central station building. It became a more prominent motif in the twentieth century. In British railway stations, where - thanks to constant movement of trains - the exchange of passengers takes place rapidly, to some extent, the railway hotel buildings serve part of the stations function
6.
Train station
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A train station, railway station, railroad station, or depot is a railway facility where trains regularly stop to load or unload passengers or freight. It generally consists of at least one platform and a station building providing such ancillary services as ticket sales. If a station is on a line, it often has a passing loop to facilitate traffic movements. The smallest stations are most often referred to as stops or, in parts of the world. Stations may be at level, underground, or elevated. Connections may be available to intersecting rail lines or other modes such as buses. In British usage, the station is commonly understood to mean a railway station unless otherwise qualified. In the United States, the most common term in contemporary usage is train station, Railway station and railroad station are less frequent. Outside North America, a depot is place where buses, trains, or other vehicles are housed and maintained and from which they are dispatched for service. The two-storey Mount Clare station in Baltimore, Maryland, which survives as a museum, first saw service as the terminus of the horse-drawn Baltimore. The oldest terminal station in the world was Crown Street railway station in Liverpool, built in 1830, as the first train on the Liverpool-Manchester line left Liverpool, the station is slightly older than the Manchester terminal at Liverpool Road. The station was the first to incorporate a train shed, the station was demolished in 1836 as the Liverpool terminal station moved to Lime Street railway station. Crown Street station was converted to a goods station terminal, the first stations had little in the way of buildings or amenities. The first stations in the modern sense were on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, manchesters Liverpool Road Station, the second oldest terminal station in the world, is preserved as part of the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. It resembles a row of Georgian houses, dual-purpose stations can sometimes still be found today, though in many cases goods facilities are restricted to major stations. In rural and remote communities across Canada and the United States, such stations were known as flag stops or flag stations. Many stations date from the 19th century and reflect the architecture of the time. Countries where railways arrived later may still have such architecture, as later stations often imitated 19th-century styles, various forms of architecture have been used in the construction of stations, from those boasting grand, intricate, Baroque- or Gothic-style edifices, to plainer utilitarian or modernist styles
7.
Liverpool
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Liverpool is a major city and metropolitan borough in North West England.24 million people in 2011. Liverpool historically lay within the ancient hundred of West Derby in the south west of the county of Lancashire and it became a borough from 1207 and a city from 1880. In 1889 it became a county borough independent of Lancashire, Liverpool sits on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary and its growth as a major port is paralleled by the expansion of the city throughout the Industrial Revolution. Along with general cargo, freight, raw materials such as coal and cotton, the city was also directly involved in the Atlantic slave trade. Liverpool was home to both the Cunard and White Star Line, and was the port of registry of the ocean liner RMS Titanic and others such as the RMS Lusitania, Queen Mary, and Olympic. The city celebrated its 800th anniversary in 2007, and it held the European Capital of Culture title together with Stavanger, Norway, several areas of Liverpool city centre were granted World Heritage Site status by UNESCO in 2004. The Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City includes the Pier Head, Albert Dock, tourism forms a significant part of the citys economy. Liverpool is also the home of two Premier League football clubs, Liverpool and Everton, matches between the two being known as the Merseyside derby, the world-famous Grand National horse race takes place annually at Aintree Racecourse on the outskirts of the city. The city is home to the oldest Black African community in the country. Natives of Liverpool are referred to as Liverpudlians and colloquially as Scousers, a reference to scouse, the word Scouse has also become synonymous with the Liverpool accent and dialect. Pool is a place name element in England from the Brythonic word for a pond, inlet, or pit, cognate with the modern Welsh. The derivation of the first element remains uncertain, with the Welsh word Llif as the most plausible relative and this etymology is supported by its similarity to that of the archaic Welsh name for Liverpool Llynlleifiad. Other origins of the name have suggested, including elverpool. The name appeared in 1190 as Liuerpul, and it may be that the place appearing as Leyrpole, in a record of 1418. King Johns letters patent of 1207 announced the foundation of the borough of Liverpool, the original street plan of Liverpool is said to have been designed by King John near the same time it was granted a royal charter, making it a borough. The original seven streets were laid out in an H shape, Bank Street, Castle Street, Chapel Street, Dale Street, Juggler Street, Moor Street, in the 17th century there was slow progress in trade and population growth. Battles for the town were waged during the English Civil War, in 1699 Liverpool was made a parish by Act of Parliament, that same year its first slave ship, Liverpool Merchant, set sail for Africa. Since Roman times, the city of Chester on the River Dee had been the regions principal port on the Irish Sea
8.
Crown Street railway station
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Crown Street Station was a passenger railway terminal station located on Crown Street, Liverpool, England. The station was the worlds first intercity passenger station, opening in 1830, used for passengers for only six years the station was demolished as the site was converted into a goods yard. The goods yard remained in use until 1972, the location of the station is now a park with no trace of the station or goods yard. The station opened on 15 September 1830 as the Liverpool passenger terminus of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and this gave it the station the distinction of being the worlds first dedicated intercity passenger railway station as the first train ran from Liverpool. Manchesters corresponding Liverpool Road terminus station opened on the same day, the architecture is attributed to George Stephenson. The station was accessed by a 291 yd long single track tunnel from the deep Edge Hill Cutting to the east, together with the adjacent 1.26 mi Wapping Tunnel, these were the first tunnels to be bored under a metropolis. The Wapping Tunnel runs under the Crown Street station site, Crown Street station was too far from Liverpool city centre. Its use as a passenger station ended after six years of use in 1836 when Lime Street Station was opened. The site of the Crown Street station was converted to a goods yard, an additional twin track tunnel was built from the Edge Hill cutting in 1846 to improve throughput to the goods yard. The goods yard closed permanently when services through the two ended in 1972. The Wapping Tunnel along with the original Crown Street tunnel also ceased operation in 1972, immediately to the south of Crown Street station was an area known as Millfield or Grays yard. This included a marshalling and storage area as well as a substantial works involved in the construction and maintenance of wagons. The area has been landscaped as a park with the original 1830 single track tunnels western portal covered over, the 1846 Crown Street tunnel is now used as a headshunt for trains. Student accommodation for the nearby University of Liverpool has been built on a part of the old goods yard site, the site of the station itself is landscaped. The Wapping Tunnels ventilation tower and a plaque commemorate the place in history. There are also a number of stone sleeper blocks close to the fence on Falkner Street. The proposal for Paddington Village mentions that a station in the 2014 Liverpool City Region, Long Term Rail Strategy would be of use, the Directory of Railway Stations, details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present
9.
Broad Street Station (Philadelphia)
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Broad Street Station at Broad & Market Streets was the primary passenger terminal for the Pennsylvania Railroad in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1881 to the 1950s. Located directly west of City Hall – 15th Street went under the station – the northwest section of Dilworth Plaza, the original station was designed by Wilson Brothers & Company, and completed in 1881. It was one of the first steel-framed buildings in the United States to use not as structure. Initially, trains arrived via elevated tracks built above Filbert Street, by 1885 the land between the station and the Schuylkill River had been purchased and cleared, and a 9-block viaduct constructed. Broad Street Station was dramatically expanded by renowned Philadelphia architect Frank Furness, Wilson Brothers designed a new train shed, that was constructed high over the existing sheds, which were subsequently demolished. The new shed had the largest single span of any station roof in the world -306 ft, in 1894 the PRR moved its headquarters from Fourth Street to the office building above the station. In the 1930s PRR headquarters moved to the newly-built Suburban Station Building at 1600 Filbert Street, the train shed suffered a massive 1923 fire, and was demolished. The station itself was demolished in 1953, a year after service to it had ceased. Broad Street Station dominated the center of the city, fifteenth Street ran beneath the stations lobby, and the numbered streets up to 24th ran beneath the viaduct. John F. Kennedy Boulevard traces a similar path today, the station was renowned for its architecture but cursed for inundating the heart of the city with the smoke and noise of the days steam locomotives. The Chinese Wall also made Center City north of the station unfashionable, the latter two were heavy rail lines that crossed under City Hall. The lines then split in three directions, Trains heading west toward Harrisburg would take the PRR line to 40th Street Station, 52nd Street Station, Trains heading northwest along the Schuylkill would split from this line after 52nd Street toward the stations at Wynnefield Avenue and Cynwyd. Trains heading south would take the Baltimore & Washington RR Central Division line through Angora, today all these railroad lines, except for the one between 30th Street and Broad Street stations, remain intact, run by SEPTA or NJ Transit. The architecture of Broad Street Station was typical of Furnesss buildings in central Philadelphia in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Furnesss structure looked much like a web of Gothic spires and arched windows, with considerable modification from their medieval sources. His work expanded on a structure originally constructed by the Wilson Brothers & Company a mere decade before. Furnesss windows were often rounded and did not use pointed chancels, as the station expanded after 1881, additional train sheds were added to cover additional tracks, twelve in all by 1891. They were eventually replaced by a shed, which, upon its completion in 1892, had the largest single span of any station roof in the world. This relieved much of the traffic at street level
10.
Ashburton railway station
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Ashburton railway station is a closed railway station situated in the town of Ashburton in Devon, England. It was the terminus of a line from Totnes. Ashburton station, along with the rest of the branch from Totnes, was opened by the Buckfastleigh, Totnes, the railway was amalgamated into the Great Western Railway in 1897 and this in turn was nationalised into British Railways on 1 January 1948. The station closed to passengers in November 1958 although goods traffic on the line continued until 7 September 1962, the South Devon Railway, a successor to the Dart Valley Railway, still operates the remainder of the branch between Totnes and Buckfastleigh. Great Western Branch Line Termini Combined edition, oxford Publishing Company and Paul Karau. ISBN 0-86093-369-5 Butt, R. V. J, the Directory of Railway Stations, details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present. Friends of Ashburton Station Ashburton station on navigable 1947 O. S. map
