THE NRHA BEST ENTRY FOR 2020: NORTHAMPTON ENGINE SHED

Engine sheds have rarely featured in the 40-year history of the National Railway Heritage Awards, and neither have universities as entrants, so it was a double delight to receive this superb entry.

A decade ago this attractive building, clearly showing its Midland Railway architectural origins, lay abandoned and derelict, prey to vandals and arsonists.

It dates from the 1870s, when the Midland Railway arrived from Bedford, aiming for Weedon. It never got there, so it built a fine terminal station (now long gone), a goods depot and a two-road engine shed to serve them.

It survived as a welding school under BR, but it was the planned removal of the University of Northampton onto a new riverside site that saved it.

The University bought the building and tastefully converted it into the Students’ Union Building, complete with internal artwork and a replaced rooftop smoke ventilator.