The locomotives of Carlisle London Road engine shed

The motive power of this North Eastern Railway shed is evaluated by Roger Griffiths and John Hooper across the grouping and through its lengthy demise under the LNER from 1925 to 1942 and thereafter.

Roger Griffiths and John Hooper evaluate the motive power of Carlisle’s primary North Eastern Railway engine shed across the grouping and through its lengthy demise under the LNER from 1925 to 1942, and thereafter with no allocation as a servicing point for visiting locomotives and with the double roundhouse in use for wagon maintenance.

The Newcastle & Carlisle Railway opened an engine shed immediately east of London Road, Carlisle on 19 July 1836, adjacent to its then western terminus with its passenger and goods facilities. However, March 1837 saw the railway extended beyond there, west to Rome Street, in Carlisle’s canal basin area. A single-road N&CR engine shed was established there – see ‘Carlisle’s LNER sheds: West’ (Steam Days January 2021) – but that ultimately was most likely a victim of amalgamation with the North Eastern Railway on 17 July 1862 and subsequent investment in the London Road site. From New Year’s Day 1863 NER passenger trains bypassed the former N&CR passenger terminus to instead use Citadel station (jointly as one of six companies) and the transformation of London Road’s facilities followed – see ‘Carlisle’s LNER sheds: North and East’ (Steam Days July 2021) – both in terms of goods operations and in locomotive servicing.

During its independence, the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway established engine sheds at Blaydon in 1835, Haydon Bridge, Greenhead, and Carlisle (all opened in 1836), Carlisle Basin and Redheugh (both 1837), Newcastle-upon-Tyne Shot Tower (1839), Newcastle-upon-Tyne Forth Banks and Redheugh No 2 shed (both 1847), Newcastle Central station (1850) and Alston (1852). In addition, Gateshead Chayters Bank roundhouse was built for N&CR locomotives but opened post-NER absorption, and it should be noted that the ex-N&CR premises at Blaydon closed in 1839, Greenhead was out of use circa 1842, Shot Tower in 1847 and at 1862 Carlisle Basin was likely only for servicing rather than stabling, so a similar role to a Haltwhistle stabling point, albeit that facility proved long-lived. Under the NER, the ex-N&CR wooden building at Shot Tower was moved to Sprouston in 1863, and the use of Haydon Bridge and Forth Banks ceased, respectively in 1875 and 1880, while the NER takeover saw the NBR gain Hexham-Newcastle running rights, and use of the Central station two-road engine shed under a lease, through to its closure in 1890; subsequently NBR locomotives went to Gateshead Chayters Bank and then to Blaydon.

The sheds west of the Alston branch (inclusive) have been covered in the ‘West’ and ‘East’ sections of our Carlisle quadrilogy, all having allegiance to what became the LNER’s London Road shed, so it just remains to look at the allocation of that shed in LNER days and, where possible, include a little of its pre-LNER back-story for locomotives.

Upon amalgamation, 39 ex-N&CR locomotives passed to the North Eastern Railway, and being the main line shed at the west end of the line the premises at London Road must have had its fair share on the books, or at least visiting, albeit there was only a two-road engine shed until NER investment, initially in 1864. The absorbed fleet consisted of 27 0-6-0s and a dozen four-coupled tender engines of either 0-4-2 or 2-4-0 wheel arrangement. They became NER Nos 453 to 491, but withdrawals came swiftly – nine were gone by the end of the 1860s, and just ten ex-N&CR locomotives saw continued use after 1881, all 0-6-0s of 1853 to 1861 build. Inevitably, North Eastern Railway locomotives had been drafted in as replacements, but little

information seems to exist in regard to the company’s allocation to Carlisle. The exceptions are the allocations for the final day of 1920 and exactly two years later, on the last day of North Eastern Railway operations.

At the end of 1920 there were 51 locomotives allocated to the NER’s shed in Carlisle, as follows:

Allocation at 31 December 1920:

(Subsequent LNER classification in brackets)

‘398’ 0-6-0 (‘398’): 32, 45, 991

‘1463’ 2-4-0 (‘E5’): 1464, 1478

‘A’ 2-4-2T (‘F8’): 1171

‘B’ 0-6-2T (‘N8’): 271, 503

‘BTP’ 0-4-4T (‘G6’): 60, 273, 322, 1089

‘C’ 0-6-0 (‘J21’): 104, 511, 568, 570, 666, 872, 1562, 1802

‘E’ 0-6-0T (‘J71’): 261, 285, 453

‘F’ 4-4-0 (‘D22’): 154, 355, 356, 779

‘M’ 4-4-0 (‘D17/1’) 1623

‘P1’ 0-6-0 (‘J25’): 257, 2075, 2140

‘P2’ 0-6-0 (‘J26’): 67

‘P3’ 0-6-0 (‘J27’): 790, 839, 1061, 1065, 1067

‘Q’ 4-4-0 (‘D17/2’): 1874, 1876, 1880, 1901, 1909,

1910, 1921, 1924, 1926, 1927, 1928

‘T2’ 0-8-0 (‘Q6’): 2254, 2257, 2258

Total 51

In terms of locomotive design, five of the six eras of North Eastern Railway locomotive superintendent/chief mechanical engineer are represented within the 1920 allocation: Edward Fletcher 1854-82 (retired) thanks to four ‘BTP’ tank engines and a trio of ‘398s’; Alexander McDonnell 1882-84 (resigned) produced just two unrepresented designs (class ‘38’ 4-4-0 and ‘59’ 0-6-0) but the subsequent interregnum period of 1884/85 is represented when Henry Tennant was the NER general manager and locomotives were designed by a committee, including the ‘1463’ 2-4-0s; Thomas William Worsdell 1885-90 (retired) thanks to his ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘E’ and ‘F’ classes; Wilson Worsdell 1890-1910 (retired) through the ‘M’ and ‘Q’ classes of 4-4-0, and ‘P1’, ‘P2’ and ‘P3’ 0-6-0s; Vincent Litchfield Raven 1910-23 as chief mechanical engineer until the grouping, with three brand new ‘T2’ class 0-8-0s thus far on the Carlisle books.

Nominally, ‘398’ class No 991 is the oldest locomotive on the Carlisle books at this time, at nearly 40 years. It was completed in October 1874 but in April 1881 had its 5ft diameter driving wheels replaced by a 4ft 9in set; its 17in x 24in cylinders had their bore increased to 17½ inches in January 1899, and then a Worsdell boiler was fitted in November 1899, so it was much improved by then. The lengthy lifespan of the other six Fletcher engines at Carlisle also owed much to rebuilding, which was largely the case even for the younger locomotives across the 20 year tenure of Wilson Worsdell.

The allocation for exactly two years later is seen overleaf, with the fleet standing at 48 locomotives. Despite the short amount of time that has passed, four classes had been lost to Carlisle’s allocation – the Tennant ‘1463’

(LNER ‘E5’) 2-4-0, T W Worsdell ‘A’ (F8) class 2-4-2T, Wilson Worsdell ‘M’ (‘D17/1’) 4-4-0 and the same engineer’s ‘P2’ (‘J26’) 0-6-0. Completely unchanged are the presence of the ‘398’ 0-6-0s, ‘E’ (‘J71’) 0-6-0Ts, and ‘P1’ (‘J25’) 0-6-0s, while the ‘B’ (‘N8’) 0-6-2T fleet saw one exchanged (No 503 for 855). Overall, the 4-4-0 allocation dipped from 16 to 12 despite the arrival of ‘F’ (‘D22’) No 1324 and Nos 1925 and 1929 of the ‘Q’ (‘D17/2’) class. An incoming ‘C’ (‘J21’) class, No 1813, balanced the loss of younger ‘P3’ (‘J27’) No 1061. Notably, ‘C’ No 1802 was never a Compound, unlike its 1920 classmates at Carlisle, but was rebuilt in this latter day pre-grouping period, receiving a ‘398’ boiler in April 1921 and retaining this

until December 1933. The 0-6-0 and 2-4-0 losses were recouped by an increase in ‘T2’ 0-8-0s, up from three to six locomotives.

Allocation at 31 December 1922:

‘398’ 0-6-0: 32, 45, 991

‘D17/2’ 4-4-0: 1876, 1901, 1910, 1921, 1924, 1925,

1926, 1928, 1929

‘D22’ 4-4-0: 154, 355, 1324

‘G5’ 0-4-4T: 2084

‘G6’ 0-4-4T: 60, 273, 322, 605, 624

‘J21’ 0-6-0: 104, 511, 568, 570, 666, 872, 1562,

1802, 1813

‘J25’ 0-6-0: 257, 2075, 2140

‘J27’ 0-6-0: 790, 839, 1065, 1067

‘J71’ 0-6-0T: 261, 285, 453

‘N8’ 0-6-2T: 503, 855

‘Q6’ 0-8-0: 2254, 2257, 2259, 2268, 2271, 2281 Total 48

LNER allocations

We now present locomotive allocations for London Road shed from the grouping, and earlier where known, through to the date of ‘closure’ – 5 September 1942? Allocated to the shed across this period were 60 different locomotives from 14 classes, all of North Eastern Railway origin, and one Sentinel Steam Waggon Company built steam railcar of the LNER era, our review broadly following the alpha-numeric classification system of the LNER. The subsequent tables show the early LNER number, which more often than not was also the last NER running number for the locomotive.

London Road shed had 12 North Eastern Railway ‘Q’ class 4-4-0s from 1910 when they were displaced from the East Coast main line by the arrival of Wilson Worsdell’s ‘V’ class Atlantics of 1903/04 and the ‘V09s’ of 1910 (both types became LNER ‘C6’); the Raven ‘V2’ (later ‘Z’ and LNER ‘C7’) 4-4-2s appeared from July 1911. At the grouping these Wilson Worsdell 4-4-0s became class ‘D17/2’ and nine were still at London Road – Table One covers the shed’s post-grouping 4-4-0 allocation, ‘D17/2’ and ‘D22’ classes. Known at London Road as ‘Coppertops’, the ‘D17/2s’ were used on the Newcastle services over what was classed as a main line by the North Eastern Railway; the top link passenger men each had their own engine. The three ‘D17/2s’ transferred away in 1942 were in store at London Road for a period prior to departure, with Nos 1876 and 1921 becoming the last locomotives on the London Road books.

The T W Worsdell ‘D22s’ listed in the same table each started life in a different guise, No 1324 as a ‘D’ class 2-4-0 in November 1886 (notably shown at Newcastle Exhibition in 1887) and No 355 as an ‘F’ class 4-4-0 in November 1887, both boasting Von Borries compounding, and No 154 as the Simple version of the latter, as ‘F1’ class in December 1887. All three had Joy valve gear and slide valves but saw this arrangement replaced by Stephenson link motion with piston valves. Once converted, the ‘F1s’ effectively became the LNER ‘D22s’ of 1923 – No 355 was rebuilt from ‘F’ to ‘F1’ Simple in October 1901, while No 1324 was rebuilt from 2-4-0 Compound directly to ‘F1’ 4-4-0 Simple in October 1896. Incidentally, the ‘F1’ classification would no longer be needed after October 1905 as by then all the ‘F’ Compounds had been rebuilt under Wilson Worsdell, but it was not until June 1914 that the ‘F1’ sub-class adopted the ‘F’ classification. The last of this trio of ‘Fs’ to be superheated

was No 1324 in February 1917. As ‘D22’ these 4-4-0s were latterly used at Carlisle on empty carriage duties into and out of Citadel station, and they also worked passenger trains to Brampton Junction and Haltwhistle. Built by the NER at Gateshead, interestingly all three were maintained at Gateshead Works rather than at Darlington.

Table Two unites London Road shed’s four-coupled tank engine designs, the oldest being the Fletcher-designed ‘Bogie Tank Passenger’ or ‘BTP’ that became ‘G6’ post-grouping, this data bridging the 31 December 1922/1 January 1923 transfer of assets from the NER to London & North Eastern Railway, and concluding during the first summer of the ‘Big Four’. A class of 124 locomotives with numerous differences between batches, the five ‘BTPs’ on the London Road books at the grouping dated from the 1876 to 1880 period and all were in their twilight days, with No 624 condemned at London Road, and No 322 withdrawn soon after its transfer to Selby. Notably, No 605, a product of Darlington Works, was auto-fitted from circa 1905, so was the likely favourite for the Brampton Town branch until that line’s demise in 1923. Otherwise, they were used on suburban passenger duties and empty stock movements.

The other 0-4-4T class was the ‘G5’ (NER ‘O’), which worked suburban passenger trains from Carlisle out to Haltwhistle, alongside the ‘G6’, while the appearance of ‘F8’ (NER ‘A’) class 2-4-2T No 423 for an 11-month residence is likely as a replacement for ‘G5’ No 2084. Generally speaking, ‘F8s’ were heavily involved with suburban passenger duties, with this particular engine retreating to Gateshead when London Road was transferred from the North East Area to Southern Scotland control in June 1925.

Table Three covers the comings and goings of the 0-6-0 tender engine fleet, these being core to the movement of mineral traffic. The limited pre-grouping information reveals that the four ‘J27s’ arrived new in 1906 and 1909 as NER ‘P3’, and that at the grouping there were 19 0-6-0s on the London Road books, the oldest being the Fletcher ‘398’ class. At Carlisle the latter class performed every type of job imaginable and were very capable, being fitted for passenger work to run excursions besides their everyday freight duties on fast goods trains, and latterly they also saw use on transfer jobs. Two of the London Road trio – Nos 45 and 991 – were loaned to the Highland Railway during World War I. Being amongst the oldest of the class, No 991 – R & W Hawthorn & Co Works No 1632 of October 1874 – was earmarked for preservation at York museum but the idea was dropped in favour of Great Northern Railway Stirling Single No 1, with No 991 withdrawn in May 1925.

The next oldest of the 0-6-0 types on the allocation was the NER ‘59’ class as LNER ‘J22’. The Carlisle engines were used on banking duties on the Newcastle line, up to Naworth, just over 12 miles from Carlisle, with a significant 1 in 107 climb east from Wetheral and, soon after that, 1 in 128 through Brampton Junction to the summit. The three ‘J22s’ replaced a ‘J21’ and two ‘J25s’ when London Road was transferred into the LNER’s Southern Scottish Area. Two of them,

Nos 502 and 1482, had tenders fitted with weatherboards and their cab roofs extended rearwards especially for the banking job; No 388 had neither of these alterations. Their designer, Alexander McDonnell, became the NER locomotive superintendent in 1882 and in many ways was not a natural successor to Edward Fletcher, his adoption of left-hand drive being among ill-received changes. His resignation was followed by six months of interregnum until T W Worsdell was appointed in April 1885, and his younger brother followed in 1893. Unlike his older brother, Wilson Worsdell did not favour compounding, or Joy valve gear, the ‘J21’ fleet at London Road being largely ex-Compounds (‘C’ class). The exceptions were Nos 1802 and 1813, although even they were ordered as Compounds but built as ‘C1’ Simples. The ‘Cs’ were rebuilt as Simples between 1903 and

1911 under Wilson Worsdell’s tenure. Notably, nine ‘J21s’ were resident at London Road at the grouping, but only two survived into the ‘closure years’ of the shed; that is to say beyond the transfer to the Southern Scotland Area on 1 June 1925.

Three of the four Wilson Worsdell 0-6-0 designs appear in the post-grouping allocation, the ‘P3’/‘J27’ being the most powerful – they worked goods to Newcastle and the eastern centres of the former NER area, but rarely, if ever, worked over the Waverley route, which is the reason why the class was never ‘transferred’ to Canal. Three ‘J25s’ were on the books on New Year’s Day 1923 and were used in Carlisle for transfer trips between yards until the 1925 area change saw the final two exchanged for three McDonnell ‘J22s’ from the North Eastern Area. The ‘J24s’ were used for banking on the Newcastle & Carlisle line, appearing once the ‘398’ and ‘J25’ classes were lost from London Road, from 1927, and the ‘J22s’ soon followed. Despite being of NER design, it will be noted that all seven ‘J24s’ arrived in Carlisle via Scottish sheds – they had previously been part of a batch of ten transferred to Scotland during the period April to June 1924 where their low axle weight enabled use on lightly laid branches. London Road, of course, remained in the Southern Scottish Area so transfers were easily arranged. Remarkably, No 1841 ran with a weatherboard on its tender until condemned in August 1938, and note the late departure of Nos 1900D (November 1940) and 1955D (May 1942) – one went back from whence it came, and the final member headed for Tyneside.

The five T W Worsdell six-coupled tank engines that were London Road-based at the grouping are recorded in Table Four, and their gradual drift away, starting with ‘J71’ No 261 being transferred to Hull in May 1923. No record has been found of what this class did while at Carlisle, but shunting and pilot work is likely. The pair, reallocated to Eastfield in 1926, was then employed working ‘dead’ engines from Eastfield to Cowlairs Works for attention. As for the ‘N8s’, the two on the books at the start of 1923 were originally the first two class ‘B’ compounds but were rebuilt to become the Simple (class ‘B1’) variant in June 1904

(No 855) and March 1908 (No 9); No 503 was NER No 9 until January 1914. Both these engines were amongst the dozen Gatesheadbuilt lot from 1888; the other 50 were Darlington built. One of the pair had steam

brake only and the other was Westinghouse fitted – it was the latter engine that became a useful stand-by for working empty passenger stock whenever a ‘G5’ 0-4-4T wasn’t available. When No 855 went into Darlington shops for scrapping on 17 January 1939, the engine portion was retrieved from the scrap yard and used for No 856, which had been cut up by mistake on 31 January! Interestingly, during the period between being condemned at London Road and entering Darlington Works, No 855 had apparently travelled from Carlisle via Cowlairs!

Vincent Raven’s ‘T2’ class was the first NER 0-8-0 type with superheat, and the six sent new to London Road – see Table Five for their time at Carlisle London Road – were all built by Sir W G Armstrong, Whitworth & Co Ltd at Scotswood, the company’s premises being between the Newcastle & Carlisle line and the River Tyne, only about four miles from Newcastle city centre. The order was for a batch of fifty 0-8-0s and these were the first locomotives built at Scotswood Works after its wartime production of ordnance, with NER No 2254 being Works No 2. Becoming ‘Q6’ at the grouping, they were employed on general goods and mineral trains to the east, returning with mineral, mainly coal trains from County Durham to Carlisle. During 1924 their number was halved at London Road but the trio that remained served the shed until the final week of March 1939, when they seemingly departed one by one in a somewhat covert fashion! In actuality No 2254 went straight into Darlington shops for a general overhaul (31 March-16 May 1939), and Nos 2257 and 2259 went directly to Hartlepool, albeit a week apart.

Finally, one Sentinel railcar was on the books of London Road shed between 25 April 1930 and 18 September 1933. When received from the makers, being a NE Area acquisition No 2276 North Briton went initially to Heaton shed prior to being allocated new to London Road to start a new railcar service from Carlisle to Brampton and Haltwhistle. Listed under Carriage Diagram No 97, during August 1931 this car was renumbered 31070 in the Scottish

Area Coaching Stock series. Transferred from London Road to Heaton in autumn 1933, North Briton reverted to its original number in March 1935 during a general overhaul at Darlington, when it was of course back within the folds of the North Eastern Area for good.

Is it not interesting to note that from all the 48 locomotives at London Road at the grouping, not one was actually, formally transferred to Carlisle Canal. Table Six isa statistical analysis of the natural wastage of London Road’s allocation through ‘real’ transfers and withdrawals at year-on-year end from 31 December 1922 to 31 December 1942. The lead up to, and actual transfer of North Eastern Area stock at Carlisle to the Southern Scottish Area in 1925 made a distinct change in the numbers, but subsequent reductions became a trickle for a time when two tranches of ‘J24s’ and others were brought in to replace condemned engines. Note the small number of, by comparison, ‘modern’ engines – three each of ‘J27’ and ‘Q6’ – kept on until the eve of war. Then there were the three venerable ‘D17/2’, two of which, and an almost equally aged ‘J24’, hung on to the bitter end. Why the reluctance to give up these elderly classes? Did the accountants simply forget them?

Dated shed allocations: LNER period

Customarily in their LNER shed articles the authors have tried to present details of shed visits and allocations at fixed points in time but in the case of London Road we have found no full records of depot visits, so the following allocations will largely have to suffice.

Allocation at 1 June 1925:

‘D17/2’ 4-4-0: 1876, 1901, 1921, 1924, 1926

‘D22’ 4-4-0: 154, 355, 1324

‘J21’ 0-6-0: 104, 511, 1562, 1802, 1813

‘J22’ 0-6-0: 388, 502

‘J27’ 0-6-0: 790, 839, 1067

‘J71’ 0-6-0T: 285, 453

‘N8’ 0-6-2T: 855

‘Q6’ 0-8-0: 2254, 2257, 2259

Total: 24

The day the depot was transferred to the LNER’s Southern Scottish Area, but the locomotives listed above remained ‘on the books’. Compared with the 1 January 1923 listing of 48 engines, 26 had moved away for one reason or another, and two had arrived (‘J22’), making the total 24.

Allocation at 31 December 1927:

‘D17/2’ 4-4-0: 1876, 1901, 1921, 1924, 1926

‘D22’ 4-4-0: 154, 355, 1324

‘J21’ 0-6-0: 104, 511

‘J22’ 0-6-0: 502

‘J24’ 0-6-0: 1841, 1944, 1949

‘J27’ 0-6-0: 790, 839, 1067

‘N8’ 0-6-2T: 855

‘Q6’ 0-8-0: 2254, 2257, 2259

Total: 21

Note there had been a few changes of complement since 1925, but only three fewer engines were still ‘on the books’ of this supposedly subordinate depot, the relatively nearby former North British Railway shed Carlisle Canal being its parent once London Road was part of the LNER’s Scottish operations. The LNER’s accountants may have been in charge, but locally NBR and NER traditions were still apparently being observed!

Before long the official shed allocations dry up, even though engine record cards would continue to state London Road for another 15 years, creating a strange official oddity, but in the 1930s we can at least begin to glean some additional ‘on the ground’ information from dated photographs that helps to complement the official view. Photographer F A Wycherley visited on Sunday, 31 July 1932 and recorded the presence of both Reid ‘N15’ 0-6-2T

No 9219 and Sentinel railcar No 2276 North Briton to the south side of the coal stage at London Road shed. The former is a Canal-allocated locomotive and is seemingly not in steam, most likely on its day of rest from working the goods yards at London Road, while the railcar is likewise out of steam but a London Road asset for Carlisle-Haltwhistle work. On a dull day, perhaps there was not enough light to record a view of whatever resided in the 40-locomotive capacity double-round-house, so that remains a mystery.

Allocation at 31 December 1932:

‘D17/2’ 4-4-0: 1876, 1901, 1921, 1924

‘J21’ 0-6-0: 104, 511

‘J24’ 0-6-0: 1841, 1944, 1955

‘J27’ 0-6-0: 790, 839, 1067

‘N8’ 0-6-2T: 855

‘Q6’ 0-8-0: 2254, 2257, 2259

Railcar: 2276 North Briton

Total 17

This was just before London Road depot was supposedly closed, officially sometime in 1933, after which the double-roundhouse would be given over to wagon repairs transferred in from Canal, and yet the engine record cards reveal a continued allocation of (initially) 17 engines at London Road – perhaps the ‘official closure’ refers to maintenance of locomotives and at least some staffing continued, or was there a reluctance to officially transfer the ‘North Eastern’ fleet to the ex-NBR shed at Canal?

In this grey area bridging ‘closure’, we revert to observations between 1933 and the outbreak of war in 1939. Through the services of Kidderminster Railway Museum we have been able to access and include the work of photographer Vivian Raymond Webster (known to many as Ray), who visited Carlisle with R W Tomkins on Sunday, 6 August 1933 and took at least seven photographs in and around the double roundhouse at London Road. On that day he recorded nine locomotives on site, five of which were at home, with the others from Carlisle Canal or Gateshead. For the record, identifiable in the views are Reid ‘C11’ Atlantic No 9880

Tweeddale (Carlisle Canal), Wilson Worsdell ‘D17/2’ 4-4-0s Nos 1921 and 1924, the same designer’s ‘D20’ 4-4-0 No 2104 (Gateshead), Reid ‘D29’ 4-4-0 No 9360 Guy Mannering (Carlisle Canal), Reid ‘D30’ 4-4-0 No 9426

Norna (Carlisle Canal), T W Worsdell ‘J21’ 0-6-0 No 104, Wilson Worsdell ‘J24’ 0-6-0 No 1944 and T W Worsdell ‘N8’ 0-6-2T No 855. However, it is clear that at least one other ex-North British Railway 4-4-0 was also in the south roundhouse.

To solve the mystery we are grateful to Peter Webster, Ray’s son, for a look at the notes from the day – an overnight excursion from Euston to Carlisle, and then shed visits, with permits, to Kingmoor, Canal, London Road, Durran Hill and Upperby. No 9426

Norna was not recorded in Ray’s notes, but this must be an oversight as his photograph at the top of page 21 of the July 2021 issue of

Steam Days clearly shows Nos 1924 and 9426 together, and perhaps R W Tomkins ‘cabbing’ the former. The ‘Engines seen’ section of his notes include ‘Scott’ class 4-4-0 No 9420

The Abbot, as well as all the others mentioned, so perhaps there were at least ten resident engines that day. The ‘D29s’ and ‘D30s’ of Canal shed (and visiting it) were clearly at home on the Newcastle & Carlisle line at this time. Perhaps the transfer of the Sentinel railcar from London Road from 18 September 1933 is actually a marker of ‘closure’? The end of the peak summer service is often a time of operational change on Britain’s railways.

There is thereafter a lack of subsequent photographs of locomotives at London Road – is this an indication that the other Carlisle sheds were a bigger ‘draw’ to enthusiasts, or were such sights as double-figures of engines at London Road soon to be a thing of the past? The latter seems likely from the photographic evidence we have collated.

In contrast, across a vast array of photographers the first ex-NER locomotive recorded at Canal shed was ‘N8’ 0-6-2T No 855 in 1934, while well known photographer W L (Leslie) Good visited Durran Hill shed (former Midland Railway) in September 1934 but has

no record of the neighbouring London Road premises – perhaps suggesting that there were no locomotives to photograph. CFH Oldham also visited Durran Hill shed, on 13 July 1935, and again has nothing at London Road. Finally, we have photographic evidence from 1936,

1937 and 1939 of ex-North Eastern locomotives on Canal shed, but nothing of them post-August 1933 at London Road. A visit to Canal shed on Friday, 19 June 1936 saw ‘D17/2’ 4-4-0 No 1901 and ‘J24’ class 0-6-0 No 1841 recorded, and then F A Wyncherley visited Canal on Tuesday, 10 August 1937 and recorded three ex-NER locomotives – ‘D17/2’ 4-4-0 No 1921, ‘J24’ No 1841 (again) and ‘Q6’ 0-8-0 No 2254. As we conclude this work, the latest dated image located of a former NER locomotive on Canal shed is of ‘D17/2’ No 1901 (again) on Monday, 10 April 1939, which seems to have been photographed by N Fields. The engine record cards state that all five of the quoted locomotives were on the London Road allocation at that time, but was that shed even being used by 1934 for anything but the everyday servicing the engines working the neighbouring yard or on incoming trains?

Readers may recall from our ‘Locomotives of Carlisle Canal shed’ feature that in terms of the record cards at least, no ex-NER locomotives joined the Canal allocation, but perhaps that was playing to the local railwaymen’s allegiances, who were either NB or NE men. Indeed, was there a need to make a transfer if both sheds were active? Meanwhile, increasingly Canal shed covered Newcastle & Carlisle line passenger work in LNER days, initially with Reid 4-4-0s and Atlantics, hence their presence during

V R Webster’s August 1933 visit to London Road, but with no NER presence that day at Canal. Whatever the reasoning, it would be the three ‘D17/2’ 4-4-0s and two ‘J24’ 0-6-0s on the London Road cards after 1939 that brought down the curtain on the local allocation of former North Eastern Railway engines. March/April 1939 had seen the London Road fleet reduced from 13 locomotives to just five – ‘J24’ No 1858D went to St Margarets, sister locomotive No 1845D headed for Borough Green, the three ‘Q6s’ went to West Hartlepool, and the trio of ‘J27s’ to Percy Main. However, in fact of those listed in our tables above, ‘J24’ No 1900D lingered until November 1940, while three ‘D17/2s’ and another ‘J24’ did not come off the books until April to September 1942 transfers.

A shed with no engines

Although the double roundhouse building had been given over to wagon repairs since 1933, and despite the loss of a home fleet of engines, the locomotive servicing facilities were retained to seamlessly continue to serve the needs of locomotives visiting the still active London Road goods facilities. Although this role continued for many years, photographs are surprisingly elusive, an exception being a 27 July 1956 view of Peppercorn ‘K1’ class 2-6-0 No 62010, which was Blaydon (52C)-allocated at the time. Most likely it worked a train to the nearby yard and was recorded during watering – Blaydon men used to haul up to 15 return freight and mineral trains over the Newcastle & Carlisle route each weekday – but of course it could also be working to and from the, by then, long established wagon repair facility.

The very last reference that we have found to locomotives on the London Road shed site, in this case through local enthusiast Howie Milburn, comes from newspaper reports of April 1961. Firstly, in the Cumberland Evening News of Monday, 24 April under the headline ‘Locomotive ran off lines and crashed through shed – Lindisfarne Street got rude awakening’, the report reads:

‘A LARGE railway locomotive left the lines and cut its way clean through a single-storey stone shed at the back of Lindisfarne Street, off London Road, Carlisle, just after 2am yesterday. It came to rest about five yards from the back doors of the houses on the south side. The crash wakened many people in the street.

The 123 ton Class 9 locomotive, which had brought a freight train from Birmingham to Carlisle during the night, had left its train at the London Road goods depot and gone to the London Road sheds for coaling. While it was being coaled the engine suddenly moved and ran about 100 yards forward along the line to a turntable. The lines ended at the turntable but the engine went on about another 20 yards and crashed into the wall of the empty shed, which was formerly a tram shed when Carlisle had trams on the streets. The engine tore through both the front and rear walls of the shed and carried on across an open space about four yards wide. When it finally came to rest its front wheels were overhanging a four-foot lane separating the open space from the back-yard doors of the houses.

SIX HOURS TASK – A break-down crane was immediately sent for and this arrived from the Kingmoor Depot about 3am. The engine had to be dragged bodily back on to the turntable as it could not be lifted and this operation took about six hours. The driver was Mr James Caven, of 12 Braken Close, Carlisle, who was on top of the coal stage when the engine moved, and the fireman was Mr Robert Pate, of 79 Ridley Road, Carlisle, who was actually on the engine all the time it was moving. The only damage the engine sustained was buckled smoke deflectors on the front and no one was injured.

CAUGHT THE WATER – Mr Caven stated that he was on the coal stage at the time and asked his fireman, who is a passed fireman, to move the engine forward a yard to get more coal on. The fireman did so, but the engine ‘caught the water’ and in spite of his strenuous efforts he could not stop it from moving. Mr Caven added that such a thing could happen to any driver. He had just taken the engine over at the London Road Depot and it appeared to be in perfect working order.

Note: ‘Caught the water’ is a technical expression used by engine drivers meaning that the regulator could not be shut off. The accident will be the subject of an inquiry by British Railways.’

With no Sunday edition of the

Cumberland Evening News, it appears that the working was on the Saturday night/Sunday morning, so the incident is believed to have occurred in the early hours of Sunday,

23 April. As is often the case, the facts differ slightly in another newspaper report, but here are a few additional nuggets from the Carlisle Journal of Friday, 28 April 1961, a weekly newspaper. It stated that the fireman was 38year-old Reg Pate and that he put on the brakes and when they didn’t work he ‘tried to put the engine into reverse’; and when this didn’t work ‘he jumped off ’. The time was 2.15am and in a house near to the rogue engine were Mrs Clara Bellingham and her children. She said, ‘The whole thing was like a nightmare. We were used to the noise of trains in the depot’ but ‘Then came the crash. I ran downstairs with the children after me. We could not see what had happened; the place was thick with steam.’

The report continues with comments from neighbour Miss Anne O’Hara, who was sitting knitting at the time! ‘We are all lucky to be alive. It was a near thing. There was a terrible crash, then a horrible noise. I ran into my kitchen to find it full of steam. At first I thought something in the house had exploded, then I saw the engine towering above me.’

The subsequent British Railways accident report has eluded us, but it is clear from an archived microfiche of the Monday newspaper report that the locomotive was a British Railways Standard ‘9F’ class 2-10-0, and it has also become apparent that the shed also suffered a ‘run-away’ back on 4 June 1881. In later steam days the ‘9Fs’ were common in Carlisle but that was not the case in April 1961, so given the newspaper comment in regard to the route, and the day, the locomotive in question is quite possibly the regular job for a mechanical-stoker fitted Saltley-allocated ‘9F’ – a Birmingham Water Orton to Carlisle fitted freight that was routed via the Settle & Carlisle line. At the time this used Nos 92165-67 and, of those, No 92167 did have an ‘out of course’ visit to Crewe Works in 1961, subsequent to a light casual repair in the January, but of course, if the errant locomotive had only superficial damage it may well have been attended to on a local shed.

Final thoughts

A major locomotive shed for the North Eastern Railway, certainly after the creation of the roundhouses post-1880, the depot that became known as London Road in LNER days only retained such a status for about 12 years post-grouping, and then saw demotion, a new role and, in regard to locomotive matters, a withering that finally ended with the 1963 closure of London Road goods yard. The story of the rundown and demise of London Road shed is perhaps all the more intriguing because it has yet to reveal everything. As ever, we would very much like to hear from you, via the editor, is you can further enrich this fascinating story.

Authors’ Collection A north-facing aerial view of south-east Carlisle on 7 September 1932 shows three engine sheds, two existing and one ancient. London Road bridges the River Petteril about halfway up the righthand side of the image and continues to the top-left corner, into the centre of Carlisle. The road’s name was adopted by the LNER for the ex-North Eastern Railway premises just to its east and to the north side of the Newcastle & Carlisle route. Towards the top of the view, London Road goods shed, beside the main line, catches the sunshine, with the coal stage and double roundhouse to its right. The first Newcastle & Carlisle Railway engine shed was once near the yard throat, close to the river. Immediately south of there, part of Petteril Bridge goods yard is seen, this being of Midland Railway origin. At bottom left, to the right of a footbridge over the West Coast route of the LMS is the 11-road ex-L&NWR Upperby depot, later to be replaced by a large circular building with which the shed ended its days. To its east is a long works building, and then a large carriage and wagon shops, the construction of which caused the L&NWR to divert and canalise the River Petteril – see the plume of smoke from the L&NWR-built pumping station that fed river water to the Upperby complex. Then, immediately north of Upperby in the right corner of a wide triangle of lines bounded on the north side by the N&CR route to Citadel station (unseen), a curved building and two adjacent sheds are in view – these are the remains of the Lancaster & Carlisle Railway shed and the first L&NWR depot in Carlisle – as such they largely survived into the 1970s.

SLS Collection Absorbed into North Eastern stock in July 1862, this Robert Stephenson & Co Ltd-built 0-6-0 (Works No 918) was around nine-years-old when it became the un-named NER No 485, as seen. New as Newcastle & Carlisle Railway No 37 Blenkinsop, most of the company’s post-1850 0-6-0s carried nearby place names – Blenkinsop (often spelt ‘Blenkinsopp’) boasted about 90 houses circa 1870 and was in the parish of Haltwhistle. The ancient seat of the Blenkinsop family was Haltwhistle Castle and they were noted for ‘border feuds’. In the era of the new railway there was still a family presence at Blenkinsop Hall, and Blenkinsopp Colliery, just south of Greenhead, was reached by the Newcastle & Castle Railway in its earliest days, on 19 July 1836 as a terminus – the new line linked to navigable waters at Carlisle. The pictured 0-6-0 would serve the NER for 20 years, being replaced in 1882; just four ex-N&CR locomotives entered 1883 still in service.

ARPT Collection With the south-facing glass façade of Carlisle’s Citadel station as a backdrop, this pre-1920 view records NER ‘BTP’ 0-4-4T No 950 and its crew during a quiet spell between duties. The Fletcher-designed ‘Bogie Passenger Tanks’ had many variations, this example being a May 1874-product of Neilson & Co Ltd (Works No 1832) built with 5ft 0¼in driving wheels, 3ft trailing wheels and cylinders of 16in bore and 22in stroke. Note that the splashers are ‘closed’, the sandboxes integral, and the cab has round spectacle plates. Unlike many of its classmates, NER No 950 was only rebuilt once, in June 1888, the change including a Worsdell boiler, cylinders bored to 17in, and its stovepipe chimney has been replaced. Clearly a local engine given its 1,000 gallon water capacity, the transfer date of No 950 away from Carlisle is unknown but at the end of 1920 it was on the allocation of South Blyth shed. Long-lived by the grouping, No 950 was withdrawn in February 1923.

Bernard Matthews Collection North Eastern Railway elegance poses in the ‘Newcastle & Carlisle bay’ at Citadel station in about 1920 as, carrying a stopping passenger train headlamp, Wilson Worsdell ‘Q’ class No 1901 waits to leave with a service to Newcastle. Completed by the NER at Gateshead in May 1897, this 4-4-0 was updated with piston valves and superheating in August 1919 and was on the books of Carlisle shed at the end of 1920, along with ten of its classmates. It was still on hand two years later, on the eve of NER assets becoming a major part of the London & North Eastern Railway. Its next move was a surprise two-month transfer to Hawick in autumn 1937. Following in the tracks of the brace of ‘Q1’ 4-4-0s created in 1896 should East and West Coast racing resume, the 30 ‘Qs’ were smaller but still built for speed, with 7ft 1¼in driving wheels and water scoops, such credentials giving away their express raison d’être; note the clerestory roof of the cab.

Having just departed Carlisle (Citadel) with a stopping service to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NER ‘901’ class 2-4-0 No 1443 descends at 1 in 153 as the neighbouring West Coast line climbs at 1 in 110, the stock seen above the NER train being London & North Western Railway. Edward Fletcher’s ‘1440s’ owed much to his earlier ‘901’ class and were built to serve on the Leeds-Ripon-West Hartlepool route, with the doyen rebuilt in Leeds from an 1849 locomotive and the others new from Gateshead. No 1443 dates from March 1877, was rebuilt with larger (18in bore) cylinders in August 1887 and received a Wilson Worsdell boiler (standard to eight classes) in May 1892. The view is undated but likely pre-World War I, but once the class was on lesser duties. The allocation is unknown, and Newcastle is likely, but other than a straight top-up of water, at this time any Newcastle & Carlisle main line servicing was undertaken at Carlisle’s NER shed at London Road. Sunderland-based at the end of 1920, No 1443 was one of nine ‘1440s’ to enter LNER service, its withdrawal coming in February 1925.

J J Cunningham/Ernie’s Railway Archive Arguably Wilson Worsdell’s ‘Qs’ were sidelined from their best work by the end of 1920, more secondary roles being undertaken from Carlisle (11 engines), Leeds Neville Hill (7), West Hartlepool (6), Scarborough (4) and Gateshead (2), with the Newcastle & Carlisle route going on to enjoy a long association with the class as they passed into the LNER era as ‘D17/2’ post-1923. Passing LMS goods facilities on the up side as it enters Carlisle (Citadel) station on an unknown date is ‘D17/2’ No 1876 (Gateshead, September 1896) on a lowly mixed goods duty. This 4-4-0 was a long-stayer at London Road shed and in fact, with sister No 1921, it proved to be the last to leave the allocation when transferred to Haymarket shed on 5 September 1942 (No 1921 went to St Margarets). Extraordinarily, these two engines ultimately served until April 1943, the pictured engine was in service for more than 46 years.

J J Cunningham/Ernie’s Railway Archive Boasting 6ft 8in driving wheels, T W Worsdell ‘D22’ class 4-4-0 No 355 sees out its years on easy duties as a London Road engine. New as a ‘C’ class Compound in November 1887, 1890 saw Wilson Worsdell promoted from assistant locomotive superintendent to the top position when his older brother Thomas retired, and the new appointee was not one for compounding, so the 25 ‘Fs’ of 1887-91 were duly rebuilt between March 1895 and November 1905 to effectively expand the sister class of the Simple variant, class ‘F1’, originally a fleet of ten engines, along with two rebuilt 2-4-0s. Seen at Citadel station, seemingly on empty coaching stock duties, No 355 is in its final form with Stephenson valve gear and piston valves (gained upon conversion to ‘F1’ in October 1901) and superheating postSeptember 1915. On the London Road books at least by the end of 1920 as one of four ‘D22s’, the local fleet was pruned to three examples by the grouping, and all those would be condemned from London Road shed in January and February 1930.

J W Armstrong/ARPT Another view recorded at the south end of Citadel station, but this time the goods buildings providing the backdrop show their L&NWR ownership, finds Fletcher ‘BTP’ 0-4-4T No 57 mid-shunt. As class ‘G6’ these tank engines disappeared from the Carlisle allocation in January 1924 but this earlier view makes an interesting comparison to our previous ‘BTP’ photograph. A Gateshead product of December 1879, the splashers are ‘open’ and the driving wheel size is perhaps 5ft 6in, while the trailing wheels are 3ft 4in. Rebuilt in December 1893 with a Worsdell boiler, soon to come is a radical November 1900 rebuild to ‘290’ class 0-6-0T – the rear bogie to be replaced by an extra coupled axle – and as such No 57 would be in service at North Blyth at the end of 1920. Post-grouping, the Wilson Worsdell ‘290’ class became ‘J77’, with this particular example finally pensioned off as BR No 68430 in June 1956, after more than 76 years of service.

V R Webster/Kidderminster Railway Museum T W Worsdell joined the NER from the Great Eastern Railway, where likewise he was the locomotive superintendent, and his NER ‘C’/‘C1’ classes of 0-6-0 naturally follow up his own GER ‘Y14s’ (later LNER ‘J15’), notably with more power and a far more commodious cab. As LNER ‘J21’, former ‘C’ class Compound No 104 slumbers near the south entrance/exit road of London Road’s double roundhouse on Sunday, 6 August 1933. Dating from December 1890 as one of 171 ‘C’ Compounds (only 30 of the sister ‘C1’ class were built new), August 1909 saw No 104 rebuilt into the Simple form shown here. As built to the Worsdell/Von Borries system, this engine had two 18in x 24in Compound expansion cylinders allied to Joy radial valve gear and slide valves, and for No 104 the rebuild to Simple expansion format was less involved than for some of its classmates – some ‘Cs’ were upgraded to 19in x 24in cylinders and gained Stephenson link motion and piston valves too. Carlisle-allocated by the end of 1920, No 104 would see out its days working from this shed, its demise coming in February 1935.

Bernard Matthews Collection Shortly after reallocation from Shildon in April 1925, McDonnell ‘J22’ (NER ’59’) class 0-6-0 No 502 is at rest on the spur between the north roundhouse and the outside turntable at London Road shed. Its main employment at Carlisle was banking and trip work, which it undertook until condemned on the last day of February 1929, to be cut up at Darlington, its place of birth. McDonnell brought 44 of the mixed traffic ‘59s’ into service between September 1883 and March 1885. Although an NER design, it is interesting to note the timing of the transfer to Carlisle – arrival of a trio of ‘J22s’ just pre-dated the ‘move’ to Southern Scottish management. Note the Westinghouse pump on what was originally the fireman’s side (most were converted to right-hand drive). The tender is of Great Southern & Western Railway type (McDonnell’s previous employer at Inchicore in Ireland) with the outside frames cut-away between horn guides. The cab roof extension is to protect the crew when running tender-first, 50 per cent of the time during banking work, but not fitted at this time is the related tender weatherboard – a vertical sheet at the front of the tender that helped to ‘enclose’ the cab. Similar to the front cab sheet it had two spectacle holes to aid sighting, albeit these were round rather than rectangular, so created something of a mismatch.

Colour-Rail.com/86211 Standing beside the 33,000 gallon elevated water tank installed near London Road shed’s first (south) roundhouse in 1887, LNER ‘J24’ No 1955 is recorded in July 1929. Note the hand-operated travelling crane behind the tender, in the distance is a glimpse of additional tracks added to the depot and yard site post-1899 and by 1924 judging by Ordnance Survey dates. New from the NER’s Darlington Works as ‘P’ class in June 1898, it was intended for short-haul mineral duties and proved to meet those requirements very well never being rebuilt despite over 50 years of service. Called upon to serve in Scotland as a lightweight 0-6-0 in the second spring of LNER ownership, No 1955 thereafter made a ‘Southern Scottish’ internal transfer to reach Carlisle from Edinburgh’s Haymarket shed in an 0-6-0 reshuffle of the mid- to late-1920s. Three or four ‘J24s’ was typical on the Carlisle books between 1928 and 1939, with No 1955 the last to leave, in May 1942 to Borough Gardens; it was withdrawn from there on 27 September 1948.

Fleetwood Shawe/ARPT Carlisle London Road-based ‘J27’ class 0-6-0 No 1067 passes the goods yard on the up side of Brampton Junction with a goods service from the Newcastle direction. The shadows indicate an evening view, the line curving in from a north-easterly direction at this point, just prior to meeting the incoming goods line from Kirkhouse and Tindale (Lord Carlisle’s Brampton & Hartleyburn Railway) and then reaching the station. As NER ‘P3’ class, Wilson Worsdell had already refined his standard 0-6-0 goods design through the ‘P’, ‘P1’ and ‘P2’ designs when one appeared new on the Carlisle allocation in April 1909, No 790, with the pictured engine appearing new in September 1909 as the fourth and final ‘P3’ arrival of this 115-strong fleet. However, in due course examples of the earlier ‘P1’, ‘P2’ and ‘P’ class – the latter from 1927 as ‘J24’ – all served from London Road shed. The date of this view is unrecorded but will surely pre-date the April 1939 transfer of No 1067 to Percy Main shed.

Bernard Matthews Collection A London Road engine seeking shelter at the former NBR Carlisle Canal shed in 1934 is T W Worsdell ‘N8’ class 0-6-2T No 855, which appeared at the border city’s NER depot at some point in 1921/22. It was built at Gateshead and released to traffic in October 1888 as a class ‘B’ Compound, albeit rebuilding to Simple form was undertaken in 1904 and at that time, as well as the 18in x 24in high pressure and 26in x 24in low pressure cylinder replacement, Joy valve gear and slide valves gave way to a pair of conventional 19in x 24in cylinders, Stephenson link motion and piston valves, while superheating followed in July 1921. As LNER ‘N8’ class postgrouping, No 855 continued its usual shunting duties, mostly at London Road’s yards, until it left service on New Year’s Eve 1938, and then a most unusual post-withdrawal story unfolds – as told in the accompanying ‘N8’ notes.

Fleetwood Shawe/ARPT Brand new to London Road shed in February 1920 as Raven ‘T2’ No 2257 (W G Armstrong, Whitworth & Co Ltd Works No 5), in post-grouping days as LNER ‘Q6’ we find this Carlisle-based 0-8-0 shunting in the up goods yard at Brampton Junction – note the LMS container being carried in a three-plank wagon. Given that the engine is facing Carlisle, it has very likely arrived from the Newcastle direction and is marshalling stock in readiness for departure. A total of 120 of these superheated locomotives were built, between 1913 and 1921, mostly by the NER at Darlington, the six Carlisle-allocated examples being amongst the exceptions. On hand at Carlisle until late the spring of 1939, No 2257 saw later use from West Hartlepool, Hull Springhead, Neville Hill, Darlington, and Neville Hill (again) across the war years, becoming LNER No 3414 in August 1946 and then transferring/returning to West Hartlepool in May 1947 and serving from there until mid-May 1965, as BR No 63414 after July 1950.

Fleetwood Shawe/ARPT Raven ‘T2’ 0-8-0 No 2281 is noteworthy in being the very last brand new locomotive delivered to Carlisle’s London Road shed. Sadly this view, again in the up yard at Brampton Junction – note the loading gauge ahead of the locomotive – is post-grouping as ‘Q6’ and is after the locomotive was transferred away to Blaydon shed on 1 July 1924, given that Blaydon was a major shed on the Newcastle & Carlisle route (and with N&CR heritage), being four just miles from Newcastle, and that the 45 miles to Brampton Junction was very much ‘in range’. The prominent view of the tender is apt given that the post-1917 built ‘T2s’ were provided with self-trimming 4,125 gallon tenders but 30 of these assets were exchanged with non self-trimming 4,125 gallon versions from Raven ‘C7’ 4-4-2s – No 2281 is noted as receiving an ex-Atlantic tender in September 1933, hence offering an interesting comparison with the previous view. Incidentally, the ex-‘Q6’ tenders received water scoops when adopted by the ‘C7s’.

L W Perkins/Kidderminster Railway Museum The only new motive power to join the allocation at London Road shed post-grouping was LNER Sentinel steam railcar North Briton, which is seen on 31 July 1932 while running as No 31070 (it was formerly No 2276 in the North Eastern Area). Recorded at home on a Sunday, the North Eastern Railway-built goods shed of London Road yard is the backdrop, which survives to this day and is Grade II-listed, with the coal stage behind the photographer, the double-roundhouse behind his right shoulder, and the turntable out of view beyond the railcar, to the far right. The railcar allocation from April 1930 was for a service between Carlisle and Haltwhistle, 23¼ miles, but clearly there was a rethink at the end of the summer of 1933 and North Briton soon found itself leaving Carlisle and instead back as a North Eastern Area asset.

V R Webster/Kidderminster Railway Museum Wilson Worsdell NER ‘Q’ class 4-4-0 No 1921 is seen as LNER ‘D17/2’ outside its home shed of London Road on 6 August 1933. Note the turntable pit and the table’s operating arm just visible in foreground. The shed is the north part of the double-roundhouse, and although seemingly not in steam, the 4-4-0 appears to be coaled up and ready to resume service on the Monday morning. Classmate No 1876 was noted by the photographer as departing Carlisle on the 6.57am service to Newcastle on this day, which must have been around the time the refreshment rooms opened, an essential visit prior to visiting five engine sheds! The pictured engine finally departed the London Road records with No 1876 in September 1942, bound for different ends of Edinburgh, and each just seven months away from being condemned.

L W Perkins/Kidderminster Railway Museum Ashed out and cold when seen on Sunday, 31 July 1932, Reid ‘N15/2’ class 0-6-2T No 9219 is at the south end of the double roundhouse at London Road shed while outstationed from Canal shed to work the neighbouring London Road goods yard. After September 1926 London Road shed had just one tank engine of its own, ‘N8’ No 855, so the parent shed stepped in on an ‘as required’ basis. To the left of the locomotive we gain a glimpse of the elevated coal road climbing up to the timber coaling stage, the gable of the building just visible near the locomotive’s dome, and part of the south roundhouse is just in view on the right, as are two open wagons in use for ash disposal. New as North British Railway ‘386’ class No 219 of May 1913, this 0-6-2T would be a Canal shed asset from January 1933 through to July 1951, arriving from Thornton Junction and leaving for Eastfield.

V R Webster/Kidderminster Railway Museum At rest under the paraphernalia of the shed roof and smoke vents, ‘J24’ class 0-6-0 No 1944 is at home inside the double roundhouse at London Road shed on 6 August 1933. Judging by the light pouring in to the right of the smokebox, so through a south-facing window, this appears to be the north end turntable, with a Reid 4-4-0 in view to the left background, facing on to the south end turntable. Although not discernable from this angle, perhaps this is ‘D30’ No 9420 The Abbot as mentioned in the photographer’s records, which listed it by name as well as number. Dating from October 1914, it was not Carlisle-based in LNER days. The pictured ‘J24’ earned its keep at London Road from July 1927, and most likely from Canal shed as a base post-1934, through to the end of its career on 19 August 1938.

Bernard Matthews Collection One of London Road shed’s ‘waifs and strays’ is seen in the yard at Carlisle Canal shed on Friday, 19 June 1936, again coaled up and seemingly ready for service. ‘D17/2’ No 1901 was built by the North Eastern Railway at Gateshead in 1897 and was by now a long-term resident at the NER’s Carlisle engine shed, but at this stage it had a new status as one of the ‘ghost’ engines allocated to London Road beyond its publicised closure dates and in this case not leaving until April 1942, for the remote little shed at Duns, from where it pottered about in Borders tranquility for three years and two months before being withdrawn. A second LNER number had been earmarked for this engine (No 2112) but in the event this was not applied.

A N H Glover/Kidderminster Railway Museum A view by F A Wycherley records Raven ‘Q6’ (NER ‘T1’) class 0-8-0 No 2254 in the yard outside Carlisle Canal shed on Tuesday, 10 August 1937. A small travelling crane with a match truck is on the left, and a clerestory roofed coach is seen beyond the locomotive and to the right. Facing the shed exit, although not in steam it does appear that the locomotive is in service, so by implication Canal shed was an operational base for what was still on paper a London Road-allocated engine. Without doubt, despite being on an ex-North British Railway shed, the bread and butter work for this locomotive would remain the Newcastle & Carlisle line until its transfer away to West Hartlepool on 29 March 1939. This engine proved long-lived, its career ending at Tyne Dock on 26 April 1965.

Fleetwood Shawe/ARPT The relationship between Canal shed and London Road is complex, but very likely the 1 June 1925 operational change from the North Eastern to the Southern Scottish Area was at the very least the stepping stone that saw Canal engines become an everyday sight on the Newcastle & Carlisle route, quite possible working from London Road as an ‘outstation’, very likely until the end of the summer of 1933, and perhaps beyond. This view at Brampton Junction records Canal shed’s Reid ‘D29’ class 4-4-0 No 9340 Lady of Avenell calling with a Newcastle-bound passenger service. This locomotive dates from November 1911 as NBR No 340 and post-grouping it was on the Carlisle Canal books from November 1937 (arriving from Aberdeen) and until June 1945, its next shed being Eastfield, so that helps to date the view. The locomotive’s name recalls Sir Walter Scott’s ‘The Abbott’, particularly the childless wife of Sir Halbert Glendinning, who enjoyed power through her friendship with the Earl of Murray.

Ken Quanborough/Kidderminster Railway Museum Blaydon-allocated Peppercorn ‘K1’ class 2-6-0 No 62010 is recorded alongside London Road shed’s water tank at the south end of the shed on 27 July 1956, the coaling facility going unseen behind the photographer. The double roundhouse building offers a backdrop but looks in a forlorn condition, with the centre of the three gables removed, along with the central section of the roof.

Authors’ Collection Four months after the shed made the news through its nocturnal runaway from the coaling stage and onwards out of view to the left, on Tuesday, 15 August 1961 we see what was the 1881 roundhouse, from the south end when it was in use as a wagon shop. Note, on the far right, an entrance made to help adapt the building for rolling stock repairs. After closure to locomotives and the passing over of the site to wagon repairs, the big loss was the roof, and it is of note that only the broadest of the three gables, the central one, is lost, so there was still a reasonable amount of cover beneath the two narrower sections on either side. The post-1933 doorway on the right would in time be mirrored by a new doorway on the left, but not until all railway use had ended.