There were a number of engine sheds and railway works located in York. The large York North engine shed became the National Railway Museum in 1975.
Overview
Engine sheds The following engine sheds were located in York:
York North steam shed, 1878–1967 York South steam shed, 1847–1967 York Diesel Depot, 1967–1982 York Layerthorpe, 1913–1981 Siemens Train Maintenance Centre, 2007–present day Rowntrees (Industrial site with engine shed), 1909–1987
Railway works For a complete picture of activity in the York area, the three railway works located in the city are also included in this survey, as at one time they have been responsible for the maintenance of locomotives.
Queen Street locomotive works York Wagon works Holgate Road carriage works
Railway companies Before 1923, several railway companies ran trains to York. By 1853 the North Eastern Railway (NER) was the dominant operator, and by the 1870s the other significant operators were:
Midland Railway Great Northern Railway Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Great Eastern Railway London and North Western Railway Great Central Railway
After 1923, the North Eastern Railway and Great Northern Railway were taken over by the London and North Eastern Railway, which remained the dominant operator in the area. The other three companies became part of the London Midland & Scottish Railway. Before 1922, the Great Eastern Railway had come to an arrangement with the NER, which had worked their trains through from Lincoln.
York North York North was opened by the North Eastern Railway in 1878, the year after the current York station was opened. With the relocation of the station outside of the city walls, it made operational sense to have an engine shed at the north end of the station, as many trains changed locomotives at York. It also had good access to the freight yards and the carriage sheds located at Clifton.
On opening, the shed consisted of three roundhouses each with a 45-foot turntable linked to a coaling stage.
In 1891, the original 45-foot turntable in no 2 roundhouse was replaced by a 50-foot turntable. A new water tank was provided in 1909. In 1911, a fourth roundhouse was built, and the two existing 45-foot turntables were replaced with electrically operated turntables. All these improvements were complete by 1915.
In 1923, operation of the shed became the responsibility of the London and North Eastern Railway.
In 1932, further modernisation took place with the fitting of a 70-foot Mundt type turntable built by Ipswich firm Ransomes & Rapier and the installation of a mechanical coaling plant. Before this, the coaling would have been done by hand.
The North shed eventually contained four roundhouses. Locomotives were stabled around these under cover and would move off the shed onto their next duty. Normal procedure was that arriving locomotives would have their ash cleared out from the firebox before being coaled and watered in anticipation of the next duty. If a locomotive required repair, the coaling and watering was sometimes done after the repair had been effected.
As the organisational structure of the railways changed in 1923 with The Grouping and with nationalisation in 1948, so the importance of York North shed rose and York South shed fell.
In April 1942, the shed was hit by a bomb during an air raid during the Baedeker Blitz and a number of locomotives were destroyed.
The British Railways depot code allotted in 1949 was 50A. These codes are allocated to locomotives to show the depot responsible for the maintenance of the locomotive.
Rebuilding of the shed followed in 1954 with roundhouses 1 and 2 being demolished and replaced by a straight shed. Roundhouses 3 and 4 were re-roofed, and the 70-foot turntable in roundhouse 4 was renewed.
The roundhouses were closed to steam traction in 1967 and the straight shed became York diesel depot (see below). In March 1970 an attempt was made to demolish the mechanical coaling plant, but the explosives used left the structure leaning over. Attempts were made to pull it over with hawsers attached to locomotives, but they proved fruitless, and it was only in May that a crane equipped with a wrecking ball finished the job.
Following renovation of the roundhouses, the premises were occupied by the National Railway Museum which opened in 1975. When the diesel depot closed in 1983, this was also taken over by the museum, and part of this area is still used to overhaul preserved locomotives and rolling stock.
1923 allocation The allocation of locomotives to York North covered many classes of locomotive, ranging from small shunting engines to main line locomotives capable of hauling major express services. The table below shows the allocation on 1 January 1923 (the first day of the London and North Eastern Railway taking over from the North Eastern). The LNER locomotive classification has been used with the North Eastern Railway locomotive classification in brackets. No Great Northern class numbers have been included.
Class Wheel Arrangement Railway Number allocated A7 (Y) 4-6-2T NER 2 B15 (S2) 4-6-0 NER 6 B16 (S3) 4-6-0 NER 16 C6 (V) 4-4-2 NER 4 C7 (Z) 4-4-2 NER 13 – (38) 4-4-2? NER 1 D20 (R) 4-4-0 NER 15 D21 (R1) 4-4-0 NER 7 E5 (1463) 2-4-0 NER 15 -(901) 2-4-0 NER 1 -(1440) 2-4-0 NER 1 G6 (BTP) 0-4-4T NER 5 – (398) 0-6-0 NER 6 J21 (C) 0-6-0 NER 8 J24 (P) 0-6-0 NER 1 J26 (P2) 0-6-0 NER 11 J27 (P3) 0-6-0 NER 5 J71 (E) 0-6-0T NER 11 J72 (E1) 0-6-0T NER 9 J77 (290) 0-6-0T NER 6 X3 (190) 2-2-4T NER 1
The following Great Northern Railway locomotives were allocated to the area. Before 1923, these would have been looked after at York South, but after that date they were looked after at York North. Including these, York North had an allocation of 143 engines.
Class Wheel Arrangement Railway Number allocated C2 4-4-2 GNR 3 D2 4-4-0 GNR 8 D3 4-6-0 GNR 3
1943 allocation The Second World War saw the highest number of locomotives allocated to York North. This was the allocation in March 1943:
Class Wheel Arrangement Railway Number allocated A1 4-6-2 LNER 5 A7 4-6-2T NER 5 B16 4-6-0 NER 69 C1 4-4-2 GNR 2 C7 4-4-2 NER 10 D20 4-4-0 LNER 4 D49 4-4-0 LNER 13 J21 0-6-0 NER 13 J71 0-6-0T NER 14 J72 0-6-0T NER 11 J77 0-6-0T NER 9 V2 2-6-2T LNER 20 Y8 0-4-0T NER 1 D 4-4-0 SECR 2 Of special note are the two Southern Railway D class locomotives – it was not unusual for foreign locomotives to be transferred around the country. There is some doubt about what these locomotives are. Hoole states they are D class 4-4-0s from the London Brighton and South Coast Railway whilst Appleby states they are D class 4-4-4 locomotives. The only Southern Railway D class engine was a former South Eastern and Chatham 4-4-0 (one of which sits in the National Railway Museum in 2012. A number of Southern Railway King Arthur class locomotives were based in the Newcastle area during the war and were also frequent visitors to both York sheds.
GNR – Great Northern Railway LNER – London North Eastern Railway NER – North Eastern Railway SECR – South Eastern and Chatham Railway (became Southern Railway in 1923)
1964 allocation By 1964 there were a number of diesel locomotives as well as steam locomotives. Four years later, the steam locomotives had been withdrawn.
Class Wheel Arrangement Railway Number allocated 4MT 2-6-0 LMS 4 A1 4-6-2 LNER 13 B1 4-6-0 LNER 11 B16 4-6-0 NER 5 J27 0-6-0 NER 2 K1 2-6-0 LNER 18 V2 2-6-2 LNER 26 WD 2-8-0 WD 7 9F 2-10-0 BR 8 40 1CO-CO1 BR 33 03 0-6-0DM BR 15 04 0-6-0DM BR 4 08 0-6-0DE BR 15 24 Bo-Bo BR 4 25 Bo-Bo BR 1 Note that almost all the small tank engines such as the J77 class have been replaced by diesel shunters of class 03,04 and class 08. 42 years after the first survey, York still had an allocation of NER locomotives – 2 × J27 and 5 × B16. As well as the main line diesels, there were some powerful steam freight locomotives allocated to York, such as the WD and 9F classes. The total allocation at this time was 166 locomotives.
LMS – London Midland and Scottish WD – War Department DE = Diesel Electric DM – Diesel Mechanical
York South The original engine sheds at York were built on the York South site and designed to service the original station, which was a dead-end terminus within the city walls (although there was a temporary station outside the city walls before this). As the railways developed, it became apparent that this terminus was inadequate in terms of size and operational practicability; southbound trains had to reverse in from the main line, necessitating additional journey time. In the 1870s the decision was taken to move to a new site outside the city walls, and the new station (still in use in 2019) was opened.
The oldest shed on site was a three-road straight shed, probably built for the Great North of England Railway in 1840/1, which remained in use until it was demolished in 1963. This was originally built with a single track serving a 12-foot diameter turntable. The dimensions were 153 feet × 54 feet.
The York and North Midland Railway built a shed in this area, but this was demolished when the new station was built in 1877. Another four engine sheds were built in this area. The first two were roundhouses completed in 1849/50 and 1851/2, each with 16 stalls and 42-foot turntables. These were designed by the YNMR engineer-in-chief Thomas Cabry.Archeology of York south motive power depot leaflet April 2012 (produced when site was opened to public for weekend) One of the roundhouses was out of use by 1923 and used for wagon sheet repairs. Later, a NER petrol-engined saloon was kept there. The earlier roundhouse building was destroyed by fire in October 1921. The second roundhouse remained in use until 1961, although largely for stabling purposes. The two roundhouses were conjoined.
A third larger roundhouse was built in 1863 with a 45-foot turntable and space for 18 locomotives. This was an 18-sided octadecagon and was 172 feet in diameter. It was designed by NER architect Thomas Prosser (who also built York station). This was closed in May 1961 and demolished in November 1963.
Little is known about the other straight shed, although it was in use as a signal fitting shop before being demolished in 1937 when new platforms were built at York station (the current platforms 11 and 12).
Once York North shed was opened in 1878, York South went into decline with the NER largely decamping to the North shed. That said, NER locomotives did continue to be stabled at York South. Visiting locomotives were for a period hosted at York South before using the Queen Street site from 1909 (after the south end of York station was re-modelled) and then returning to York South in 1925.
After demolition of the buildings took place in 1963, the site was largely unused. A turning triangle has occupied the site (used for the turning of steam locomotives), and a couple of short sidings used to stable diesel locomotives are adjacent to the station.
In 2012, the turntable pits and ground-level remains of the sheds were excavated prior to the building of a new Network Rail signalling centre. At the end of October 2012, the remains were being covered over in anticipation of work starting on the new signalling centre.
York Diesel Depot After the last roundhouses (Numbers 3 and 4) were closed in 1967 and steam locomotives ceased to be allocated to York, the remaining allocation of diesel locomotives was maintained in the straight shed which had been built to replace roundhouses no 1 and 2 in 1954.
The following classes of diesel locomotive were allocated to York during this time:
British Rail Class 03 British Rail Class 04 British Rail Class 05 British Rail Class 20 British Rail Class 24 British Rail Class 25 British Rail Class 31 British Rail Class 37 British Rail Class 40 British Rail Class 47 British Rail Class 55