Train shed
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see engine shed and goods shed
A train shed is an adjacent building to a railway station where the tracks and platforms are covered by a roof. It is also known as an overall roof. The first train shed was built in 1830 at Liverpool's Crown Street Station.
The biggest train sheds were often built as an arch of glass and iron, while the smaller were built as normal pitched roofs.
The train shed with the biggest single span ever built was that at the second Philadelphia Broad Street Station, built in 1891.
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[edit] Types of train shed
[edit] Early wooden train sheds
The earliest train sheds were wooden structures, often with unglazed openings to allow smoke and steam to escape. The oldest part of Bristol Temple Meads is a particularly fine - and large - example, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel with mock-Hammerbeam roof.
Surviving examples include:
- Ashburton, Devon, England (station closed)
- Frome, Somerset, England
- Kingswear, Devon, England
- Thurso, Highland, Scotland
- Bo'ness, Falkirk, Scotland
- Wick, Highland, Scotland
[edit] Classic metal and glass
The middle of the nineteenth century saw many large stations covered by iron, steel and glass train sheds, inspired by The Crystal Palace at The Great Exhibition in 1851. The best have been described as "like cathedrals" and feature curved roofs; other structures have plainer pitched roofs.
Surviving examples of curved roof train sheds include:
- Amsterdam Centraal, Netherlands
- Antwerpen-Centraal, Belgium
- Bath Green Park railway station, England (no longer in use as a train shed; now in use as supermarket car park and covered market)
- Bristol Temple Meads, England
- Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof, Germany
- Glasgow Queen Street, Scotland
- London Kings Cross, England
- København H, Denmark
- Liverpool Lime Street, England
- London Paddington, England
- Manchester Central railway station, England (no longer in use as a train shed; now in use as a conference centre)
- London St Pancras, England
- York, North Yorkshire, England
- Newcastle Central, England
- Darlington, England
- Hull Paragon, England
- Reading Terminal, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (no longer in use as a train shed; now in use as convention center space)
Surviving examples of pitched roof train sheds include:
- Crewe and Chester in Cheshire, England
- Gare du Nord, Paris, France
- Gare de Lyon, Paris, France
- Glasgow Central station, Scotland
- Liverpool Street station, London, England
- Harrisburg Transportation Center, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA
- Wemyss Bay railway station, Scotland
Surviving examples of Bush-type and related train sheds include:
Surviving examples of other train sheds include:
- Pennsylvania Station (Newark), Newark, New Jersey, USA
- The SEPTA platform area of 30th Street Station, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
[edit] Concrete
The middle of the tweentieth century saw concrete used as a structural material.
Surviving examples include:
[edit] Modern steel and glass
After many years with few, if any, significant new train sheds, recent years have seen some major stations given graceful train sheds by using modern technology.
Examples include:
- Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Berlin, Germany
- Waterloo International, London, England
- Stillwell Avenue subway station, New York City, New York, USA
- Market East Station, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (while station is located underground, it has above-ground structures for the purpose of sheltering the platforms and trains)
- Longyang Road station on the Shanghai Maglev Train line
In the United States, the Walt Disney World Monorail System has some trainsheds along its route, including the entrance-gate station and the main hall (or Grand Canyon Concourse) of the Contemporary Resort.
