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23-582: Doncaster Railway Works is a railway workshop located in Doncaster , England. Also referred to as The Plant , it was established by the Great Northern Railway in 1853, replacing the previous works in Boston and Peterborough . Until 1867 it undertook only repairs and maintenance. Today the remaining part is operated by Wabtec . In 1866, Patrick Stirling was appointed as Locomotive Superintendent, and

46-483: A layer of coal dust covering them and the bed". Another key requirement of the steam engine is a supply of water which is carried in the tenders or tanks of the engines. In Australia, water was also carried in water gins (a water tank mounted on a wagon) due to longer distances covered and scarcer water resources. In depots where the limescale content of water was high (known in some areas as ‘Hard Water'), water softening plants were introduced. At Norwich engine shed in

69-533: A locomotive the engine had to be balanced quite precisely on the turntable and it could then be literally pushed around. Some turntables could be powered by fixing the vacuum brake of the engine to the turntable and using that to turn the engine. Later turntables were electrically operated. Many diesel locomotives in the UK have a cab at each end removing the need for the turntables. However, in Australia and America, there are

92-426: A number of single ended locomotives and turntables are still in use. Engine sheds would carry out basic maintenance and the bigger sheds would carry out more complex repairs. Locomotives that required further repair were sent to the company's locomotive works. Withdrawn locomotives could often be found at some depots before their final trips to the scrapyard. In the UK, the general practice is that one shed would have

115-485: A number of smaller sub-sheds where there were fewer facilities. When engines allocated to sub-sheds required repairs, they were often exchanged for a similar engine or perhaps just visiting the main depot on a Sunday when traffic levels were considerably lower. In terms of locomotive allocation, it seems to have been the practice that for some railways locomotives were all allocated to the main shed but in others each shed had its specific allocation of locomotives. A list of

138-501: A single locomotive class . Engine sheds could be found in many towns and cities, as well as in rural locations. They were built by the railway companies to accommodate the 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. Most depots had a mixture of passenger, freight and shunting locomotives, but some, such as Mexborough , had predominantly freight locomotives, reflecting

161-635: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Engine shed 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 those was reduced drastically following the changeover from steam to diesel and electric traction, and most modern Bw in Germany are specialised depots, often responsible for

184-419: The 1950s and 1960s, the rise of manufacturing industry saw many staff leaving the railway for better working conditions (and pay) and many railways started to modernise as a result. The maintenance of the new diesel locomotives in filthy steam sheds soon proved difficult and, although some old sheds survived, many new diesel depots were built on new sites or on the sites of the old steam sheds. The major problem

207-449: The British sub-sheds can be found here . The drivers and fireman were the visible face of the engine shed and, as such, certain sheds had reputations for clean locomotives thanks to the dedication of those men. Many companies allocated a specific main line locomotive to a crew and they would usually take a personal interest in the cleanliness of their engine; some companies offered a prize to

230-778: The Doncaster site. Railway workshop Railway workshops are railway facilities in which rolling stock is repaired. While often colocated with engine sheds to perform routine tasks as well as major repairs, in some countries separated concepts exist with railway workshops being specialized in major repairs and general inspections. In German-speaking countries, the generic names Werkstatt , or specifically in Austria Hauptwerkstatt , are commonly used, except for Germany , where railway workshops maintained by Deutsche Bahn are called Ausbesserungswerk or simply Werk . New Zealand This rail-transport related article

253-582: The UK, or outside, such as that at the East Broad Top Railroad & Coal Company in Rockhill, Pennsylvania , USA. There were six primary activities that took place at 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 filthy job and carried out at quiet times, although some bigger depots had facilities for disposing of ash more efficiently. Study of photographs from

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276-400: The UK, the sludge was discharged into a tank and emptied every three years or so with the sludge being dumped into the sea at Lowestoft. Tender locomotives required turning so they were facing the right way before their next duty. In the early days, these were typically around 45 feet long. As the technology improved and engines got bigger, then the turntables got longer. In order to turn

299-602: The crew of the best kept engine. Many drivers would spend their own time on improving their knowledge and sharing best practice with younger drivers. The footplate staff (as drivers and fireman were known) were unionised from the 19th century and in the UK were generally in the ASLEF whilst other shed staff tended to be in the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants (later National Union of Railwaymen ). Many engine shed workers put up with very poor conditions for many years. In

322-481: The first of the 875 class was built in 1886. At this time the works also began building new coaches: in 1873 the first sleeping cars; in 1879 the first dining cars in the United Kingdom ; and in 1882 the first corridor coaches . In 1891, 99 locomotives, 181 carriages and 1,493 wagons were built. In 1889 a separate building for carriages was opened and wagon construction ceased at Doncaster in 1890, and by 1913 all of

345-848: The industrial nature of that area in South Yorkshire . Others, such as Kings Cross engine shed in London, predominantly provided locomotives for passenger workings. Nearly all depots at that time had a number of shunting locomotives. Normally 0-4-0T or 0-6-0T tank engines, they would be allocated to shunting duties in goods yards, carriage sidings, goods depots and docks. Many large rail connected industrial sites also had engine sheds, primarily using shunting locomotives. Each railway company had its own architectural design of engine shed, but there were three basic designs of shed: The turntables for straight and dead end sheds were generally outside. Those in roundhouses could be inside, such as those at York in

368-496: The last of 2,228 steam locomotives, was completed. In November 1963 60009 Union of South Africa was the last of an estimated 10,000 steam locomotives to be overhauled at Doncaster Works. Carriage building finished in 1962, but the works was modernised with the addition of a diesel locomotive repair shop. Under British Rail Engineering Limited , new diesel shunters and 25 kV electric locomotives were built, plus Class 56 and Class 58 diesel-electric locomotives. In October 1987,

391-443: 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 and huge coaling towers above the neighbourhoods indicated where the engine shed was. The sheds were not clean places to work. The large east London depot of Stratford had an engineman's dormitory and its occupants would "wake up with

414-422: The steam 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 and protect safety. Locomotives generally ran on coal. Initially this job was done by hand and many depots had significant coal stacks on site. These would be neatly constructed with

437-510: The time of the Great Northern Railway into LNER days the works continued to build a variety of locomotives and rolling stock. During World War II like other workshops it joined in the war effort producing, among other things, Horsa gliders . The carriage building shop was destroyed by fire in 1940. New buildings in 1949 were designed with the British Railways Mark 1 all-steel carriages in mind. In 1957, BR Standard Class 4 76114,

460-509: The top speed of 126 mph on 3 July 1938 to become the world's fastest steam locomotive, a record that she still holds to the present day. These have hauled such trains as the Flying Scotsman , Silver Jubilee , Coronation and the Elizabethan . Doncaster also constructed the carriages for the last of these. In 1913 "The Plant" employed 4600 and covered 200 acres (81 ha) and from

483-609: The wagon works was sold by the British Rail Board to RFS Industries in a management buyout . In 1998 RFS Industries was purchased by Westinghouse Air Brake Company and in March 2000 rebranded Wabtec . In 2007, Bombardier Transportation closed its part of the works. In early 2008 the main locomotive repair shop which was built on the Crimpsall was demolished to make way for housing. Wabtec continues to conduct carriage refurbishment at

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506-609: The work relating to coaches was concentrated in three buildings including a construction facility with 12 roads. Among the locomotives the works produced were the Stirling Singles , the Ivatt Atlantics and the Gresley Pacifics , including the world-famous Flying Scotsman , the first locomotive to achieve 100 mph and also run from London King's Cross to Edinburgh Waverley non-stop; and Mallard which achieved

529-458: Was the disposal of oil, which initially was left lying around causing pollution and safety issues. The new depots were equipped to deal with diesel fuel and the ability to access the underside, as well as upper body work, was improved. The tasks were not that much different in that diesel locomotives were fuelled rather than coaled, although they did require water as early diesels were equipped with steam generators for train heating purposes. Since

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