Top Shed is the project to provide the Great Central Railway, the East Midlands’ award winning heritage railway, with a new locomotive shed. The current shed, situated a few hundred metres north of the preserved Loughborough Central Station is now life expired and needs replacing. Furthermore it is ultimately in the way of the railway’s aspirations to extend northwards (see the “bridging the gap” project in the links section) and over recent years has become surrounded by houses limiting the amount of heavy restoration activity which can be carried out.
The new shed will be situated about another few hundred metres north east of the current building on a ‘brown field’ site, which was a domestic rubbish tip. The new building will be a reassembled locomotive shed from Workington in Cumbria, donated to the GCR by Network Rail. This will be able to house 16 engines and incorporate improved overhaul facilities. The GCR intends the new shed will be the heritage centre piece of an ‘engineering centre of excellence.’ It is intended a carriage shed and diesel / diesel multiple unit shed will also be provided on the site to bring all the railway’s heavy restoration work into one place. Most important of all, public access will be central to the project. An education centre is planned where visitors will be able to find out about how engine sheds across the country operated and why they were focal points for railway operation. In addition the education centre will be available to keep traditional skills alive ensuring the next generation of footplate staff and restorers have the best possible start.
The rebuilt ‘Workington Shed’ will be a considerable attraction in its own right and a tour will become one of the highlights of a visit to the GCR. Through careful research the history of the building will be presented alongside the oral history of the men who worked there. Conserving the story of the building and making it available as a heritage knowledge bank, some of it through this website, will be just as important to the project as rebuilding steel and stone.
There are five phases to the scheme.
Firstly, measuring, recording, dismantling and transporting Workington Shed the two hundred miles from Cumbria to storage in Leicestershire. This stage has been completed.
Secondly, with negotiations for first refusal on the proposed site with the railway’s landlord Charnwood Borough Council now complete, we are applying for all relevant permissions and securing funding for the project. Ground investigations will be required. This phase is now underway and must be completed before physical works can begin.
Thirdly, providing rail access to the site to enable construction to begin. As can be seen from the diagram above, a new chord line will leave the former GCR formation north of the bridge over the Grand Union Canal. It will turn left, climbing slightly and crossing Hermitage Brook to reach the shed site. Road access to the site is limited and bringing material in by rail will be vital. A temporary track around the side of the current shed is planned. The canal bridge, while in situ requires major refurbishment. The embankment beyond the canal bridge needs replacing.
Fourthly, construction of the shed itself and ancillary buildings, including all necessary foundations to construct on such a site. Other buildings may follow in the much longer term.
And finally, commissioning the new building, transporting stores and equipment from the former shed, before it is dismantled and the site cleared ready to become track bed again.
More information about the project, including a more detailed breakdown of the work already done can be found in the following articles. Over time these will be added to provide a complete record of how the project progressed and how Workington was reborn as the new “Top Shed” – Loughborough Locomotive Works.