Gateshead TMD - Engine Shed

Engine Shed

For most of its working life the main shed housed four Turntables. Prior to 1908, all four turntables had been 48' 5", which proved to be a problem as locomotives were steadily increasing in size, but in that year, the Redheugh Branch was closed, which allowed the track running alongside the southern wall of the shed to be lifted, and an extension built to accommodate three larger 60' 0" turntables. In the 1920s the arrival of large 4-6-2 "pacific" type locomotives (the Vincent Raven designed NER "2400" class which became "A2" under the LNER, and the Doncaster built Gresley "A1s" designed for the GNR) necessitated the conversion of the adjoining locomotive works' tender shop into a shed which could accommodate them, as even the 60' turntables in the main shed were not large enough. The problem of turning these locomotives without a large enough turntable was overcome by utilising the triangular junctions at the southern ends of the High Level and King Edward VII bridges, which allowed the locomotives to perform a three point turn in much the same way as a road vehicle. The rebuilding of the shed in the 1950s would include the provision of a 70' turntable which these locomotives could use, but this would soon become obsolete with the phasing out of steam traction under the BR 1955 Modernisation Plan.