Lowestoft Railway Station - Motive Power Depot

Motive Power Depot

The first engine shed at Lowestoft was a two-road brick structure on the north side of the station with a turntable on a separate spur. It lay close to Denmark Road on the site of what was later the goods shed. The shed could only accommodate four locomotives and attracted complaints from local residents due to the smoke from the locomotives. New four-road sheds were built in 1882 at a cost of £5,650 on the north shore of Lake Lothing beyond what later became Coke Ovens Junction. The sheds were fine and ornate in the style of those at Yarmouth Vauxhall and March with extravagant brick detail and a vast iron water tank supported by tall vaulting running the width of the shed. The turntable was first on a single spur alongside the yard but later was enlarged to 65 feet (20 metres) and repositioned at the western boundary of the yard. In the 1930s, new coal handling and water softening plants were installed at a cost of £2,828.

By October 1954 the shed boasted the following allocation: 6 K3s, 1 E4, 5 J15s, 3 J17s, 2 F4s, 6 F5s, 6 F6s, 3 L1s, 1 J67 and 1 J68. Prior to 1954, Lowestoft was home to the last F3 class No. 67127 which first entered service in 1893 and was condemned at Ipswich in April 1953. Coded 32C by British Railways, the shed was officially closed in September 1960, although visiting locomotives continued to use the shed until it reportedly 'closed completely' on 7 July 1962. After a period as a cattle quarantine station, the sheds were demolished in 1983.