TRAIN SHED

:''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. 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.

Contents

Types of train shed

Early wooden train sheds

Classic metal and glass

Concrete

Modern steel and glass

Types of train shed

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

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

★ 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

★ London St Pancras, England

★ York, North Yorkshire, 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:

★ Gare du Nord, Paris, France

★ Harrisburg Transportation Center, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA
Surviving examples of Bush-type and related train sheds include:

★ Hoboken Terminal, Hoboken, New Jersey, USA

★ Toronto Union Station, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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

Concrete

The middle of the tweentieth century saw concrete used as a structural material.
Surviving examples include:

★ Cockfosters tube station, London, England

★ Uxbridge tube station, London, England

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:

★ 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.