A new £8m locomotive shed has seen the arrival of 46 rail vehicles, not only creating Europe’s largest historical collection of its type, but also signalling the end to another HBPW engineering triumph.
Locomotion in Shildon, County Durham recently completed the museum’s biggest ever rail shunt to create Europe’s largest undercover display of historic rail vehicles thanks to the additional building that HBPW engineers had a hand in designing.
Partner, Emyr Parry, said: “Shildon was the starting point for ‘Locomotion No.1’s’ first journey on the historic Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825 and the town subsequently became home to Shildon Works from 1833.
“They were originally built to serve the burgeoning Stockton and Darlington Railway, growing to cover 40 acres and employing 2750 staff.”
The site was chosen as the location for a new railway museum by the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, opening in 2004. A more recent decision was then taken to build a new 2,000m2 shed to house more than 40 historic vehicles. This has just opened to the public.
“Our role was to design the underground drainage including SuDS features, foundations, steel work and ground floor slabs,” added Emyr, “all vital ‘new’ elements of a building that now houses a huge part of Britain’s rail engineering history. We are honoured to have played our part.”
The museum recently completed the biggest ever rail shunt in which 46 vehicles were carefully moved inside ‘New Hall’ which is situated opposite the museum’s existing collection building. It opened to the public on 24th May.
Locomotion is a partnership between the Science Museum Group and Durham County Council, with the latter having provided significant funding towards New Hall.
With a crane, two snow ploughs, a pair of track inspection velocipedes, historic steam locomotives, numerous freight wagons and even a tracked Bren Gun Carrier, the lineup is sure to include something to complete every train set.
Added to the vehicles already at Locomotion, there are now 99 rail vehicles, creating the largest undercover display of historic rail vehicles in Europe.
New Hall will celebrate the museum’s 20th anniversary in September this year. The museum is also built close to the site of Shildon Works – once home to a thriving railway workshop, employing thousands, which closed in June 1984.
Sarah Price, Head of Locomotion, said: “I would like to thank all our partners involved in creating the magnificent New Hall………….New Hall effectively doubles the size of Locomotion and gives us much needed covered display space to help conserve the collection, as well as giving visitors the chance to find out more about the railways and the North East’s railway heritage.”