Train shed

Inside Isambard Kingdom Brunel's wooden train shed at Bristol Temple Meads.

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. It is also known as an overall 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.

Types of train shed

Early wooden train sheds

Ashburton

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)
• Bo'ness, Falkirk, Scotland
• Frome, Somerset, England
• Kingswear, Devon, England
• Thurso, Highland, Scotland
• Wick, Highland, Scotland

Classic metal and glass

Frankfurt

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 pitched roofs.

Surviving examples of curved roof train sheds include:

• Amsterdam Centraal, Netherlands
• Antwerpen-Centraal, Belgium
• Bath Green Park railway station, England (converted to covered market and car park)
• Bristol Temple Meads, England
• Copenhagen Central Station, Denmark
• Darlington, England
• Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof, Germany
• Glasgow Queen Street, Scotland
• Hull Paragon, England
• Gare de Lille Flandres, France
• Liverpool Lime Street, England
• London Kings Cross, England
• London Paddington, England
• London St Pancras, England
• Madrid Atocha, Spain (converted to station atrium)
• Manchester Central railway station, England (converted to conference centre)
• Newcastle Central, England
• Reading Terminal, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States (converted to convention center)
• York, North Yorkshire, England

Surviving examples of pitched roof train sheds include:

Glasgow Central

• Chester, England
• Crewe, England
• Glasgow Central station, Scotland
• Harrisburg Transportation Center, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States
• London Liverpool Street, England
• Paris Gare du Nord, France
• Paris Gare du Lyon, France
• Wemyss Bay railway station, Scotland

Wemyss Bay

Surviving examples of Bush-type and related train sheds include:

• Hoboken Terminal, Hoboken, New Jersey, United States
• Toronto Union Station, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Communipaw Terminal, Jersey City, New Jersey, United States

Surviving examples of other train sheds include:

• Pennsylvania Station (Newark), Newark, New Jersey, United States
• The SEPTA platform area of 30th Street Station, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Concrete

München Hauptbahnhof train shed, dating to the 1960s

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

Waterloo International (across the foreground) with the older Waterloo station beyond

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:

• Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Berlin, Germany
• Longyang Road station on the Shanghai Maglev Train line
• 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)
• Stillwell Avenue subway station, New York City, New York, USA
• Waterloo International, London, England
• Southern Cross Station, Melbourne, Australia

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.