Carlisle's LNER engine sheds North and East

摘要

The Railways Act of 1921 saw to it that the important railway hub of Carlisle had its railway companies split between the London & North Eastern Railway (specifically the North British Railway and North Eastern Railway) and the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (in this case the Caledonian Railway, G&SWR, L&NWR, Maryport & Carlisle Railway, and Midland Railway), but it is worth bearing in mind that all these concerns had needed locomotive servicing facilities in the area, and that these were often established during the pre-history of the 1921 companies by much smaller railways that had long since been swallowed up and were now all but forgotten. Taking this evolution into account, our research into the LNER sheds in Carlisle covers 11 engine shed and servicing sites with LNER lineage to the border city. Interestingly, only three of these were first established by the NBR - Longtown, Carlisle Canal and Langholm - all for its Border Union scheme and associated branches, and none by the NER, or indeed the LNER, although both the NBR and NER did build new sheds to replace/upgrade inherited facilities on original or expanded sites. The collective story effectively spans more than 125 years, with three of the sites still in use in British Railways days but none dieselised. Having already covered the sheds west of Carlisle (Citadel) station (Steam Days: January 2021), and the locomotives of Canal shed (Steam Days: April 2021), this account concentrates on the two NBR sheds north of the city, as well as London Road, Carlisle's key NER shed, and the outstations historically aligned to that depot.