Top Shed
'Top Shed', as the locomotive depot serving King's Cross station was always familiarly referred to, was one of the best known engine sheds of the steam age. It was also one of the longest-serving examples —dating from 1850, when the first 'engine stables' were built on the site, to 1963 when the advent of diesel traction and the establishment of a new diesel maintenance depot a little further out at Finsbury Park brought about its closure. Apart from playing host to a fascinating variety of motive power through the ages, Top Shed saw many physical changes during its lifetime and also suffered the consequences of German bombing during World War 2. In the original edition of Top Shed, which was published in 1975 and reprinted in 1977, P. N. Townend combined painstaking research into the first century of the depot's existence with his first-hand knowledge of its final years, for from 1956 to 1963 he was in charge of the depot, its locomotives and its men. His graphic account 'from the inside' of how the King's Cross Pacifics were reborn from the run-down condition of the immediate postwar period to provide their final years of splendid performance was acclaimed as the definitive story that laid to rest a great deal of the speculation and mythology published by lineside observers in the 1950s and 1960s. In the decade that has passed since the first edition went out of print, both the Author and Publisher have received many enquiries as to the availability of further copies, to which the publication of this new expanded edition is the response. Like the original, this revised account, which includes an additional chapter — 'Shedmaster King's Cross' — is lavishly illustrated with a remarkable collection of historical drawings and photographs and should be regarded as essential reading by all who claim an interest in the history of steam traction on Britain's railways.
Hardback, 160 pages, black & white illustrations
Condition: Good/Very Good
ISBN: 9780711018273
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Updated: 2 April 2024