Building record MDR10349 - North Midland Railway workshops and engine roundhouse, Derby Station, Derby

Railway Workshops and Engine Roundhouse. Original workshops of the North Midland Railway lying immediately south of the workshops of the Midland Counties, consisting basically of two wings arranged at right angles from a clock tower at mid-point. These were designed by Francis Thompson and built at a cost of £62,000 by Thomas Jackson of Pimlico. Behind the clock tower in the angle of the wings is the engine roundhouse also of 1839. The offices were raised in height by the Midland Railway in two stages in 1859 and 1893. The railway works complex is the earliest surviving railway works in the country and the roundhouse is the earliest built anywhere. The site awaits reuse in January 2003. (1) The former engine shed was built c. 1830 and formed part of Francis Thompson's ''Trijunct' Station. It is now surrounded by later buildings. It was built of red brick with good heavily-timbered polyhedral slated roof. On plan it is 16 sided with a width across interior of about 130 ft. It originally housed 30 locomotives, but is now used as a repair shop. The Clock Tower was built c. 1850. It is a red brick square tower of 4 stages, originally detached but now incorporated with a later 5-storey building. The ground storey is rusticated, with a semi-circular headed doorway and pediment above which is masked by the end of a later footbridge. There is a moulded stone cornice at 2nd floor level and a moulded stone eaves cornice. There is a timber lantern with a clock face on each of the 4 sides and a pyramidal roof with wind vane in the form of Stephenson's 'Rocket'. The former railway carriage works were built in 1840 with late 19th century and 20th century alterations from red brick with ashlar stone dressings and concrete tile and Welsh slate roof coverings, with a metal framed interior structure. The range included carriage workshops, smithies and offices, together with an entrance portal giving access to the polygonal engine house to which the range is attached. The carriage workshop and the attached engine house represent the most-substantial survival of the first generation of railway workshops in the Midlands,and is of national significance. (2)