1848 Engine Shed at Peterborough East Station

This decidedly unpromising looking building is the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) 6 track Engine Shed at the former Peterborough East Station.

It is a rare early and largely original railway building that was shared at first between the ECR and the MR (Midland Railway).

The ECR became the Great Eastern Railway (GER) in 1862. The GER ran to Ely in the East and connected with the LNWR to the West with lines to Northampton and Rugby. The MR connected with a junction to the West of the station with its line to Leicester. There were booking windows for all 3 railways in its heyday.

The main station at Peterborough however was the Great Northern station on the East Coast Mainline, and my father and mother remembered the inconvenience caused when travelling from Norwich to say Scotland, because you had to get off at Peterborough East and catch a shuttle to Peterborough North station - thus greatly lengthening the time for connections and the chance of missing them!

Peterborough East Engine Shed was closed by the LNER in 1939 and became storage. Peterborough East Station closed in 1966 to passenger and to good in 1970, and is now in a largely derelict site waiting for redevelopment. The Engine Shed was rescued and made water-tight by the now dissolved EEDA (East of England Development Agency). It is Grade 2 listed, and there is an adjacent ECR early Goods Shed.