Railway goods shed, coal drops, parcel office and boundary wall

Railway goods shed and associated structures, mid-19th century for the Stockton & Darlington Railway.

The main goods shed is constructed of irregularly coursed, squared sandstone rubble including some reused sleeper stones, with ashlar dressings and a Welsh slate roof. It is a single-line, straight-through building of five bays with a single cart loading dock at the centre of the south-west side. An office is attached to the south-east gable on the southern side of the line. Attached to the north-east side is a set of four coal drops served by a separate siding.

The goods shed and office are both quoined with dressed margins to the quoins. The gables are coped, with the coping supported by shaped kneelers. Windows throughout are small-paned with glazing bars and covered with external timber-boarded shutters.

The rail entrance to the shed is via the north-eastern side of the south-east gable, overlooked from the office. This entrance is quoined and has boarded double doors below a timber lintel. The north-west gable has a similar rail entrance to allow the goods siding to extend beyond the shed to ease shunting operations. Beside the north-west rail entrance is an inserted pedestrian entrance accessed via modern timber steps.

The central bay of the south-west side features a large cart entrance that is quoined with a round-arched head formed with voussoirs and a keystone. The entrance has vertically boarded doors hung on strap hinges, with the round head above also vertically boarded. To the south-east is a window with a stone lintel, projecting sill and external shutters.

The office is raised on a simple plinth and extends from the southern side of the south-east gable. It has a four-panel door accessed via external stone steps on its south-west side. A short square chimney stack with a pot rises from the centre of this side wall. The south-east gable has a large round-headed window with impost blocks, voussoirs and a keystone. The north-eastern side wall has a central window with a stone lintel, overlooking the line entering the shed.

The interior of the shed retains its timber platform which incorporates a dock for vehicles using the cart entrance, though this has been modified to include a wheelchair lift, steps and timber railings. The kingpost roof trusses are exposed.

The office contains a six-panel door and an internal window opening into the shed. It retains cornicing to the ceiling, a fireplace including a round-arched cast iron inset, and a set of built-in cupboards.

The parcel office, early 20th century, is a shiplap-boarded timber building with a Welsh slate roof. It has multi-paned windows to all walls except its western gable, which is set against the western boundary wall of the goods yard. The single door is in the north wall and is four-panelled. There is a small ventilator to the ridge.

The coal drops consist of a railway siding that rises on a masonry-walled incline, with the track then supported on simple masonry piers extending from the north-east side of the goods shed to form the four bays. A flight of stone steps provides access to the top of the incline.

The boundary wall is built of mortared, squared sandstone rubble finished with round-topped coping stones. It extends from the parcel office for about 30 metres northwards to a vehicle gateway with timber posts and gate at the north-western corner of the yard. From there it continues unbroken eastwards and then south-eastwards, passing to the south of Soho Engine Shed and ending at the level crossing next to Black Boy Stables.