Goods Shed South-East Of Stafford Railway Station

This is a railway goods shed dating from around 1860, possibly designed by W Baker, Chief Engineer of the London and North Western Railway. It is constructed of red brick in English bond, with a Welsh slate roof. The building is rectangular, approximately 45 metres long and 24 metres wide, running parallel to the railway tracks and featuring a twin-pitched roof. Decorative dentilled brickwork panels are present in the pediments and around all visible and implied openings.

The west side, facing the tracks, is plain. The south gable has paired doors designed to allow the passage of railway trucks, and a doorway with a canopy for road vehicle access. The north gable has a plain door with a steel roller shutter, two railway doors, a small door, and a window. This gable once connected to a projecting office building, now demolished. The east-facing long wall, overlooking the yard, has two large, elliptically-headed openings and a small lean-to office building with a chimney. All external doors are either closed with steel shutters or concrete blockwork. Glazed panels run along the ridge of the roof.

The interior is a single open space supported by a central line of cast iron columns. These columns support a double roof structure comprising queen strut iron strapped timber trusses, featuring both straight and diagonal ties. Originally, there was a double line of track under one roof, while the other facilitated storage and road vehicle access.

The goods shed was built around 1860 as part of the development of the new Stafford railway station designed by William Baker. It has seen very few alterations since. It is a well-designed and largely unaltered example of a railway goods shed from the 1860s and 1870s, a type that is increasingly rare.