Locomotive Sheds

Mid-C19 locomotive sheds built to serve the Admiralty Incline Railway, transporting stone from the Admiralty Quarries to Portland Harbour for the construction of breakwaters.

MATERIALS: the sheds are constructed of coursed Portland limestone and have corrugated asbestos roofs.

PLAN: the sheds are aligned roughly north-south and stand to the east of the site of the incline railway, now Incline Road.

EXTERIOR: the building consists of three locomotive sheds, two side by side and one attached at the southern end.

Sheds one and two have segmental arched doorways and windows down each side with flat heads, now boarded up. Both of these sheds have hipped roofs with overhanging eaves. Shed three is an extension of shed two and has a hipped roof at its northern end where it joins shed two. The roof is gabled at its southern end which contains a large door with flat lintel.

INTERIOR: sheds one and two retain timber king post truss roofs, shed three has common rafters with collars. The internal walls are mostly bare stone with some whitewash, and what appears to be a chimney breast surviving in one of the sheds.