Darnall engine shed was an engine shed

Engine shed

Engine shed may refer to:* Engine shed, also called a motive power depot or roundhouse, a structure used for the maintenance of railway locomotives.* Engine Shed , a music and entertainment venue on the University of Lincoln's campus....

 in Darnall

Darnall

Darnall ward—which includes the districts of Attercliffe, Carbrook, Darnall, Tinsley, and parts of Handsworth—is one of the 28 electoral wards in City of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is located in the eastern part of the city and covers an area of 17.4 km2. The...

, Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

. It was built by the London & North Eastern Railway to serve the Sheffield area, passenger trains originating or changing at Sheffield Victoria and goods and pilot workings. The shed was built adjacent to the main line immediately west of Darnall station

Darnall railway station

Darnall railway station was built to serve Darnall, a community about from the centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England and which later became a suburb of the city.-History:...

.

Knowing that facilities at Neepsend

Neepsend engine shed

Neepsend engine shed was an engine shed in Neepsend, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It was built by the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway to provide and service locomotives for passenger trains originating or changing at Sheffield Victoria and goods trains from various...

 were too cramped to operate efficiently the L.N.E.R. set about finding a suitable site for new facilities with easy access to their system in Sheffield. A site at Darnall was chosen and planning for the new engine shed commenced in 1936. Opening did not take place until 1943 with much machinery, due to wartime restrictions on new purchase, being brought from Neepsend. Photographs published in the "LNER Journal" showed the new facilities but, due to information restrictions at the time, it was captioned as being "somewhere in the north of England".

The building was a 10 track straight through brick shed, with a large coaling plant and turntable. After the electrification of the local railways

Manchester-Sheffield-Wath electric railway

The Manchester-Sheffield-Wath electric railway was an early electrification scheme on British railways. The route featured long ascents on both sides of the Pennines with the long Woodhead Tunnel at its central summit close to the Woodhead pass...

, an electric locomotive shed was also built. It closed on 4 October 1965 when Tinsley Marshalling Yard

Tinsley Marshalling Yard

Tinsley Marshalling Yard was a railway marshalling yard located near Tinsley in Sheffield. It was opened in 1965 as a part of a major plan to rationalise all aspects of the rail services in the Sheffield area, and closed in stages from 1985 with the run-down of rail freight in Britain. It was also...

 and its depot opened. The depot buildings were then used as a wagon-repair depot until the late 1980s.

British Railways initially allocated the shed code 39B to Darnall, and later 41A, both within the Eastern Region

Eastern Region of British Railways

The Eastern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound up at the end of 1992...

 code sequence. Locomotive classes allocated to Darnall in 1952 included LNER Thompson Class B1

LNER Thompson Class B1

The London and North Eastern Railway Thompson Class B1 is a class of steam locomotive designed for medium mixed traffic work. It was designed by Edward Thompson.- Overview :...

, LNER Class O4

LNER Class O4

The London and North Eastern Railway Class O4 initially consisted of the 131 ex-Great Central Railway Class 8K 2-8-0 steam locomotives acquired on grouping in 1923. The engines were designed by John G...

, Class J11 0-6-0, LNER Class J39

LNER Class J39

The London and North Eastern Railway Class J39 was a class of 0-6-0 steam locomotive designed for freight work. They were based on the previous Class J38 but with larger driving wheels....

and LNER Class N4 0-6-2T.