Scarborough Locomotive Shed

The first engine shed was situated where Londesborough Road Station was built. By 1880 the accommodation of this shed was no longer enough and a second shed was built next to Seamer Road. The new shed, completed by 1881, was a roundhouse with capacity for 13 engines. Despite being a roundhouse, the building was actually square. In the centre of the roundhouse was a 44 foot 8 inch turntable.

Only seven years later, the locomotive accommodation was again insufficent, so anoter shed was built. This time a straight shed on eight parallel tracks to house 24 engines. The building cost £10,000 and a 50' turntable was installed in front of the roundhouse.

On 1st January 1923 twenty seven locomotives were allocated to Scarborough Shed :

The larger engines of class Q (D17/2), F (D22), G (D23), '1463' (E5) and S (B13) rarely ventured onto the Forge Valley Line although classes G and F have been recorded in the Snainton Occurrence book. Neither would the class T (Q5), which is a 0-8-0 heavy freight locomotive. The class W (A6) were the Whitby tanks and these locomotives were built for the coast line from Scarborough to Saltburn and were also rarley seen on the Forge Valley.

Locomotives which will have been seen regularly on the Forge Valley Line include classes O (G5), and BTP (G6) for passenger services and classes '59' (J22) and P1 (J25) for the pickup goods.

Numbers: 1701 (O), 497 ('59') and 1141 ('59') have been recorded in the Snainton Occurrence book.

As steam decreased, the roundhouse was used for storage. In the 1950s the straight shed suffered from land subsidence, eventually causing the southern half of the building to be demolished. Scarborough shed closed on 20 May 1963, although the yard was used by visiting steam locomotives until 1967.

The remaining half of the straight shed was demolished in 1966, but the roundhouse remained until June 1971.