Although railway companies typically realized higher revenues from transporting goods than passengers, the sheds and warehouses associated with goods transport have received relatively little attention. Today, these historically significant buildings are at risk of being lost due to development and demolition.
John Minnis provides the first comprehensive catalog of surviving goods sheds, showing how their design evolved in the early days of the railways. Although the sheds had roughly the same function, there was considerable variety in their design and size, from small timber huts to the massive warehouses seen in major cities. The book also looks at how many railway companies developed standard designs for these buildings toward the end of the nineteenth century and at how traditional materials such as timber, brick, and stone gave way in the twentieth century to concrete and steel.
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