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Close up of the 1863 plan (image 'lnwrrm4363') showing the unusual 1851 radial engine shed and the two coke sheds and turntable which serviced it. There appears to be two sheds, certainly by style with the five road extended shed being one and the curved short shed being the other. This might reflect that each shed belongs to a different Division of the LNWR as the Grand Junction Railway (GJR) and the Liverpool & Manchester Railway (L&MR) and the London & Birmingham Railway (L&BR) formed the LNWR. The GJR and L&MR became the Northern Division under a Locomotive Superintendent based at Crewe whilst the L&BR operated under another Locomotive Superintendent based at Wolverton ¹. Outlined in black on the two lines to Birmingham and Stafford is a tiny Engine Shed just north of the the Coke Shed which maybe either the old L&BR shed or perhaps the original Trent Valley Railway shed of 1847 which presumably disappeared when the new radial shed was built in 1851. The photograph of the two LNWR locomotives 'Old Crewe' 2-2-2 No 500 'Menai' and 2-2-2 No 1435 'Fortuna' was taken outside the extended five road shed seen nearest the two main L&NWR lines. The 'Coke Shed' adjacent to these lines is where the photograph of the two locomotives, LNWR 2-2-2 'Small Bloomer' No 602 and LNWR Southern Division 2-2-2 Lady of the Lake class No 804 'Soult' were taken. Noted author Harry Jack estimates the photographs of 'Fortuna', Small Bloomer No 602 and Problem class No 804 'Soult' were taken 1868-69. ¹ On 16th July 1846 the principal railway companies operating the routes between Liverpool to Manchester Railway, Liverpool & Manchester to Birmingham (via Crewe), and Birmingham to London formed the LNWR. Inevitably such an amalgamation created conflicts between the former railway companies and initially they operated very much as they did when they were independent but under the auspices of being a North East Division, Northern Division and Southern division. Their eventual consolidation saw initially the North East Division being absorbed into the Northern Division in 1857. This resulted in its locomotive works at Longsight being closed and all such work moved to Crewe. The Southern Division, still centred its locomotive and carriage construction at Wolverton. In 1862 the two Divisions' locomotive departments were merged into one based at Crewe whilst for most other areas of railway operation things remained as before. The above information, together with the information contained in the captions of the other images of Rugby's early sheds, is derived from an article by Harry Jack.
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