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.