Shed of the year 2024, Sponsored by 
Historic wooden shed from the 1850's
Didcot Railway Centres Transfer Shed
The Transfer shed dates back to Brunel's broad gauge railway of the 1850s, when it was necessary to manually transfer goods from trains of one gauge to trains of another, i.e. Broad gauge 71/4 to Standard gauge 48 ½
The shed has a central platform, with a standard gauge line on one side and a broad gauge one on the other, to make this transfer as easy as possible.
Although the building was originally designed for the transfer of goods, the platform now forms the northern passenger terminus of our demonstration Branch Line, and has been named Burlescombe to remind us of the location in Somerset from which much of the Broad gauge rail used in our broad gauge display was recovered.
The shed was originally alongside the London to Bristol main line but when it was taken out of use we moved it to its current location. The shed has also appeared in many films and TV documentarys but its main purpose is showing our visitors what rail journeys were like back in the 1840s and 1850s, as it houses our replica Broad gauge locomotives Fire Fly and Iron Duke plus two replica 1840s carriages.
