In 1932 the LMS built anew locomotive shed at Royston, near Barnsley, to deal more efficiently with the vast amount of coal traffic from the numerous collieries in the Barnsley area. The site chosen was just south of Royston and Notton station, on the up side of the Midland main-line. (This was one of the first major rail links in the country, being built in 1840 as part of George Hudson’s North Midland Railway.)
The new MPD was close to Carlton Yards whose many mineral workings, mainly coal, provided the majority of the shed’s traffic until its closure in November 1967. Additionally though, it was close to Monckton Coke and Chemical Works and was also handy for Royston Junction, about a mile to the north, which allowed access to the Lancashire & Yorkshire Calder Valley line across the Pennines to Lancashire.
It was a 10-road shed, with no turntable, although one was available in Carlton Yards, but a turning triangle was provided and this was much used. Coaling facilities, ash disposal and water treatment were, of course, on site. Allocations were primarily freight locomotives but the shed was home to some passenger locomotives until the early 1960s when local passenger services fell into decline. At the same time as the shed’s construction, the company built East End Crescent, some 200 houses to accommodate railway staff employed at the depot, and the houses are still inhabited today almost 90 years later, with a current price of about £100,000 (February 2020 price –Ed).
Shed notes from June 1936 (courtesy of the excellent Shed Bash UK blogspot) show, much as expected, that Midland and LMS ‘2F’ 0-6-0s, ‘3F’ 0-6-0Ts, and ‘4F’ 0-6-0s predominated, alongside some Fowler ‘7F’ 0-8-0s
