The centrepiece of Leeds’ Wellington Place development is called Tower Square, because its unlikely landmark is a rare survival of Victorian railway technology, one of a pair of towers that housed hoists to move freight wagons up and down between the now-demolished viaduct approaching Central Station and ground level.
Built in 1850, the Leeds Central Wagon Hoist is now celebrated. Thanks to the developer MEPC investing £1.5 million the derelict Grade II listed rarity has been turned into a free-entry mini-museum which tells the story of the defunct railway line and the vanished passenger station that closed in 1967.
This Yorkshire Post feature illustrates how much the site has changed – Leeds Central Station: What remains of Leeds city centre’s ‘other’ train station (yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk) – and the attractive displays inside the tower are enlivened with a soundscape of departure announcements and passing trains.
As far as I can discover, there are only two other surviving wagon hoists in Britain.
One is easily viewed from Platform 8 of Huddersfield railway station. Attached to the Grade II listed goods warehouse dating from 1885, this hoist is supported by cast-iron Doric columns and it seems that the lifting equipment remains. An urban-explorer report dated 2015 shows the spacious empty interior but the photographer either couldn’t find or didn’t recognise the interest of the hoist: Report – – LNWR/LYR Goods Warehouse, Huddersfield – April 2015 | Other Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk.
The other, also listed Grade II, is at Goole in East Yorkshire: Coal Wagon Hoist, Railway Dock © David Dixon :: Geograph Britain and Ireland.
There are archive images of other wagon-hoists, no longer in existence, at –
- Wagon hoist (norgrove.me.uk)
- Moor Street Station: The Shunter draws out the Banana Van out of the wagon hoist above Shed B using a rope and capstan (warwickshirerailways.com)
- Moor Street Station: Close up showing staff operating one of the three 20 ton electrically powered wagon hoists located at Moor Street (warwickshirerailways.com)
The only moving-image footage I can find to show a wagon-hoist in action is a twenty-second clip in a documentary about freight transport in Sheffield: Sheffields railway in the 60`s – YouTube (start at 5:12). This footage, apparently dated 1966, lacks a title or credits, and explains why, with hindsight, the well-intentioned modernisation of archaic operating practices didn’t stand the test of time. Railway goods sheds and stations aren’t given as much attention as passenger stations, civil engineering works and rolling stock, but they are amply covered in John Minnis and Simon Hickman’s The Railway Goods Shed and Warehouse in England (Historic England 2016), free to download at Goods Sheds 140pp.indd (historicengland.org.uk).