Chesterfield’s Barrow Hill Roundhouse (www.barrowhill.org) was presented with the 123rd Engineering Heritage Award by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers earlier this month, in recognition of its importance as Britain’s last surviving working ‘roundhouse’ (Barrow Hill is unusual in that the building housing the railway turntable is actually square).

Many of the very early main-line locomotives could only be driven in one direction, so a turntable was used to rotate them through 180deg for the return journey.

The Barrow Hill Roundhouse was built by the North Midland Railway in 1870 and operated continuously until 1991. It Was restored by Barrow Hill Engine Shed Society in 1998, and it received £1.2 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2016 for further restoration work and an upgrade of its facilities.

Earlier this year, Network Rail spent more than £1 million on the infrastructure at Barrow Hill to allow the servicing of main-line passenger trains during the closure and rebuilding of Derby station.

John Wood, chairman of the Engineering Heritage committee, said: “One feature of special historical importance within the Roundhouse is what is believed to be the only remaining set of timber locomotive shear legs.

"These form a triangular pyramid which allowed the locomotive to be lifted by manpower — using a rope — so that wheels could be removed for repair or replacement. This lifting arrangement was deemed illegal in 1964.”