Take Newcastle station, an early-Victorian masterpiece, begun in 1846. Its frontage is a mighty display of classical architecture in the local golden sandstone, centred on a round-arched portico as roomy as a concert hall.* Behind, trains still pass through the original curving shelter or train shed of iron and glass, three parallel arched spans following a steady curve, the earliest structure of this kind anywhere. Newcastle’s street plan was revised in order to align with the station entrance, and the viaducts and bridges approaching it created the modern image of the city.
