The following account appeared in the 23 January 1875 edition of the Carlisle Express and Examiner:
GREAT STORM IN CARLISLE.
Great Destruction of Property.
...
At the Mains, London Road, in this city, where the Midland and Glasgow and South-Western Railway Companies are erecting extensive goods and engine shedding, an accident occurred causing great damage. The ground appropriated to this purpose is on the east side of the bridge over the river Petteril at that place, and lies on both banks. The large shed is on the north bank, and on the south bank there is a smaller shed, and it was to the latter that the accident occurred. It was about 150 feet in length, and 30 or 40 feet in breadth, and the usual height. It was constructed of wood, with large windows in the sides, and roofed with slates, the roof being strengthened by numerous strong iron girders and supports. Up the sides of the erection ran strong wooden pillars, which were wedged into the foundation with wood. When first built, there was an open space of about four or five feet between the foundation and the bottom of the wooden sides, which had to be filled-up with ballast. This appeared to have been done on the south side but not on the north side, and as the shed was built east and west, and stood in the most exposed portion of the yard, it had to bear a very heavy strain put upon it by the storm. The wind appears to have blown into the shed through the large and long aperture referred to, then to have lifted and swayed the building until the wooden wedges of the pillars and foundations gave way, after which there was a collapse of the whole erection, causing its complete wreck. The south side was blown partially in, the north side was blown completely out, and the roof dropped straight down upon them. The roof appeared to have been held together by the iron girders until the last, and is yet intact, in its framework where the girders are placed. After the fall the demolished shed looked a mere jumble of wood, iron, glass, lead and slates. The destruction of material will, no doubt, be large, but much will be available for use a second time, and the loss will be caused mainly by waste of labour and the delay that will cause in the completion of the work. A line of railway into the shed had been constructed, and on this stood four or five ballast wagons, which will remain imprisoned until the wreck is cleared away. At the end of the shed stood a small erection of brick with an iron tank upon it, but, though it had evidently got a severe wrench through the fall of the woodwork with which it was connected, it stood the strain, greatly aided no doubt by the weight of iron and water which it bore. The shed was built by Mr. Bayliss, contractor, and was to be the temporary locomotive shed of the Glasgow and South-Western Railway Company, who expected to enter on possession at the end of this month.