diff --git a/docs/topics/telnetconsole.rst b/docs/topics/telnetconsole.rst
index ad2fa75b2..8b9efa5a7 100644
--- a/docs/topics/telnetconsole.rst
+++ b/docs/topics/telnetconsole.rst
@@ -37,17 +37,32 @@ Available aliases in the telnet console
 The telnet console is like a regular Python shell running inside the Scrapy
 process, so you can do anything from it including imports, etc. 
 
-However, the telnet console comes with some default aliases defined for
+However, the telnet console comes with some default shortcuts defined for
 convenience:
 
-    * ``engine``: the Scrapy engine object (``scrapy.core.engine.scrapyengine``)
-    * ``manager``: the Scrapy manager object (``scrapy.core.manager.scrapymanager``)
-    * ``extensions``: the extensions object (``scrapy.extension.extensions``)
-    * ``stats``: the Scrapy stats object (``scrapy.stats.stats``)
-    * ``settings``: the Scrapy settings object (``scrapy.conf.settings``)
-    * ``p``: the pprint function (``pprint.pprint``)
-    * ``prefs``: for memory debugging (see :ref:`topics-leaks`)
-    * ``hpy``: for memory debugging (see :ref:`topics-leaks`)
++----------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| Shortcut       | Description                                                       |
++================+===================================================================+
+| ``engine``     | the Scrapy engine object (``scrapy.core.engine.scrapyengine``)    |
++----------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| ``manager``    | the Scrapy manager object (``scrapy.core.manager.scrapymanager``) |
++----------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| ``extensions`` | the extensions object (``scrapy.extension.extensions``)           |
++----------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| ``stats``      | the Scrapy stats object (``scrapy.stats.stats``)                  |
++----------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| ``settings``   | the Scrapy settings object (``scrapy.conf.settings``)             |
++----------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| ``est``        | print a report of the current engine status                       |
++----------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| ``prefs``      | for memory debugging (see :ref:`topics-leaks`)                    |
++----------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| ``p``          | a shortcut to the `pprint.pprint`_ function                       |
++----------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| ``hpy``        | for memory debugging (see :ref:`topics-leaks`)                    |
++----------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+.. _pprint.pprint: http://docs.python.org/library/pprint.html#pprint.pprint
 
 Some example of using the telnet console
 ========================================
@@ -61,7 +76,7 @@ You can use the ``st()`` method of the Scrapy engine to quickly show its state
 using the telnet console::
 
     telnet localhost 6023
-    >>> engine.st()
+    >>> est()
     Execution engine status
 
     datetime.now()-self.start_time                  : 0:00:09.051588
diff --git a/scrapy/contrib/memusage.py b/scrapy/contrib/memusage.py
index 196e4d2dd..cb53e44e5 100644
--- a/scrapy/contrib/memusage.py
+++ b/scrapy/contrib/memusage.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ from scrapy.mail import MailSender
 from scrapy.conf import settings
 from scrapy.stats import stats
 from scrapy.utils.memory import get_vmvalue_from_procfs
+from scrapy.utils.engine import get_engine_status
 
 class MemoryUsage(object):
     
@@ -97,6 +98,6 @@ class MemoryUsage(object):
 
         s += "ENGINE STATUS ------------------------------------------------------- \r\n"
         s += "\r\n"
-        s += scrapyengine.getstatus()
+        s += get_engine_status()
         s += "\r\n"
         self.mail.send(rcpts, subject, s)
diff --git a/scrapy/contrib/webconsole/enginestatus.py b/scrapy/contrib/webconsole/enginestatus.py
index f34d3a375..623f777ef 100644
--- a/scrapy/contrib/webconsole/enginestatus.py
+++ b/scrapy/contrib/webconsole/enginestatus.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 Scheduler information module for Scrapy webconsole
 """
 from scrapy.xlib.pydispatch import dispatcher
-from scrapy.core.engine import scrapyengine
+from scrapy.utils.engine import get_engine_status
 from scrapy.management.web import banner
 
 class EngineStatus(object):
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ class EngineStatus(object):
     def webconsole_render(self, wc_request):
         s = banner(self)
         s += "<pre><code>\n"
-        s += scrapyengine.getstatus()
+        s += get_engine_status()
         s += "</pre></code>\n"
         s += "</body>\n"
         s += "</html>\n"
diff --git a/scrapy/core/engine.py b/scrapy/core/engine.py
index 70b33dc40..ba85f3283 100644
--- a/scrapy/core/engine.py
+++ b/scrapy/core/engine.py
@@ -286,56 +286,4 @@ class ExecutionEngine(object):
         log.msg("Domain closed (%s)" % reason, domain=domain) 
         self._mainloop()
 
-    def getstatus(self):
-        """
-        Return a report of the current engine status
-        """
-        s = "Execution engine status\n\n"
-
-        global_tests = [
-            "datetime.utcnow()-self.start_time", 
-            "self.is_idle()", 
-            "self.scheduler.is_idle()",
-            "len(self.scheduler.pending_requests)",
-            "self.downloader.is_idle()",
-            "len(self.downloader.sites)",
-            "self.downloader.has_capacity()",
-            "self.scraper.is_idle()",
-            "len(self.scraper.sites)",
-            ]
-        domain_tests = [
-            "self.domain_is_idle(domain)",
-            "self.closing.get(domain)",
-            "self.scheduler.domain_has_pending_requests(domain)",
-            "len(self.scheduler.pending_requests[domain])",
-            "len(self.downloader.sites[domain].queue)",
-            "len(self.downloader.sites[domain].active)",
-            "len(self.downloader.sites[domain].transferring)",
-            "self.downloader.sites[domain].closing",
-            "self.downloader.sites[domain].lastseen",
-            "len(self.scraper.sites[domain].queue)",
-            "len(self.scraper.sites[domain].active)",
-            "self.scraper.sites[domain].active_size",
-            "self.scraper.sites[domain].itemproc_size",
-            "self.scraper.sites[domain].needs_backout()",
-            ]
-
-        for test in global_tests:
-            try:
-                s += "%-47s : %s\n" % (test, eval(test))
-            except Exception, e:
-                s += "%-47s : %s (exception)\n" % (test, type(e).__name__)
-        s += "\n"
-        for domain in self.downloader.sites:
-            s += "%s\n" % domain
-            for test in domain_tests:
-                try:
-                    s += "  %-50s : %s\n" % (test, eval(test))
-                except Exception, e:
-                    s += "  %-50s : %s (exception)\n" % (test, type(e).__name__)
-        return s
-
-    def st(self): # shortcut for printing engine status (useful in telnet console)
-        print self.getstatus()
-
 scrapyengine = ExecutionEngine()
diff --git a/scrapy/management/telnet.py b/scrapy/management/telnet.py
index 6283a50d7..816592f6c 100644
--- a/scrapy/management/telnet.py
+++ b/scrapy/management/telnet.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ from scrapy.core.engine import scrapyengine
 from scrapy.spider import spiders
 from scrapy.stats import stats
 from scrapy.utils.trackref import print_live_refs
+from scrapy.utils.engine import print_engine_status
 from scrapy.conf import settings
 
 try:
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ telnet_namespace = {
     'stats': stats,
     'spiders': spiders,
     'settings': settings,
+    'est': print_engine_status,
     'p': pprint.pprint,
     'prefs': print_live_refs,
     'hpy': hpy,
@@ -39,8 +41,7 @@ telnet_namespace = {
 
 def makeProtocol():
     return telnet.TelnetTransport(telnet.TelnetBootstrapProtocol,
-                                  insults.ServerProtocol,
-                                  manhole.Manhole, telnet_namespace)
+        insults.ServerProtocol, manhole.Manhole, telnet_namespace)
 
 class TelnetConsole(protocol.ServerFactory):
 
diff --git a/scrapy/utils/engine.py b/scrapy/utils/engine.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..697cf7f86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scrapy/utils/engine.py
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+"""Some debugging functions for working with the Scrapy engine"""
+
+from scrapy.core.engine import scrapyengine
+
+def get_engine_status(engine=None):
+    """Return a report of the current engine status"""
+    if engine is None:
+        engine = scrapyengine
+
+    global_tests = [
+        "datetime.utcnow()-engine.start_time",
+        "engine.is_idle()",
+        "engine.scheduler.is_idle()",
+        "len(engine.scheduler.pending_requests)",
+        "engine.downloader.is_idle()",
+        "len(engine.downloader.sites)",
+        "engine.downloader.has_capacity()",
+        "engine.scraper.is_idle()",
+        "len(engine.scraper.sites)",
+    ]
+    domain_tests = [
+        "engine.domain_is_idle(domain)",
+        "engine.closing.get(domain)",
+        "engine.scheduler.domain_has_pending_requests(domain)",
+        "len(engine.scheduler.pending_requests[domain])",
+        "len(engine.downloader.sites[domain].queue)",
+        "len(engine.downloader.sites[domain].active)",
+        "len(engine.downloader.sites[domain].transferring)",
+        "engine.downloader.sites[domain].closing",
+        "engine.downloader.sites[domain].lastseen",
+        "len(engine.scraper.sites[domain].queue)",
+        "len(engine.scraper.sites[domain].active)",
+        "engine.scraper.sites[domain].active_size",
+        "engine.scraper.sites[domain].itemproc_size",
+        "engine.scraper.sites[domain].needs_backout()",
+    ]
+
+    s = "Execution engine status\n\n"
+
+    for test in global_tests:
+        try:
+            s += "%-47s : %s\n" % (test, eval(test))
+        except Exception, e:
+            s += "%-47s : %s (exception)\n" % (test, type(e).__name__)
+    s += "\n"
+    for domain in engine.downloader.sites:
+        s += "%s\n" % domain
+        for test in domain_tests:
+            try:
+                s += "  %-50s : %s\n" % (test, eval(test))
+            except Exception, e:
+                s += "  %-50s : %s (exception)\n" % (test, type(e).__name__)
+    return s
+
+def print_engine_status(engine=None):
+    print get_engine_status(engine)
+