Should the Stocksbridge Line be saved now for passenger use, before it is too late?

[Iskra]

For those who don't know, the Stocksbridge (/Deepcar) Branch, which is the remaining section of the old Woodhead Line between Sheffield and Penistone, now seems to have lost its last remaining freight trains as has been well documented by forumites in this thread:

Deepcar steel train

Hi folks I just wondered if anyone knows if the freight working from Rotherham to Deepcar is still being run?. I think the Steelworks was put up for sale a few months ago so has this affected the running of the train?.

www.railforums.co.uk

The line still sees the occasional test train, and a rail tour is also due in April I believe. The line runs from Sheffield, through the old Sheffield Victoria Station, through Wadsley Bridge (for Hillsborough which was used up until the mid 90's for football specials), Oughtibridge and to Deepcar, where the line deviates from the extinct line to Penistone (now a nice walking trail) to Stocksbridge works, which now also has a large retail development next to it.

So the line is there, in decent operating condition, has no freight trains and seemingly no future purpose, but links a fairly well populated area with congested roads to a major city and potentially beyond. Is now the time for the line to be converted (relatively cheaply) for passenger use? This has been discussed on here before, but the previous consensus was that the lines freight use made a workable, consistent timetable impractical negating its viability. Now the freight trains are no more, should the line be saved for passenger use before a perfectly good piece of infrastructure is left to rot, that we may regret a few years down the line? There is much talk of re-openings, but here we have a simple, usable line through a fairly congested and densely populated urban area linking commuter settlements to it, as well as easy access to countryside. It surely doesn't get much easier than that, and the cost of doing such a project now, will be infintely cheaper than ever resurrecting the line again in the future?

 

[Bletchleyite]

It certainly shouldn't be built on. Would it have interim (or permanent) value as a cycleway?

I'm not sure how much value an hourly DMU would provide, but it does look to be populated enough to justify the tramway being extended onto it perhaps, maybe by taking it onto a new bridge across to the line after Hillsborough? This might provide a regenerative effect on what have been some quite poor towns since mining stopped. With the lower cost of low floor stations you could perhaps justify 4 across the Stocksbridge/Deepcar built up area plus one more for Oughtibridge and maybe another for Wharncliffe Side.

It might feel a bit rural for trams, but it's not much different to the northern part of the Oldham Loop.

(As an aside, does anyone else think of that "little boxes on the hillside, little boxes made of ticky tacky" song when they drive down the main road and look across at Stocksbridge and Deepcar?)

 

[Iskra]

It certainly shouldn't be built on. Would it have interim (or permanent) value as a cycleway?

I'm not sure how much value an hourly DMU would provide, but it does look to be populated enough to justify the tramway being extended onto it perhaps, maybe by taking it onto a new bridge across to the line after Hillsborough? This might provide a regenerative effect on what have been some quite poor towns since mining stopped.

There's already a good quality footpath alongside the railway for most of the route suitable for walkers and cyclists.

The tram would be a sensible option, but could cost quite a bit to make the connection.

It's not particularly poor at all once you get past Wadsley Bridge on the industrial edge of the city: it's prime commuter territory, with strong house prices, in an attractive valley with decent amenities, excellent access to the countryside and good access to three large conurbations. Equally, the steelworks pays well so Stocksbridge/Deepcar aren't 'poor' either, and if you drive around on the back roads, there's plenty of nice houses/cars/horses etc around. Mining in this area stopped about 100 years ago, so not particularly relevant a factor, it's not quite the Port Talbot/Redcar Steel landscape you're imagining I don't think...

 

[Bletchleyite]

It's not particularly poor at all once you get past Wadsley Bridge on the industrial edge of the city: it's prime commuter territory, with strong house prices, in an attractive valley with decent amenities, excellent access to the countryside and good access to three large conurbations. Equally, the steelworks pays well so Stocksbridge/Deepcar aren't 'poor' either, and if you drive around on the back roads, there's plenty of nice houses/cars/horses etc around. Mining in this area stopped about 100 years ago, so not particularly relevant a factor, it's not quite the Port Talbot/Redcar Steel landscape you're imagining I don't think...

Interesting, thanks. Oughtibridge does look quite nice, but I guess I had the wrong impression on Deepcar/Stocksbridge possibly because of Deepcar being known for mining.

I've just done a bit of Googling and Stocksbridge hasn't had a station for a very long time, and when it did it was just a shuttle from a bay at Oughtibridge Deepcar. I guess it must have been quite small back then and expanded substantially since. The housing does look to be mostly 30s-50s with some newer.

 

[Iskra]

Interesting, thanks. Oughtibridge does look quite nice, but I guess I had the wrong impression on Deepcar/Stocksbridge possibly because of Deepcar being known for mining.

I've just done a bit of Googling and Stocksbridge hasn't had a station for a very long time, and when it did it was just a shuttle from a bay at Oughtibridge. I guess it must have been quite small back then and expanded substantially since. The housing does look to be mostly 30s-50s with some newer.

Stocksbridge station never really got going because it's on the private freight infrastructure rather than the mainline, I think Deepcar station was the public railhead for Stocksbridge. A Stocksbridge station could be built nowadays next to the Retail Park on the current steelworks sidings.

Yes, that's fair about the housing, but there is a lot of new development going on in and along the valley, so it is an area that is growing quickly in recent years.

 

[HSTEd]

I believe previous forum discussions have struggled to provide a particularly useful connection in Sheffield for the station.

A tram connection is either going to be painfully slow or require an impressive bridge in the city. Meanwhile rail is in the same boat unless you want it to be a Victoria-Stocksbridge shuttle that connects to nothing.

Thorny issue all round really.

 

[D6130]

I believe previous forum discussions have struggled to provide a particularly useful connection in Sheffield for the station.

A tram connection is either going to be painfully slow or require an impressive bridge in the city. Meanwhile rail is in the same boat unless you want it to be a Victoria-Stocksbridge shuttle that connects to nothing.

Thorny issue all round really.

Perhaps a theoretical tram-train route from Stocksbridge could connect with the Supertram network at Darnall?....possibly with a triangular junction to allow through running to and from the city centre.

 

[Iskra]

I believe previous forum discussions have struggled to provide a particularly useful connection in Sheffield for the station.

A tram connection is either going to be painfully slow or require an impressive bridge in the city. Meanwhile rail is in the same boat unless you want it to be a Victoria-Stocksbridge shuttle that connects to nothing.

Thorny issue all round really.

There's certainly a conversation to be had around how any service 'plugs in' to the existing transport infrastructure, but I don't see it as a deal breaker as opposed to wasting an in-situ and maintained branch line in a populous area. There's certainly a way around it if you have the mentality.

 

[lachlan]

You would really want it to run to Sheffield station or into the city via the tram network. Both solutions would require a new chord and rebuilding of the A67-A57 junction. I'm not familiar with the area but the junction looks rather large and nasty and so could be a candidate for rebuilding to reduce space given to cars.

 

[Bryson]

You would really want it to run to Sheffield station or into the city via the tram network. Both solutions would require a new chord and rebuilding of the A67-A57 junction. I'm not familiar with the area but the junction looks rather large and nasty and so could be a candidate for rebuilding to reduce space given to cars.

I Guess you mean A61/A57 - Park Square roundabout. Other road projects have changed the flows though this junction massively compared to how it used to be and the City council want to get rid of it, there could be support for changes but the project would have a massive cost.

Back to the OP, as a resident of Stocksbridge I'd love to see a new station at Fox Valley with trains to Sheffield, but like others I don't quite see how to make the connections in the city centre, the former Victoria station isn't well located for the city as it is in 2023 but getting trains from the Stocksbridge line in to the Midland station requires a time consuming reversal and would add delays to the Northern end.

 

[Iskra]

You would really want it to run to Sheffield station or into the city via the tram network. Both solutions would require a new chord and rebuilding of the A67-A57 junction. I'm not familiar with the area but the junction looks rather large and nasty and so could be a candidate for rebuilding to reduce space given to cars.

In an ideal world, yes, but I don't see it as an essential- two separate stations worked okay before closure and works fine in other cities. A simple station in that area of the city could help develop that area and pull the centre of the city towards it, and there are operational benefits to keeping it as an isolated service* (simplicity, resilience and cost). It's 800m we're talking about on the edge of an established city centre, with a main station that already requires a walk to get to the centre, so people can't be that adverse to it, we aren't talking about an isolated 'parkway' type station in the middle of nowhere.

*I do of course have no issue with it running through to somewhere else on that line only to keep it simple (Nunnery Square area, Darnall, Meadowhall, Rotherham or wherever, with some opportunities for interchange provided by some of these possibilities).

I Guess you mean A61/A57 - Park Square roundabout. Other road projects have changed the flows though this junction massively compared to how it used to be and the City council want to get rid of it, there could be support for changes but the project would have a massive cost.

Back to the OP, as a resident of Stocksbridge I'd love to see a new station at Fox Valley with trains to Sheffield, but like others I don't quite see how to make the connections in the city centre, the former Victoria station isn't well located for the city as it is in 2023 but getting trains from the Stocksbridge line in to the Midland station requires a time consuming reversal and would add delays to the Northern end.

I think reversing into Midland would be out of the question for any such project, although not technically impossible.

 

[Bertie the bus]

So the line is there, in decent operating condition, has no freight trains and seemingly no future purpose, but links a fairly well populated area with congested roads to a major city and potentially beyond.

I think reversing into Midland would be out of the question for any such project, although not technically impossible.

I don't see how those two statements are compatible. If the service used a new station on the edge of the city centre how would reopening the line enable links to a major city and potentially beyond? Does beyond mean Darnall and Worksop?

 

[lachlan]

I Guess you mean A61/A57 - Park Square roundabout. Other road projects have changed the flows though this junction massively compared to how it used to be and the City council want to get rid of it, there could be support for changes but the project would have a massive cost.

Back to the OP, as a resident of Stocksbridge I'd love to see a new station at Fox Valley with trains to Sheffield, but like others I don't quite see how to make the connections in the city centre, the former Victoria station isn't well located for the city as it is in 2023 but getting trains from the Stocksbridge line in to the Midland station requires a time consuming reversal and would add delays to the Northern end.

Thanks, yes I was looking at Google Maps on my phone and misread it

In an ideal world, yes, but I don't see it as an essential- two separate stations worked okay before closure and works fine in other cities. A simple station in that area of the city could help develop that area and pull the centre of the city towards it, and there are operational benefits to keeping it as an isolated service* (simplicity, resilience and cost). It's 800m we're talking about on the edge of an established city centre, with a main station that already requires a walk to get to the centre, so people can't be that adverse to it, we aren't talking about an isolated 'parkway' type station in the middle of nowhere.

*I do of course have no issue with it running through to somewhere else on that line only to keep it simple (Nunnery Square area, Darnall, Meadowhall, Rotherham or wherever, with some opportunities for interchange provided by some of these possibilities).


I think reversing into Midland would be out of the question for any such project, although not technically impossible.

A second station would be better than nothing, but I think a big benefit of having rail over the existing bus services is allowing easy interchange on to rail for long distance services.

 

[yoyothehobo]

Cant see it working as a rail link. Tram or tram/train yes however you would probably need to come down to street running on the A6135 where it crosses the rail line and then run south towards the city centre.

 

[Iskra]

I don't see how those two statements are compatible. If the service used a new station on the edge of the city centre how would reopening the line enable links to a major city and potentially beyond? Does beyond mean Darnall and Worksop?

There are a multitude of ways in which this is possible. Victoria/Neepsend, is the major city (Sheffield).

1) People could walk from one station to the other
2) A shuttle bus could operate
3) In terms of beyond, I could understand an argument for Darnall but a better option would be Meadowhall Interchange or Rotherham for local demand (tram train). Worksop is technically possible but I don't anticipate that being a flow of enough significance to justify a service.

Thanks, yes I was looking at Google Maps on my phone and misread it

A second station would be better than nothing, but I think a big benefit of having rail over the existing bus services is allowing easy interchange on to rail for long distance services.

I agree a second station is better than nothing, and therefore more likely. The existing bus service from Stocksbridge requires a change onto a tram and then a walk to the station from the city centre already, so using the Stocksbridge Line could be more convenient, even if it required a walk at the end. The journey time would likely be much quicker too.

 

[Bertie the bus]

1) People could walk from one station to the other

Is that what you consider to be providing a link to beyond? Get an hourly service to the edge of the city centre and then walk 1 mile to a proper station to catch a service to elsewhere.

 

[HSTEd]

The easiest engineering solution is probably extend the tram from Middlewood along the road until it comes close to the railway line, then jump over. The section beyond that would be converted and the rest scrapped.

 

[Iskra]

Is that what you consider to be providing a link to beyond? Get an hourly service to the edge of the city centre and then walk 1 mile to a proper station to catch a service to elsewhere.

I think you should read my original sentence again, and take note of the word 'potentially.' If it was a full rail service, I think terminating at a 'new Victoria' or Darnall would make sense. A shuttle bus (which you've ignored, because it's sensible, cheap and boring), or even some whacky solution like a chairlift/cable car or sky walk/travelator would solve the 800m walk. Darnall might even work for everyone, because anyone who doesn't mind walking can get off at 'New Victoria' and walk, or those averse to walking could wait at Darnall for a train to Midland which would suit all parties and require no shuttle bus to be provided.

However; this is most likely to come to fruition as a tram train project with mainly local demand (Stocksbridge-Sheffield-Meadowhall Interchange or Meadowhall Centre/Rotherham; continuing onto Meadowhall Interchange would provide a lot of interchange options with barely any walking).

The easiest engineering solution is probably extend the tram from Middlewood along the road until it comes close to the railway line, then jump over. The section beyond that would be converted and the rest scrapped.

I'm not sure that's the easiest. I also suspect that if you did that, the existing line would still be saved anyway as it's convenient for the Supertram depot for getting up to Stocksbridge ECS and then if you're running trams you might as well just run them in service... And then if you're keeping the existing formation to do that, why bother building anything new beyond just a few platforms?

 

[A0]

The reality is that re-opening either as tram or heavy rail will only be viable if there is a chunk of housebuilding to support it.

Now whether the good people of Stocksbridge, Deepcar, Wharncliffe Side and Oughtibridge are up for that is not clear. But I'd conservatively reckon that across those places you'd need to see a total of 40,000 new homes as part of the justification.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The easiest engineering solution is probably extend the tram from Middlewood along the road until it comes close to the railway line, then jump over. The section beyond that would be converted and the rest scrapped.

Yes, that was my thought. It'd be a bit slow, but looking at Rochdale there is something about trams as opposed to buses or infrequent 1980s DMUs that means people seem to accept that. People do seem to go from Rochdale to Manchester on Metrolink in fairly reasonable numbers despite heavy rail being way quicker. Same with Eccles - the bus was about 10 minutes quicker to start with, but the tram rapidly killed the fast buses off.

I definitely think the tram is the way, even if it is on the whole existing formation.

I wonder if it was done via Middlewood if it is short enough to be on battery to save wiring it?

 

[HSTEd]

I'm not sure that's the easiest. I also suspect that if you did that, the existing line would still be saved anyway as it's convenient for the Supertram depot for getting up to Stocksbridge ECS and then if you're running trams you might as well just run them in service... And then if you're keeping the existing formation to do that, why bother building anything new beyond just a few platforms?

In order to access the supertram depot with trams from the Stocksbridge line you'd need a flyover/diveunder. I doubt you would get permission for a flat crossover given how congested the heavy rail lines out of Sheffield Midland are.

That would put the cost up quite substantially, not really worth it for ECS operations.
Also why would people want to get a tram out to there from Stocksbridge?

 

[Iskra]

Yes, that was my thought. It'd be a bit slow, but looking at Rochdale there is something about trams as opposed to buses or infrequent 1980s DMUs that means people seem to accept that. People do seem to go from Rochdale to Manchester on Metrolink in fairly reasonable numbers despite heavy rail being way quicker. Same with Eccles - the bus was about 10 minutes quicker to start with, but the tram rapidly killed the fast buses off.

I definitely think the tram is the way, even if it is on the whole existing formation.

I wonder if it was done via Middlewood if it is short enough to be on battery to save wiring it?

I think it should stick to the direct route on the current rail formation to offer the most competitive end to end journey time. Such a route would compete with the car, and beat it easily when any traffic is around such as the morning peak, afternoon school run time, evening peak and Sheffield Wednesday match days. (Although I would take it as a tram via Middlewood if that meant it actually got done, but I think losing the speed element would be a big loss).

In terms of propulsion- light rail diesel railcars are an option such as this one here that is also rack and pinion fitted at Catanzaro, Italy:

In order to access the supertram depot with trams from the Stocksbridge line you'd need a flyover/diveunder. I doubt you would get permission for a flat crossover given how congested the heavy rail lines out of Sheffield Midland are.

That would put the cost up quite substantially, not really worth it for ECS operations.
Also why would people want to get a tram out to there from Stocksbridge?

Because it's near Meadowhall and the City Centre and would also connect Hillsborough and the popular Kelham Island area, with housing areas all along the route it seems a no brainer for demand to me and could get plenty out of their cars.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Is it worth asking the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority how the thread proposal is actually viewed by them as part of their current strategic planning remit?

 

[HSTEd]

Because it's near Meadowhall and the City Centre and would also connect Hillsborough and the popular Kelham Island area, with housing areas all along the route it seems a no brainer for demand to me and could get plenty out of their cars.

Now, maybe my understanding of Sheffield's urban geography is all wrong, but isn't Sheffield City centre normally held to be south of the Cathedral?
That's an 800m walk from the existing alignment at best

Once you force people to do that at the end of their journey I think the slower route becomes far more attractive to them.

Hilsborough also already is connected! You'd likely just be cannabalising traffic off the tram

 

[BrianB]

Commenting as a native and former commuter of that area, I dont believe reopening is as simple as it may appear on paper. Stocksbridge/Deepcar is located in a valley with all the population on the south hillside, so only the fit and healthy would be able to walk to where a new station would be built at Fox Valley retail park and Deepcar station is even further removed from where people live. For it to work would require a frequent service, park and ride at both stations and a robust shuttle bus between the 2 through all the estates. After that the line is on the opposite side of the valley to Wharncliffe Side with no access across the River Don. There might be scope to attract custom from Oughtibridge, but again most of the population is on the wrong side of the river and up a hill. Wadsley Bridge cannot be considered close enough to the shopping centre of Hillsborough and all the surrounding estates have their own frequent city bus routes. Stocksbridge folk have historically had 3 main destinations of social/work/economic activity, namely Hillsborough, Sheffield City and latterly Meadowhall, none of which will be served well by a heavy rail line terminating at the dump that was Sheffield Victoria, in the dump area that is Wicker, which is so far removed from the business and retail focus of the city as to be pointless.
There seems to be an obsession that if a rail line exists it must be reopened at all costs regardless of whether it actually benefit anyone, a bandwagon that local politicians will happily jump on with no intelligent investigation.

 

[HSTEd]

Commenting as a native and former commuter of that area, I dont believe reopening is as simple as it may appear on paper. Stocksbridge/Deepcar is located in a valley with all the population on the south hillside, so only the fit and healthy would be able to walk to where a new station would be built at Fox Valley retail park and Deepcar station is even further removed from where people live.

If a tram solution were to be selected, given the proven hill climbing ability of Sheffield trams (~10%), it might be possible to climb the hill and have stations at the top and bottom, such that people only had to ever walk downhill.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Commenting as a native and former commuter of that area, I dont believe reopening is as simple as it may appear on paper. Stocksbridge/Deepcar is located in a valley with all the population on the south hillside, so only the fit and healthy would be able to walk to where a new station would be built at Fox Valley retail park and Deepcar station is even further removed from where people live. For it to work would require a frequent service, park and ride at both stations and a robust shuttle bus between the 2 through all the estates.

Yes, in Germany an integrated bus service would be operated in this kind of setting, timed to meet the trains and with a through fare. This is a good idea.

If you trammed it, another (more costly) option would be to have the tram run a loop round the town rather than just along the railway.

After that the line is on the opposite side of the valley to Wharncliffe Side with no access across the River Don. There might be scope to attract custom from Oughtibridge, but again most of the population is on the wrong side of the river and up a hill. Wadsley Bridge cannot be considered close enough to the shopping centre of Hillsborough and all the surrounding estates have their own frequent city bus routes. Stocksbridge folk have historically had 3 main destinations of social/work/economic activity, namely Hillsborough, Sheffield City and latterly Meadowhall, none of which will be served well by a heavy rail line terminating at the dump that was Sheffield Victoria, in the dump area that is Wicker, which is so far removed from the business and retail focus of the city as to be pointless.
There seems to be an obsession that if a rail line exists it must be reopened at all costs regardless of whether it actually benefit anyone, a bandwagon that local politicians will happily jump on with no intelligent investigation.

I do agree Victoria would be a bad plan, but I don't agree a tram would be bad, and indeed would take people to all the places you mention.

 

[tbtc]

We had a good discussion on this three years ago - https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...and-will-it-happen-even-if-not-viable.199491/ - without reaching much consensus

The glib summary might be that the two main problems with a Stocksbridge - Sheffield line are Stocksbridge and Sheffield (but the bit in the middle isn’t brilliant either, given the way that the old alignment skilfully avoids any major urban population as it passes the landfill site and abandoned Ski slope)

Stocksbridge is a problem because the line at the bottom of the valley is some way from residential areas (if your main knowledge is briefly looking at Google maps then at least consider some of the gradients you’re expecting locals to traverse to schlep home from the train station… and if the answer is “shuttle bus” then essentially we’re spending loads of money on what Stocksbridge used to have at Middlewood tram terminus)

Sheffield is a problem because getting to Midland station would require a reversal, then finding paths to cross the Meadowhall line on the flat to access the station… Victoria is a long way from anywhere else (might have been conceivable twenty years ago but just look how dilapidated Waingate etc is post-Markets)… maybe a station at the tram depot would allow passengers to transfer but it’d mean heading to Stocksbridge would involve a tram to take you to a train to take you to a shuttle bus at Fox Valley…

(There’s a similarity with the desire for regular services on the Old Road, which sounds laudable in theory but lacks platform capacity at the Sheffield end… Maybe the solution is to combine these two anemic proposals and run Stocksbridge - Victoria - Chesterfield trains… )

But all of the January 2020 discussion (in the earlier thread) was obviously before Covid ruined business cases and also the scrapping of the SL1 feeder service From Middlewood to Stocksbridge… the economics of any proposal look very different today

It’s a difficult one… not a top ten priority but any means but certainly a problem in need of some solution - a commuter town ten miles out of the city might feel broadly similar to Ebbw Vale/ Portishead/ Blyth (all of which are good projects) but.., I just can’t see how you solve it (if there’s no money for minibuses from Middlewood to suburban Stocksbridge)

There’s then the problem that people on here demand we spend billions on new links from Victoria to Piccadilly (because the free shuttle buses and frequent trams and direct trains aren’t enough) and get a fit of vapours at the relatively short walk from Curzon to New Street in central Birmingham post HS2… but, ach, Sheffield people can just be expected to walk for twenty minutes over the exposed Park Square bridges etc… who cares about them when there’s only twenty trams an hour from Victoria to the Castlefield corridor!

There's certainly a way around it if you have the mentality.

I see this argument a lot, and it often means “i know what i want the answer to me, but i can’t find a way of coming up with a problem to justify this solution, so I’ll dump the responsibility on other people and potentially complain that they didn’t believe hard enough if they can’t deliver either”

The existing bus service from Stocksbridge requires a change onto a tram

No such services any more, replaced by an extra bus per hour on the 57 corridor - getting from Stocksbridge therefore runs direct to The Moor which seems to be where people want to go these days, rather than dumping them at Wicker

 

[Bletchleyite]

I think it should stick to the direct route on the current rail formation to offer the most competitive end to end journey time. Such a route would compete with the car, and beat it easily when any traffic is around such as the morning peak, afternoon school run time, evening peak and Sheffield Wednesday match days. (Although I would take it as a tram via Middlewood if that meant it actually got done, but I think losing the speed element would be a big loss).

In terms of propulsion- light rail diesel railcars are an option such as this one here that is also rack and pinion fitted at Catanzaro, Italy:

View attachment 129954


Because it's near Meadowhall and the City Centre and would also connect Hillsborough and the popular Kelham Island area, with housing areas all along the route it seems a no brainer for demand to me and could get plenty out of their cars.

If we have an electric option I don't think we should be building new diesel railways. East West Rail is bad enough.

 

[Iskra]

Now, maybe my understanding of Sheffield's urban geography is all wrong, but isn't Sheffield City centre normally held to be south of the Cathedral?
That's an 800m walk from the existing alignment at best

Once you force people to do that at the end of their journey I think the slower route becomes far more attractive to them.

Hilsborough also already is connected! You'd likely just be cannabalising traffic off the tram

If you google Sheffield City Centre, it gives you a reasonable boundary, from which a 'New Victoria' could be a stones throw away. Interestingly, Midland is also right on the edge. The 800m was to Midland station, it would be less to the Centre and would be less to the nearer bits as well as serving a new part of the city.

The line is on the opposite side of the valley to the Hillsborough tram stop, hence why the railway was Wadsley bridge for Hillsborough, rather than just Hillsborough. Being on the opposite side would appeal to a different market and there is lots of housing on that side too, including going over the hilltop. There is always going to be some cannibalisation, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing if it relieves capacity on the existing tram network too.

Commenting as a native and former commuter of that area, I dont believe reopening is as simple as it may appear on paper. Stocksbridge/Deepcar is located in a valley with all the population on the south hillside, so only the fit and healthy would be able to walk to where a new station would be built at Fox Valley retail park and Deepcar station is even further removed from where people live. For it to work would require a frequent service, park and ride at both stations and a robust shuttle bus between the 2 through all the estates. After that the line is on the opposite side of the valley to Wharncliffe Side with no access across the River Don. There might be scope to attract custom from Oughtibridge, but again most of the population is on the wrong side of the river and up a hill. Wadsley Bridge cannot be considered close enough to the shopping centre of Hillsborough and all the surrounding estates have their own frequent city bus routes. Stocksbridge folk have historically had 3 main destinations of social/work/economic activity, namely Hillsborough, Sheffield City and latterly Meadowhall, none of which will be served well by a heavy rail line terminating at the dump that was Sheffield Victoria, in the dump area that is Wicker, which is so far removed from the business and retail focus of the city as to be pointless.
There seems to be an obsession that if a rail line exists it must be reopened at all costs regardless of whether it actually benefit anyone, a bandwagon that local politicians will happily jump on with no intelligent investigation.

As you should know, the population of Stocksbridge/Deepcar is very much used to walking up and down hills to get where it needs to go! And for those that can't, there are buses to link you to the valley bottom already. The retail park essentially is the park and ride, but yes a new one could be built at Deepcar too to take pressure off the retail park car park.

There is access across the railway line at Wharncliffe Side- I've walked the footpath parallel to the railway line and there is at least one bridge across it there- which people were using at the time. Wharncliffe and Oughtibridge are also both growing. The bus routes are traffic dependant, a direct rail line would be faster and traffic free. I think you're being a bit harsh on the Victoria area and ignoring the fact that Kelham and Neepsend are slowly gentrifying (or hipster-fying), but actually doing something to catalyse development and give people a reason to go there would be a positive, rather than just saying it's a dump let's give up on it.