South Yorkshire Rail Exploration. Saturday 8th August 2020.
A bit of a mixed day today, I was given a friends and family Northern Rover ticket by a friend who`s son is on a Northern Internment, so travelled with my mate Allan. The main purpose of the trip was to try and follow some old lines around south Yorkshire.
I met up with Allan at Mills Hill Railway station on the Calder Valley line for the 07.50 to Manchester Victoria and we were treated to one of the reinstated class 142 Pacers. Engineering work on Metrolink meant that we had to walk across the City to Manchester Piccadilly railway station for a train to Sheffield, and we were again treated to another reinstated Pacer across the Hope Valley line to Sheffield Midland.
Our next move was a class 158 up to Meadowhall, and we then walked back to the former Brightside railway station, which still has its platforms in situ. Our aim was to followed the line that left the main line just before Brightside signal box, has we were trying to follow the former Brightside to Catcliffe via the West Tinsley alignment on the old Sheffield District Railway as far as Tinsley.
The line was Initially run by the LD&ECR, it was taken over by the GCR seven years after opening. This line was closed to passengers in 1939, the line however continued to be busy, especially with the building of Tinsley Yard in the 1960`s. it was however lifted in 1997.
We followed the a track from the station site of Brightside down Colliery Road and onto Brightside Lane under the railway bridge and into the retail park the first bridge over the river Don and then picked up a few very overgrown sectors, which certainly took their toll, especially having a t-shirt on, my arms were cut and bleeding in places from the scratches of Hawthorns and stinging nettles. We eventually traced the track bed to a landscaped and tarmacked section, On the southeast side of Meadowhall shopping centre, part of which was over the site of West Tinsley railway station. We continued on to Sheffield Road, where a bridge abutment still stands, crossing the road there you can access the alignment again through an industrial area, and then continue to a bridge over the Supertram line and then fight you way over the canal bridge, where the track is still in situ under the undergrowth, before coming to steel palisade fencing where the other two freight lines go into the top of Tinsley yard, these are still in use, so that was as far as we could go.
We returned to Sheffield Road and walked around the industrial estate until we arrived at Wood Lane and the site of Tinsley Diesel depot, A building now stands on the site, which is of a similar size to what the diesel depot was, I expect they have used the same foundation. Looking over the bridge at Wood Lane, only a few lines survive on what was a vast marshalling yard, with industrial buildings now occupying the bottom yard location. Looking south over the bridge parapets a few rail waggons still occupy a siding, and the line ends at a buffer stop at the end of the yard. So many memories of Tinsley TMD and its unique yards, it was heart breaking to see what has become of it and I`ll never return.
We walked back down New Brinsworth Road to the Three Magpies, a familiar pub for those following the British Railway Shed Directories from the 1960`s, We then caught a bus back to Meadowhall and South Tinsley, diverted Class 185`s were using the freight line because of engineering works on the main line to Doncaster, so I wanted to take a photograph of these workings.
We returned to Meadow Hall by Supertram and just as the tram was arriving at Meadowhall terminus, 7 class 66`s and a class 60 Cavalcade passed us working from Doncaster Decoy yard to Toton, typically we missed a great shot. We next boarded a class 158 back into Sheffield Midland and was amazed to find a cavalcade had been stopped on a red signal and in the sun too, which enabled us to photograph them all, these consisted of 66131, 60020 “The Willows”, 66158, 66155, 66117, 66044, 66086 and 66194,
We then went out to check the site of Sheffield Victoria railway station, the hotel still survives and the viaducts in and out to the station, along with one subway leading up to platform level is still there, but the latter is now a car park. We next walked out to see the tunnel portal leading from the Woodhead line to join the Midland line via Wicker Goods. It does however lie in an area used by druggies, so be very carful of the syringes lying around if you choose to visit,
We returned to Sheffield Midland railway station and then took a class 158 to Leeds via Castleford, our next train was a class 195 via Bradford along the Calder Valley line to Rochdale, with a change of train back to Mills Hill, our starting point that morning, alighting at 21.25. Of interest there was a class 150 sprinter parked in the bay platform at Rochdale, first time I`ve seen anything there since the Oldham Loop days? It had been a long day and Id walked about 15 miles in total, the exercise probably did me some good though.
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