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Sheffield Victoria Train Station


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Eggo, I wonder if I was "wasting time" at the Midland and Victoria stations at the same time as you? The peak of my train-spotting career ran from about 1960 to summer 1962 (after which I left Sheffield).

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Almost certainly. Although I started my train spotting days about 1954 then moved on to taking photographs of anything railway.

My first attraction was the Midland station, Jubilees, Black Fives, Compounds and 2Ps, usually double heading The Waverley.Thames Clyde. Devonian, and other numerous trains.

I then discovered the Vic, with its faint smell of fish, usually vans from Grimsby, parked at the East end of platform 1. A calm prevailed at the Vic, that was far from the frentic Midland, with its almost none stop traffic, passenger and goods.

The highight was the boat train, Harwich Parkstone Quay to Liverpool. Steam to Sheffield Vic,electric to Guide bridge and back to steam for the last leg to Liverpool.

In the early days it was usually a B17, from Harwich to Sheffield. The regular engines were, 61641 Gayton Hall. 61620 Clumber. 61621 Hatfield House. 61646 Gilwell Park, and then on the 16th of September 1958 I did a double take when Britannia 70000 rolled in with the boat train, and from then on it was all Britannia,s. On the 22nd September,70009 Alfred the Great,23rd September 70030 William Wordworth, a pause with B1 61249 Fitzherbert Wright the 26th September, then back to the Britannia's with 70005 John Milton 70011Hotspur 70036 Boadicea 70006 Robert Burns, and so it went on until diesel replaced steam, then the closure of Victoria with the service diverted to the Midland station.

A interesting fact about this train was that the Restaurant car and a dining coach were taken off the train at Sheffield by the train engine and then reversed in to the West end of No 1 platform, which ran at the side of the footpath to the lift, and steps down to the Wicker.

On the return journey to Harwich, they were then added to the train by the  engine that had spent the day at Darnall MPD (41A) before returning with the boat train to Harwich.

I distinctly remember the restaurant car staff on the west bound train, sending the dirty linen and pots from the restaurant car down a wooden shoot in to the Victoria Hotel, the shoot passed over the path to the Wicker steps. Does anyone remember this? I have asked several local Sheffield railway experts and no one can recall it.

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Happy memories....I was a spotter at the Vic and Midland from the early to the mid 50s...and then went with my son to the old Midland and watched . just as excitedly as a class 24 or 25 or even a 40 came through. Class 50s and the Deltics were as rare as rocking horse muck... just as had been so many of the Pacifics ( apart from a few class A3.s...which, for a while, regularly worked the Master Cutler.

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Thanks for those memories. I do recall the Britannias hauling the boat train (from memory, the coaches bore destination boards for "Harwich Parkeston Quay").

The only 4-4-0 compound I saw in Sheffield was the preserved no. 1000. My Dad took me down to the Mid. to see it pulling a special train. I would guess 1961 - ish. It was immaculate, a splendid sight. I';m sure that if I go through his old colour slides I'll find the photos which he took with his new Voigtlander camera of which he was very proud.

One of the two stations, or possibly both, always had several wicker hampers of homing pigeons on one of the platforms, presumably awaiting transport to far-away places so that they could fly back again.

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On ‎25‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 08:49, Athy said:

Thanks for those memories. I do recall the Britannias hauling the boat train (from memory, the coaches bore destination boards for "Harwich Parkeston Quay").

The only 4-4-0 compound I saw in Sheffield was the preserved no. 1000. My Dad took me down to the Mid. to see it pulling a special train. I would guess 1961 - ish. It was immaculate, a splendid sight. I';m sure that if I go through his old colour slides I'll find the photos which he took with his new Voigtlander camera of which he was very proud.

One of the two stations, or possibly both, always had several wicker hampers of homing pigeons on one of the platforms, presumably awaiting transport to far-away places so that they could fly back again.

There used to be a 4-4-0 that worked the Hope valley trains and was kept at Millhouses sheds in the 1950's. I don't know if it was compound though. I was never a number taker just liked looking at trains and even sneaking into Millhouses sheds at times down the path from Archer Road that ran at the back of Guylees original factory.

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There were a number of compounds in regular use in the early 1950s as well as the inside cylinder Midland 4-4-0.s. Toward the end of their life one was "laid" up in one of the short bay platforms ...for weeks. I think when the Vic saw an A3 ( Royal Lancer, Sir Frederick Banbury and Flying Scotsman to name but three from memory) on the Master Cutler was the highlight of the day...but you needed to be there early in a morning or around 10pm at night. I lived near Darnall and regularly stood on Acres Hill footbridge awaiting, with bated, breath, its arrival.

The only Brit I ever saw was 70000 itself when, almost brand new, it hauled a special from London with dignitaries...went down to Darnall to coal up and then made the return to Marylebone. By the time they became common, I had found other time consuming interests.

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Thanks for those photos, Sheffield History and Gordon.

Loco D0280 is a new one on me - I don't remember that class at all. Was it perhaps a prototype?

 

EDIT: just looked at my old Ian Allan combined volume and found that I had seen this loco! I had written it in, as it wasn't included in their listings. It was the 'Falcon' which, from memory, was a prototype built by Brush in Loughborough. I wonder if I saw it at Vic too. I find that I have also added loco DP2 to my "combine" - internet research shows that this was a similar engine, but built by English Electric.

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Great to see both photos, especially Falcon. The EM2 looks a bit careworn.

Falcon was indeed a prototype for a lightweight Type 4 diesel-electric loco, using the Maybach MD655 engine as used in the diesel-hydraulic Westerns. It spent some time based at Darnall and was a regular on the Master Cutler & the Sheffield Pullman in 1962. Alas, it was withdrawn in the mid 1970s and scrapped in 1976.

Much more about Falcon on the Class 47 website

 

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Thanks. The internet, which is always right, variously lists Falcon as a class 53 and a class 47! Also, I see that DP2, though I think built seeking the same contract, looked more like a Deltic.

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I never knew that the Falcon class 53 was in the Sheffield area!

It was built by Brush and remained in their property while undergoing "trials" with British Rail. It was faster than the 47 as it had a top speed of 100 as apposed to their 95. Though some were later modified to give them that speed. My 1975 edition of Ian Allan's, British Railways Diesel Locomotives shows a picture of it with a headcode of 9F61. Since the "9" shows that is was hauling a freight train that had no breaks, I doubt it would be doing 100 mph! So it has gone down since it's days of hauling the Master Cutler!

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Falcon was allocated to Darnall shed in about 1961 and worked both freight and passenger duties. It was eventually sold to British Rail in 1970 who operated it until the mid '70's. There was a proposal to preserve it, but allegedly a clause in the sale from Brush was that it could only be sold for scrap, so that's what happened in 1976.

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Worked at the Royal Vic for months upgrading fire doors etc, brilliant place, had some reyt laughs with the chambermaids, nothing too naughty mind, just good fun.

I was at the top of one those fire escapes making an intricate pattern for a strange piece of glass in the door...took me about two hours to get it just right, I just finished it when a mate stuck his head round the door, grabbed it & skimmed it into the river below...I could have killed him, so yeah, if you happen to read this Dougie you're still a twwaatt...made him make another one though..lol.

Oh yeah Dougie, still owe you for hiding my radio under the floor & letting me nail down all new floor boards, reyt good that one, I thought somebody had turned the sound down....Rod Stewart, Sailing, can you hear me, can you hear me....well no not very well from under the floor.

Good job it's 40 odd years ago...hehe

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14188520_1127159774031901_4983653380800751734_o.jpg

Absolutely love this photo of the old Sheffield Victoria Train Station and the adjacent hotel in Sheffield city centre.

Looks like a rainy day in the steel city judging by the clouds and the wet road, and not many cars kicking about either.

Did anyone use this station? Was it open at the time of the current train station that we have today?

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4 hours ago, Sheffield History said:

14188520_1127159774031901_4983653380800751734_o.jpg

Absolutely love this photo of the old Sheffield Victoria Train Station and the adjacent hotel in Sheffield city centre.

Looks like a rainy day in the steel city judging by the clouds and the wet road, and not many cars kicking about either.

Did anyone use this station? Was it open at the time of the current train station that we have today?

Victoria opened in 1851 as part of an extension of the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne & Manchester Railway (which previously terminated at Bridgehouses station), and eventually closed early in 1970. 

I believe trains serving the route to Penistone continued to pass through Victoria (without stopping) till some time in the 1980s however, reversing to go down the ramp to Midland station - a hassle which was eventually cancelled out by the reopening of the line from Barnsley to Penistone as exists today. 

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3 hours ago, Sheffield History said:


Thank you 

It's such a shame to lose this station and line

Indeed, my dad says that too - he remembers it operating, very well. 

The line which still survives through the site, is the old goods avoiding line. Which is used for the Stocksbridge Steel Works trains, for the moment at least. 

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The clock tower must have been demolished quite early before the rest of the station buildings. There's a photo of the same front in 1981 and it's not there then.

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The station remained reasonably intact, post closure for many years, and if I remember rightly, was temporarily reopened late in 1976, in order to facilitate the electrification of the points and signalling systems at Sheffield Midland Station, following which, it closed once again. However, shortly after the electrification scheme was completed, Sheffield Midland Station was flooded out, when the River Porter breached its banks, and the new points and signals were rendered useless. So, Victoria Station reopened again, as a temporary solution, and remained in use until such time that the wiring had been dried out. That was early January 1977.

The attached photograph, taken by me on a snowy day on 06/01/1977, shows a Sheffield Victoria bound D.M.U. at Woodhouse Station. I caught this train, which was on the Lincoln to Sheffield service in order to arrive at Sheffield Victoria.

WRS024-Woodhouse (GCR) Station-(D.M.U.)-06-01-1977.jpg

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