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I recall having just passed the dreaded 11 plus back in 54 and was destined for the "Redcaps". That summer, a group of us...all off to different schools in September.. decided that this would doubtless be our last summer of "playing around". ( how wrong we were) We constructed a trench system, of sorts, on Hartley Brook and spent ,what seemed like weeks, firing off masses of caps at one another. We then in a moment of inspiration diverted the meandering "Brook" and gave the old Wortley Rural District a few square yards of extra land. The semi drained WW2 static water tank was reflooded , by diverting the Brook, and this became the place where we "punted" on an old Fletchers bread van roof panel. All innocent stuff.( I think).no drugs...no drink and no electronics and how we enjoyed ourselves!☺️

Once again, I found your video of Killamarsh Station to be fascinating, although I did find my eyes watering just a little, when I realised as to how much this scene has changed since my youth. So, I have again taken the opportunity of sharing with you, some images taken by myself in “happier times”, i.e. 1977, when this section of the line remained open, as a freight only route in order to serve collieries at Staveley. For a potted, though relatively detailed description and history of both, the station and the railway, I recommend the Disused Station Website, link below: http://disused-stations.org.uk/k/killamarsh/index.shtml I hope that you can relate them back to the remains and locations shown in your video. GCR001-Killamarsh Central Station-Down Platform, 16/06/1977 GCR002-Killamarsh Central Station-Looking North, 16/06/1977 GCR003-Killamarsh Central Station-Looking North, 16/06/1977 GCR004-Killamarsh Central Station, EEVF.E3615-D1014/1966, Class 20, No.20144 & EEVF.E3616-D1015/1966, Class 20, No.20145, 16/06/1977 GCR005-Killamarsh Central Station-Up Platform, 16/06/1977 GCR006-Killamarsh Central Station-Looking North, 16/06/1977 GCR007-Killamarsh Central Station-Looking North, 16/06/1977

My dad had done his stint in the War and had no problem with it all. Let’s be honest everything in the 50s was talking about it or harking back to it. There were endless war films and boys comics were full of stories about beating the Jerries . Take that Fritz !! So if we weren’t out in the woods beating the Hun we were emulating our cowboy heroes who were also constantly in films or on tv. Everyday for me it was playing army or cowboys. From about 5 upwards . Throw in a kick about in the park and that was my childhood . No car, so no day trips or very few. You just amused yourself and didn’t expect somebody to entertain you like my own kids eventually did and my grandkids constantly do. Give the kids guns and get them off their XBoxes !!

Another card by Wilson's, showing High Street, note the 'Toys' advert seen on the tram 🙂

People tracking me on the two leading Sheffield Forums will know I was a bobby in B Div before I became a journalist and broadcaster. Three years of patrolling Burngreave, St Philips, Hanover, Broomhall, and Sharrow was enough to confirm what I had learned as a kid at Sharrow from 1942 onwards.....that these communities had a solid gold centre that could not be replicated in Gleadless Valley, Mosbrough or anywhere else. On the night of the hurricane in 63 I was on night duty in the Ellesmere Road area and stayed on duty until 3 o clock the following afternoon where people were trying to salvage their belongings from rows of collapsed terraced houses. It was a Blitz scenario. Ordinary people became heroes and heroines. If you don't know what I'm talking about you were not there, not old enough, or just in denial. In my later job I walked among Royalty, politicians, celebrities and artists. The people of old Sheffield were way above them all. No pretence. Just honesty about who they were and who they wanted to be. I loved them all. Still do.

The Rex.

It could also be to do with your relative youth. When I was a small boy, some years before you, all our Dads had been in the forces in World War 2, so guns were something they'd seen and/or handled every day. So they weren't viewed as anything bad or unacceptable, even though of course we knew that real ones could kill people.

There can't have been many parts left to salvage surely? Surely just basically built a new bus with replacement parts?

This thing about not being allowed guns and stuff on principle always makes me laugh. I had every toy gun, rifle that I could get my hands on and when that failed I used a stick as a gun. Maybe they should have banned sticks too !! Equally I loved sweet cigarettes complete with red end and posed as if I was having a proper smoke. Smokers sets every Christmas as well. Of course that was all outlawed I’ve never smoked in my adult life or wanted to nor have I ever wanted to shoot a single person. Strange that !!

I'd also forgotten about those bombs. My brother and I weren't allowed guns and bombs on principle, but the boy next door-but-one to me (and 8 days younger, so we played together) had a full cowboy outfit with waistcoat, hat and gun in a holster. OT: When we moved to the Black Country in the early 1960s we lived opposite a bomb site that had been leveled, but not cleared. Needless to say we were told not to cross it, and equally needless to say we did! One day David (my mate) found some real bombs in the site, not toys. Suddenly things seemed a little frightening, until his elder brother (around 18 years old) came, looked and informed us they were discarded Sparklets cartridges!