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Victoria Train Station War Memorial


Sheffield History

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Up the ramp on the right of the picture  was where my mother used to go and order and pay for her coal delivery in a little one roomed office ......

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5 hours ago, RLongden said:

The plaques listing the fallen soldiers names were recovered and re-sited, as shown in the photo. The other elements of the memorial were either lost, or stolen, as the link below explains:

http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/27674

 

IMG_2895.PNG

Thanks - I didn't remember seeing those columns around, so wondered what had happened to the monument (last time I went up there was around 1990 and I was drunk)

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I remember a grimy stairway from The Wicker by the Arches up to the station. Stayed in the Hotel our last night in Sheffield 1975 before Canada.

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9 hours ago, gloops said:

I remember a grimy stairway from The Wicker by the Arches up to the station. Stayed in the Hotel our last night in Sheffield 1975 before Canada.

There you go, entrance to stairway as it is now (or was in Aug 2016) black boarding with graffiti behind silver car at side of black van  

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3882477,-1.4611776,3a,60y,147h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sb9A57kVUnBfhx-X6OQHHUw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Db9A57kVUnBfhx-X6OQHHUw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D147.464%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

 

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I remember when I was small, my dad worked for Duncan Gillmore, who were I think taken over by Joshua Tetley, on the road to the right was a place called the whiskey bond. Nothing to dowith the Victoria Station I know, but the picture bought back memories back. My mum used to meet dad to get her housekeeping money before she when to the markets.

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I remember there was a lift that operated from the Wicker entrance...bit much. without one, having to cart suitcases up all the steps to the ticket office!

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3 hours ago, lysander said:

I remember there was a lift that operated from the Wicker entrance...bit much. without one, having to cart suitcases up all the steps to the ticket office!

But they didn't let passengers have owt for nowt :o

victoria station lift ticket.jpg

I don't have a precise date for this ticket and can't say whether or not the lift always had a "fare".

What this ticket does suggest is that there were at least two lifts. 

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As a follow-up to the various posts made under the above article, I have just completed a bit of research into the history of the G.C.R. War Memorial mentioned above, and this is what I have found.

The Board of the G.C.R. decided to create a permanent War Memorial to honour the 1,304 company employees who had lost their lives in World War One. A total of 10,190 men from the G.C.R. had answered the call-to-arms, out of which, 2,166, returned home wounded, 266, returned home, after becoming prisoners of war, and 1,304, never returned at all.

The cost of the War Memorial was borne by subscriptions made by 3,500 G.C.R. Shareholders and Employees, and the War Memorial was unveiled on the 9th August 1922, in front of 8,000 witnesses, including G.C.R. Chairman, Lord Faringdon, G.C.R. Deputy Chairman, Walter Burgh Gair, G.C.R. General Manager, Sir Sam Fay; G.C.R. Company Solicitor, Dixon Davies, and Field Marshall, Earl Haig.

The War Memorial as first unveiled, on 9th August 1922, consisted of nine French Marble plaques - columns inscribed with the names of the fallen. However, due to deterioration, the plaques were replaced in 1925, with three bronze panels, framed by the columns and set within a stone surround on the forecourt of Sheffield Victoria Station. The photograph at the top of this thread shows the War Memorial in this post-1925 condition.

A ceremony took place at the War Memorial each Armistice Day up to 1937. The War Memorial was relocated from the station forecourt and into the Eastern Wall of a new station booking hall in 1938. This is the location that most of us will perhaps remember best.

Following closure of Sheffield Victoria Station, the memorial was relocated to The Wicker Arches and was rededicated by The Very Reverend Ivan Neill, Provost of Sheffield Cathedral, on the 10th November 1971.

The War Memorial was transferred to its present location, on Victoria Station Road, opposite The Royal Victoria Holiday Inn Hotel, in July 2003, and the War Memorial was officially unveiled on the 11th November 2003, (Armistice Day).

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...Thanks for the resume...very interesting. The GCR also named one of it's last passenger engines ...class 9 P no.1165, "Valour"...this being the mobile memorial of the company to the employees who gave their lives for their country.

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2 hours ago, lysander said:

...Thanks for the resume...very interesting. The GCR also named one of it's last passenger engines ...class 9 P no.1165, "Valour"...this being the mobile memorial of the company to the employees who gave their lives for their country.

Several railway companies acted similarly: the LB&SCR with 'Remembrance' and the LNWR with 'Patriot', I can't think of others off-hand but there may be some.

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They did indeed, both were eventually rebuilt but none of them ever ran through our Victoria station.:) In 2003 diesel 66715 was named "Valour" .,,the dedication took place on the site of Victoria station

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On 15/11/2017 at 17:14, lysander said:

I remember there was a lift that operated from the Wicker entrance...bit much. without one, having to cart suitcases up all the steps to the ticket office!

Still there lift think l went in it once ,,,

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As a follow-up to earlier postings about Sheffield Victoria Railway Station.

Between 20 January and 22 January 1973 Sheffield Victoria station was temporarily reopened as Midland station was completely closed for commissioning of the new power signal box. Only the main up and down platforms were used as the loop platforms had already been lifted. The station was still complete but the electrics were deemed beyond help so the station was strung with light bulbs strung through the station roofing. Trains to Manchester went via Woodhead although diesel traction was used rather than electric working.

So, with a couple of like-minded mates, and armed with my not so reliable camera, (my first such purchase), on 20 January 1973, I went along in order to record a little of what remained of the station.

SVTS000-Sheffield Victoria Railway Station-20-01-1973-web copy.jpg

SVTS002-Sheffield Victoria Railway Station-(from up platform looking West)-20-01-1973-web copy.jpg

SVTS003-Sheffield Victoria Railway Station-(from up platform looking East)-20-01-1973-web copy.jpg

SVTS004-Sheffield Victoria Railway Station-(from up platform looking East)-20-01-1973-web copy.jpg

SVTS005-Sheffield Victoria Railway Station-(from up platform looking West)-20-01-1973-web copy.jpg

SVTS007-Sheffield Victoria Railway Station-(from down main to up main platforms)-20-01-1973-web copy.jpg

SVTS012-Sheffield Victoria Railway Station-(up main platform looking West)-20-01-1973-web copy.jpg

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On the penultimate photo it appears that one customer (extreme right) has succumbed to the January weather and failed to find the appropriate 'facilities' in time. Presumably because it was a very temporary use of the Station there were no customer conveniences provided.

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I was a keen train spotter in the 60's. During the school holidays we used to go and see the Harwich - Liverpool boat train at Victoria Station. The boat train came in around lunch time and was usually pulled by a 7P6F 4-6-2 Britannia class the locomotive (a Brit). The Brit was taken off the boat train at Victoria Station and replaced by a EM1 electric locomotive for the journey via the Woodhead route to Manchester. The Brit was then taken to Darnell Loco Sheds to be serviced and re connected when the boat train returned.

Wazzie Worrall

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Over the years, I believe some confusion has arisen with regard to the January 1973 temporary re-opening of Sheffield Victoria.  Was it re-opened for 54 hours or 30 hours?  It all seems to hinge on what is meant, in various references, by midnight Saturday (RO 3/73 p.100) and 24:00 on Saturday (Rail Centres Sheffield p.122).  I am not sure myself but suspect it was actually only re-opened for 30 hours, that is throughout Sunday 21st January and the first six hours of Monday 22nd.January.

Although Unitedite  says his photographs were taken on the 20th January, a Saturday, I suspect that they were actually taken on Sunday 21st January.  I say this as they appear to picture some unique Sunday trains. The first three pictures show a Class 37 although its number, 6720, can only be made out in one of them.  Presuming they are all of the same train , 2J78, then it has to be a Sunday as 2J78 was the Sundays 09:00 Grimsby Town - Sheffield via Retford.  A similar train ran on weekdays but was 1J78 and arrived earlier than on a Sunday.  6720 was based at Tinsley at the time so very likely to have been entrusted with the train.  The fifth picture shows a 'Trans-Pennine' DMU, at the time the only appearances of these at Sheffield was on Sundays when a set worked 08:55 Hull-Liverpool / 16:50 Liverpool-Hull.   

Interestingly, in the photographic collection of the late Peter Fox (a known local enthusiast, railway publisher and local councillor) are pictures taken on the 21st January showing the same trains.

Can anyone say for certain whether Victoria station was used on 20th January or not? 

 

   

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