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MERRY CHRISTMAS


Unitedite Returns

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Merry Christmas to you all.

 

The former Great Central Railway at Woodhouse Station looking out towards Beighton, on 06/01/1977. The over-bridge carries the Station Road-Furnace Lane road from Woodhouse to Woodhouse Mill. The down-goods line, on the left-hand-side of the train, and much of the up-goods line, on the right-hand-side of the train have long been lifted. Does anyone know anything about the derelict house, visible at the bottom of Station Road?

The locomotive heading this down passenger working is Class 40, Number 40-028, Samaria, but by the English Electric Vulcan Foundry, to Works Number , E2683/D445, 28/08/1959, and at the time that this photograph was taken, was allocated to the Liverpool Motive Power Division. She was withdrawn from service 17/10/1984, and scrapped at Crewe, 29/02/1988.

This passenger working will stop to pick up and set down passengers at Victoria Station, as Midland Station was out of use that day.

WRS017-Woodhouse (GCR) Station-(No.40.028)-06-01-1977.jpg

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What a lovely nostalgic photo bringing back memories of a national rail service which served. Merry Christmas everyone and I will try to be less grumpy in the New Year.

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What a splendid photo. That is my kind of train.

Nothing quite so historic (yet) from me, but quite appropriate as I am currently sitting not too far away from this particular tram stop.

Merry Christmas to all on Sheffield History, with hopes that the New Year continues to bring forth many fascinating pictures and discussions on this wonderful city of ours.

i-6kzGZxm-L.jpg

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Brilliant photograph, Madannie - I hope that you are not standing at Gleadless Townend waiting for a tram to turn-up at this moment! lol

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Certainly not. However crazy and forgetful I might be, I have remembered that there are no trams today!

 It seems quite odd to not hear the trams rumbling up and down Ridgeway Road from where I am sat at the moment, as it is normally such a regular soundtrack. 

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I'm afraid I don't like the modern trains, they don't have the romance and nostalgia that steam trains gave me. A friend who is more or less the same age as myself, well he asked me why people hold steam trains with such affection, he couldn't understand it but I understood his reaction as in his childhood, he never went train spotting, never played conkers in fact he didn't do the things that most young boys did, his greatest sin was he never read the Dandy or  Beano.  All he thought about was football, it was his only reason to live and even today at the age of 70 his coats, jumpers, sweatshirts etc. must have a sporting logo, a very sad life.

A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO EACH AND ALL OF THE MEMBERS ON THIS FANTASTIC SITE.

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29 minutes ago, tozzin said:

I'm afraid I don't like the modern trains, they don't have the romance and nostalgia that steam trains gave me. A friend who is more or less the same age as myself, well he asked me why people hold steam trains with such affection, he couldn't understand it but I understood his reaction as in his childhood, he never went train spotting, never played conkers in fact he didn't do the things that most young boys did, his greatest sin was he never read the Dandy or  Beano.  All he thought about was football, it was his only reason to live and even today at the age of 70 his coats, jumpers, sweatshirts etc. must have a sporting logo, a very sad life.

A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO EACH AND ALL OF THE MEMBERS ON THIS FANTASTIC SITE.

What a very sad life indeed, your friend has lived. I too love football, have done, ever since an early age, and still do, but there was, and there still is, a lot more to life than just football.

It is my belief that the up-voting any of Gresley's brilliant locomotive designs should be made compulsory  on this website, so I have done so.

And, here we have, another photograph of another of Gresley's brilliant locomotive designs attached, built Doncaster, Works Number.1564, in 1923, Class A1, No.60103,Flying Scotsman.  Taken by me at Llangollen Station, on 02/04/1994.

And for those, like your friend, who never experienced the magic, the wonder, and the sheer, stunning awesomeness of steam traction, we see Class.5MT, (or Class.7800), No.7822, Foxcote Manor, departing Berwyn Station, on 03/07/1994. A wet, slippery rail, and the locomotive attempting to make a clean start from the platform, with a heavy train behind and here she is, 'dancing' like crazy. To witness, from close up, any large steam locomotive 'dancing' is a most unforgettable sight , and sound indeed.

Being a 4-6-0 however, she is probably doing better than a pacific (4-6-2) would have done under like circumstances, as with a 4-6-2, the trailing axle tends to lift the driving wheels off of the rails on a rising gradient, so less traction.

LRS081-DON1564-1923 (Class A1-No.60103-Flying Scotsman)-(24-02-1923 to 15-01-1963) at Llangollen Station-02-04-1994.jpg

LRS042-Class.5MT, (or Class.7800-Manor)-No.7822-(Foxcote Manor)-(31-12-1950 to 30-11-1965) at Berwyn Station-03-07-1994.jpg

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2 minutes ago, Unitedite Returns said:

What a very sad life indeed, your friend has lived. I too love football, have done, ever since an early age, and still do, but there was, and there still is, a lot more to life than just football.

It is my belief that the up-voting any of Gresley's brilliant locomotive designs should be made compulsory  on this website, so I have done so.

And, here we have, another photograph of another of Gresley's brilliant locomotive designs attached, built Doncaster, Works Number.1564, in 1923, Class A1, No.60103,Flying Scotsman.  Taken by me at Llangollen Station, on 02/04/1994.

And for those, like your friend, who never experienced the magic, the wonder, and the sheer, stunning awesomeness of steam traction, we see Class.5MT, (or Class.7800), No.7822, Foxcote Manor, departing Berwyn Station, on 03/07/1994. A wet, slippery rail, and the locomotive attempting to make a clean start from the platform, with a heavy train behind and here she is, 'dancing' like crazy. To witness, from close up, any large steam locomotive 'dancing' is a most unforgettable sight , and sound indeed.

Being a 4-6-0 however, she is probably doing better than a pacific (4-6-2) would have done under like circumstances, as with a 4-6-2, the trailing axle tends to lift the driving wheels off of the rails on a rising gradient, so less traction.

LRS081-DON1564-1923 (Class A1-No.60103-Flying Scotsman)-(24-02-1923 to 15-01-1963) at Llangollen Station-02-04-1994.jpg

LRS042-Class.5MT, (or Class.7800-Manor)-No.7822-(Foxcote Manor)-(31-12-1950 to 30-11-1965) at Berwyn Station-03-07-1994.jpg

Sheer perfection.

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23 minutes ago, tozzin said:

Sheer perfection.

And probably, one of the most difficult images that I have personally, ever captured. Not the most, however, I might save that for another day.

Here we have Stanier, Class 5, No.45428, Eric Treacy, built by Armstrong Whitworth, to works number  1483, in 1937, climbing the 1 in 49 gradient at Darnholm Bridge, (North Yorkshire Moors Railway), on 26/08/1990.

She is seen here, hauling a heavy, packed, bank holiday train up towards Goathland Station and literally, was crawling past this point at perhaps, no more than five miles per hour. A few hundred yards past this point, in Goathland Cutting, the train stalled entirely, and it took roughly fifteen minutes, or so, to restart, and it crawled from there, over the last half-mile, or so finally, into Goathland Station.

My camera, at that time, had a built in light meter, and as No.45428 came under the bridge, her exhaust literally turned the whole sky black, despite it being a warm, sunny, summers' day. The built-in light meter, visible through the view-finder, started dropping at an alarming rate, and I was desperately racking down the F-stops and the shutter-speeds, until I finally snapped this image at 60th / second, on F5.6, hence the slightly grainy appearance. 

There should be a post-script to this story, but I dare not post it, on any open forum, even to this day.

NYMR313-AW1483-1937-(No.45428 Eric Treacy) at Darnholm Bridge-26-08-1990.jpg

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When in the early 1950's 60103 was based at Leicester she was a frequent visitor to Sheffield Victoria heading the Master Cutler express to/from Marylebone. My Grandad was a  Darnall based driver and  during school hols I often went with him to collect his wages....and have a look around the shed, footplating as many locos as I could. By the time I was around 11 I knew my way around the cabs of most ex GCR locos and one of my claims to fame is that I drove the Scotsman( minus double chimney and those alien German style smoke deflectors) down a siding whilst she was on shed ( so much for Health and Safety)

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12 hours ago, tozzin said:

This is the nearest I get to steam trains now apart from the trips to York Railway Museum.

Two nice 'streaks', No.60017 'Silver Fox' and No.60024 'Kingfisher', both, I think, hauling corridor tenders - oh, happy, happy memories.

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On 25/12/2017 at 07:06, Unitedite Returns said:

Merry Christmas to you all.

 

The former Great Central Railway at Woodhouse Station looking out towards Beighton, on 06/01/1977. The over-bridge carries the Station Road-Furnace Lane road from Woodhouse to Woodhouse Mill. The down-goods line, on the left-hand-side of the train, and much of the up-goods line, on the right-hand-side of the train have long been lifted. Does anyone know anything about the derelict house, visible at the bottom of Station Road?

The locomotive heading this down passenger working is Class 40, Number 40-028, Samaria, but by the English Electric Vulcan Foundry, to Works Number , E2683/D445, 28/08/1959, and at the time that this photograph was taken, was allocated to the Liverpool Motive Power Division. She was withdrawn from service 17/10/1984, and scrapped at Crewe, 29/02/1988.

This passenger working will stop to pick up and set down passengers at Victoria Station, as Midland Station was out of use that day.

WRS017-Woodhouse (GCR) Station-(No.40.028)-06-01-1977.jpg

The photograph appears to have been taken at the far end of the Eastbound platform, looking towards the No.52, 32 & 23 Bus Terminus (Termini? :P), where Station Road becomes Furnace Lane at the Road bridge. I've tried to show the direction of the shot with the light blue arrow, overlaid on a modern birds eye view of the location. The derelict house shown by your red arrow was actually on the far side of Station Road. The house was No.1 Junction Road, marked with the red line. Before the construction of June Road started c. 1961, there was a row of houses on Junction Road, No's.1 to 31, collectively known as Junction Terrace, as show on the 1956 map. On the later map, the houses are still there, but no longer referred to as Junction Terrace and were only demolished in the late 70's or maybe early 80's? One of those things that one should know, given I was born and brought up maybe 200 yds from the spot?! Also oddly, I always knew Junction Road as Junction Lane, as did anyone who I spoke to about it and often at just.... "t'Lane" (as in "ees gon darn t'Lane, an I ant sin-im sin'") 

The house was at the head of Junction Road (Lane), immediately opposite the bottom gates of the old Grammar School (now the site of the Retirement Village) and the terrace was on the left hand side, where they ended in a series of allotment gardens at No.31. Looking at the names of the people who were recorded as living there in 1970, I remember quite a few of these people from my childhood. Mr. Footitt (Walter) lived at No.1 (the derelict house) and he had a huge back garden, which ended at the top of the railway embankment, complete with an electricity sub-station that was accessed through a large white wooden gate from the main road.

The 52 bus terminus was right outside the house and consisted of a single shelter, with a corrugated roof and metal sides, with wired glass windows around. there was an opening roadside and one at the back, with a single hand rail that meant you followed it around to form a queue. However, the rail was more like a combination of perch, gymnastic bars and numerous other uses when sheltering inside - either from the rain, or wind, etc. This was the only shelter at the terminus and served the queuing passengers for both the 52 and the 32 buses. Plus for the more energetic, the 23 bus that used to stop on the 'down' side of the road bridge and needed a 100yd dash to get over the road! (note: Didn't the 219 Sheffield to Dinnington bus stop there too? I think it did, but they only ran every couple of hours I think?)   

Others I remember were Mr. & Mrs. Thorpe, an elderly couple at No.27, who used to happily invite us in for 'a drink and a biscuit' in days when folk used to do that! When Mr. Thorpe passed away, Mrs. Thorpe was re-housed in a bungalow off Beighton Road (Stacey Rise?) when the terrace was demolished.

No.31 was the end terrace, bordering the allotments and also had a huge garden, with an orchard stretching back, right to the railway embankment. Mr. Chapman was quite happy for kids to help themselves to the apples and pears in his orchard, which we duly obliged... it would have been rude not to?! However, this was in stark contrast to Pearson's orchard on the other side of the 'Lane' further down and set right back, towards the Secco'. Mr. Pearson was fiercely protective of his fruit and would not even let us in to collect windfalls, shooing us off with a big stick and shouts of "GIT-OUTTA-VIT!!!!". So unlike the kindly Mr. Chapman, it required "Covert Op's" that would have been worthy of the SAS to relieve Mr. Pearson of his apples and pears....... but no prizes for guessing which one's tasted sweeter???!!! lol

Happy days and distant memories now, but great to recollect..... and apologies for waffling on.......

 

 

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I have only just noticed that the bus in the background is one of the Van Hool bodied Volvo Ailsas,

These buses really grabbed my attention when they appeared as they seemed so exotic to a young bus enthusiast used only to the Leyland, AEC and Daimler buses I saw regularly in my part of Sheffield.

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5 minutes ago, madannie77 said:

I have only just noticed that the bus in the background is one of the Van Hool bodied Volvo Ailsas,

These buses really grabbed my attention when they appeared as they seemed so exotic to a young bus enthusiast used only to the Leyland, AEC and Daimler buses I saw regularly in my part of Sheffield.

Well spotted, I remember them well, they were somewhat different, I thought the auto gearbox let them down. I remember teaming up with a female driver Joy for overtime (suet). We were both drivers at the time but I liked conducting and Joy was a very good driver so that's what we did.  It was route 24 and coming through Attercliffe a couple of passengers started saying "woman driver" every time it changed gear, I felt it necessary to have words with them. Ailsas would have been great with a manual box.

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8 hours ago, boginspro said:

Well spotted, I remember them well, they were somewhat different, I thought the auto gearbox let them down. I remember teaming up with a female driver Joy for overtime (suet). We were both drivers at the time but I liked conducting and Joy was a very good driver so that's what we did.  It was route 24 and coming through Attercliffe a couple of passengers started saying "woman driver" every time it changed gear, I felt it necessary to have words with them. Ailsas would have been great with a manual box.

Hilarious hehe

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