Sheffield Victoria Train Station

[History dude]

Great video Paul and thanks for the credit! 😃

[History dude]

Some great pictures of the demolition of the station by Andrew Stringfellow on flicker. Here's an example:

 

[SteveHB]

5 hours ago, History dude said:

Some great pictures of the demolition of the station by Andrew Stringfellow on flicker. Here's an example:

 

 

That would be 'flickr'

https://www.flickr.com/photos/197795529@N04

 

[Athy]

I'm nott sure that I could agree that photos of the demolition of a sration where I and my little friends sstood for hours with our Ian Allen locospotting books could be described as "great".

Nonetheless, thank you HD for posting the photo.

[History dude]

I was of course talking about  Andrew's photos as being great - not the demolition of course.   There's one where you can still see coat hooks still in place! (the one above). When you look at the pictures of the station after it closed. You realise that the demolition was very slow. For example they actually filled in the cattle dock bay (which was aside the passage that lead to the entrance on the Wicker) before they got around to knocking things down.

There's lots of the station building that I still don't know what they were used for. For instance there's that bright brick building.  And the round building on platform four (image below). 

[History dude]

Victoria Station clock on E-Bay for £250.

Station Clock E-bay

[Athy]

The preserved Great Central Railway might be interested - though it looks as if the clock dates from B.R. days so it may be a bit late for them.

 

The owner says he's snapped the pendulum off, which won't enhance its saleability.

[Alastair]

The 60s style lettering on the door says Licensed Buffet 

[Lysanderix]

I never took my Ian Allen book (s) with me on a train spotting “mission”…they were too precious! A note book sufficed ,until the evening ,when any “kops” were carefully underlined in said Ian Allen .Like many local lads of my generation , I spent hours on the Vic station ,especially on Saturdays….very occasionally seeing my Granddad who was originally an ex GCR driver working out his last days  on British Rail from Darnall MPD driving locals.

The last time I was there was to catch one of the last 27000 electrics to Manchester ,with my young family ,on a visit to Blackpool. By then not much was happening .

Looking at the pictures of the station’s demolition is saddening…but, hey, much of what has happened and been short sighted in my 80 years of living in this country saddens me.🙄🙄🙄

[Athy]

I had the Ian Allan Midland and Eastern Region softback volumes, graduating to the more expensive hardback "Combine" when my Mum, in a rush of blood to her purse, boughtb me one. It was the 1961 edition, and I still have it.

   I too left it at home, simply because it was much quicker to jot down engine numbers in a notebook than it was to find the loco in the combine and underline it, especially if there was a rush of activity with several trains arriving or passing through at once. Dad was a teacher and there was never a shortage of exercise books of various sizes at home. Once I got home I diligently looked up and underlines my numbers in the combine.

The really prestigious capture, of course, was the "picture cop". Only one member of each class of engines was illustrated in the book, and if I saw that one I proudly drew lines all round the photo. Did other people do this?

 

I credit train-spotting with training (?) me to remember numbers. Since those days I have, for exaple, always been good at remembering phone numbers, even quite long ones. My wife has a mobile phone, and I can always quote its number although she hasn't a clue what it is.

[Lysanderix]

The other “must have” was the loco shed edition!

[History dude]

Did anyone do any trainspotting on or after 1965?  I am still trying to work out how long the platform one track was there after that date.  1965 is when the station lost the local services and platform one would have been of little use.

[Athy]

20 hours ago, Lysanderix said:

The other “must have” was the loco shed edition!

I'd forgotten about that, but I did have one. From memory, it gave very precise directions for reaching every locoshed in the country. It must have been a labour of love for whoever compiled it.

   It would be instructive to look at the book now and see how many of those sheds are still in use; very few, I'd imagine. I suspect that many have disappeared completely and that others still stand but are being put to non-railway use.

[History dude]

Have scanned from my 2013 equivalent Loco book the shed codes below. Back then the sheds were a number and a letter, (41A or 41B for Sheffield sheds) in the 1970's under the TOPS scheme these were given a two letter code for example Ti for Tinsley, which has now been given to another depot. Sheffield of course lost all it's sheds. 

 

[Athy]

If Sheffield has lost all its locosheds, where do they now keep and service the engines, dmu's etc?

[History dude]

4 hours ago, Athy said:

If Sheffield has lost all its locosheds, where do they now keep and service the engines, dmu's etc?

I think that depends on who is operating the service.  Sheffield seems to have many East Midland services, so they will be in Nottingham and Leeds.  The rest will use their own depots in the lists above. Most passenger services these day are the two ended type that are linked together. Whereas before you could make up trains with different coaches and wagons and have a choice of many loco's to haul them, thus requiring lots of depots.  Only the goods services now need an engine. When the Inter City 125 trains starting working Sheffield, none of them were based in the Sheffield area. And so the need for loco depots in Sheffield vanished.  This might explain lots of cancelled services due to a unit not been available to run it. By the time they have sent a replacement down from Leeds (for example) the next service would have picked up the passengers! Which sometimes would explain the crowded trains. 

Only Network Rail now have a depot at blast lane, quite close to the old station.      

[Athy]

11 hours ago, History dude said:

 

Only Network Rail now have a depot at blast lane, quite close to the old station.      

Ah,, so there IS still a locoshed it the city. .Presumably this stables freight-hauling engines?

[History dude]

Sorry it's just an office base!

[Lemmy117]

Most Northern services are operated by units from Neville Hill depot in Leeds, or Newton Heath in Manchester.  East Midlands trains come from Derby or Neville Hill and Transpennine Express from Ardwick in Manchester. Cross Country come from Central Rivers which is near Burton on Trent, you see quite a few empty stock workings from these places at the start and end of day.

The only loco facilities in Sheffield are at the south end of the station, the old goods yard, where there is a fuel point, a wash plant and toilet discharge facilities, these are used by Northern services.

Nigel L

[Unitedite Rereturns]

On 04/05/2023 at 11:53, History dude said:

Did anyone do any trainspotting on or after 1965?  I am still trying to work out how long the platform one track was there after that date.  1965 is when the station lost the local services and platform one would have been of little use.

Do not assume that this is a definitive answer, as I am relying solely on memory here, but the more that I think about your question, the more I suspect that the rails to this platform could have been lifted even before the cessation of local services in 1965. It was never a platform that I ever gave much consideration to, as it was nearly always cast in shadow, and so, not a good spot for photography, in a time when f-stops and shutter speeds were important. So, if I was asked to hazard a guess, I would say, possibly either late 1964, or early 1965.

I have a photograph taken at the end of Platform 2-3, in October 1963, which clearly shows the rails still in place, but have yet to turn one up which provides a similar perspective after that. Will keep looking though.

[History dude]

While searching for information on the station I came across the Historic England Archive.  They have a file which contains information and photos of the station.  Number BF006383.  However it doesn't tell you much more than that. So I contacted them and got a reply back they said : "Archive material can be viewed by visiting our search room, open Tuesday to Thursday for pre booked visits".  Where? you might add - Swindon!

There's a few added problems if you go.  They don't allow scanners, camera tripods/stands.  You may also use a hand-held camera to take copies of items for personal reference. From 1 June 2023 they will be re-introducing a fee for camera use and you will be asked to sign to agree to our terms and conditions.  Plus: You must book your visit and order archive items at least 7 working days in advance of a visit.

So would they copy the thing for you?

Contents Summary Service where we can look at the file on your behalf, supply a summary of the contents and a quote for copying so that you can then decide whether you would like to go ahead with your order, this is charged at £22-50 (+VAT).

And these are the fees! Second price is with NO VAT.

Priority Plus search fee£118.80 £99.00

Priority search fee£68.40 £57.00

Reference copy£2.40 £2.00

Research fee (per hour, or part)£56.40 £47.00

Content Summary Service£28.20 £23.50

Digital image (from digital file)£15.00 £12.50

Digital image (from original archive item)£37.20 £31.00

Self-service photocopying A4*£0.30 £0.25

Self-service photocopying A3*£0.60 £0.50

Personal Photography (half day)**£12.00 £10.00

Personal Photography (full day)**£18.00 £15.00

*Public Search Room copier

**You will be asked to sign to agree to terms and conditions of use.

Please note: a minimum order charge of £12.00 (£10.00 excl. VAT) applies.

Priority Plus Search - a list of search results for enquiries received before 10am on a working day* despatched by 5pm the same day.

Priority Search - a list of search results for enquiries received before 10am on a working day* despatched by 5pm the next working day.

 

Guess I can forget about that then!

[Unitedite Rereturns]

15 hours ago, History dude said:

While searching for information on the station I came across the Historic England Archive.  They have a file which contains information and photos of the station.  Number BF006383.  However it doesn't tell you much more than that. So I contacted them and got a reply back they said : "Archive material can be viewed by visiting our search room, open Tuesday to Thursday for pre booked visits".  Where? you might add - Swindon!

There's a few added problems if you go.  They don't allow scanners, camera tripods/stands.  You may also use a hand-held camera to take copies of items for personal reference. From 1 June 2023 they will be re-introducing a fee for camera use and you will be asked to sign to agree to our terms and conditions.  Plus: You must book your visit and order archive items at least 7 working days in advance of a visit.

So, are these some quasi-governmental - quangocratic outfit then? Betcha, that they are getting taxpayer funding, either directly, or indirectly.

Think that I need to start charging for access to some of my published material 😈

[History dude]

Historic England is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is has budget of £88.5 million - Tax payers money.  But clearly it can get more than that - see below!

It was first established in 1984 and until 1 April 2015 was commonly known as English Heritage. At that point its common name changed to Historic England and a new charity, officially called the English Heritage Trust, took the name of English Heritage.

Their slogan is "Heritage is for everyone"

One of their schemes is:

High Streets Heritage Action Zones

The £95 million government-funded High Streets Heritage Action Zone programme, which is being delivered by Historic England, will unlock the potential of high streets across England, fuelling economic, social and cultural recovery, encouraging people to say Hi! to the high street, and breathe new life into it for future generations.

Sheffield is NOT part of it, but Leeds is!

 

[History dude]

On 28/05/2023 at 13:43, Unitedite Rereturns said:

Do not assume that this is a definitive answer, as I am relying solely on memory here, but the more that I think about your question, the more I suspect that the rails to this platform could have been lifted even before the cessation of local services in 1965. It was never a platform that I ever gave much consideration to, as it was nearly always cast in shadow, and so, not a good spot for photography, in a time when f-stops and shutter speeds were important. So, if I was asked to hazard a guess, I would say, possibly either late 1964, or early 1965.

I have a photograph taken at the end of Platform 2-3, in October 1963, which clearly shows the rails still in place, but have yet to turn one up which provides a similar perspective after that. Will keep looking though.

There's a picture on Flickr of a class 37 pulling into platform 2 dated to June of 1966. You can still see tracks in place for platform one.

[History dude]

Things from the station find their way to auctions. A station sign survived, though the white lettering has changed. It sold For £500.