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Then & Now - Sheffield Trams


Stuart0742

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Next stop was Darnall following a ride on a 52 (successor to the Crookes to Handsworth tram route)

Again, a bit of guesswork here and the usual problem of angles being wrong due to changed road layouts.

Two views of the bottom of Prince of Wales Road looking north. First up is a view of the 1950s road layout at the junction of Prince of Wales Road, Main Road and Greenland Road and a modern approximation of the same view. Date of the then shot unknown, now was 27/12/16.

darnall 262.jpg

 

And a view of the Darnall Cinema behind car 273 on 05/07/57: now was 27/12/16

darnall 273.jpg

 

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A few days earlier I made it to Wadsley Bridge for a couple of shots.

Car 72 descending the hill on 3rd October 1959. Rather more traffic on the road on 24th December 2016 :o. The bridge has been replaced by a longer version to accommodate the road widening and the railway has gone from being an electrified main line to a long siding with one daily train of steel from Aldwarke to Deepcar (for Stocksbridge steelworks) :(

wadsley bridge 72.jpg

 

A closer view of the bridge from the other side of the road. Then shot date unknown, now 24th December 2016.

wadsley bridge 531.jpg

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A bus journey through town took me to Abbeydale Road and an amble back into town for the next shots.

First up is a view of the railgrinder 330 crossing from Wolseley Road into Queens Road on 5th September 1959 with the now shot from 24th December 2016. The stonework on the old bank has been cleaned, not sure what was going on with the wall on the left and the houses in the background have all gone.

wolseley road 330.jpg

 

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And along Shoreham Street for two shots.

Number 73 on a Woodseats service and number 1 coming off the Cherry Street spur on a special, probably an enthusiasts tour given the lack of crowds on 29th April 1956. My list of tours is not to hand at the moment, alas. Not a great deal of change along Shoreham Street, although I was amazed at the number of for sale and to let signs on the properties.

 shoreham street 1.jpg

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And a bit further on, at the junction with Charlotte Road, car 6 with a makeshift front panel is working a special. This is probably a football special as there are quite a lot of people around and the shot dates from 7th April 1947. On that day United beat Bolton Wanderers 4-2, their third game in 4 days. The now shot is from 24th December 2016.

shoreham street 6.jpg

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After some meandering the next shot was the bottom of London Road. Thank goodness for solidly built banks, as the old Midland Bank between Cemetery Road and Ecclesall Road was the only point of reference here. All else has gone, including the roundabout with tramlines through the middle. Then shot undated, now shot 24th December 2016.

moorfoot 527.jpg

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Another undated shot of a Roberts car. This time 511 is seen coming off the kerbside loading line on Pinstone Street on an unknown date. The now shot was 24th December 2016. I chose to not have a bus in the shot as it would have blocked out much of the changed background.

pinstone street 511.jpg

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Back to 27th December's perambulations for a few taken around the city centre.

First up is another shot of Pinstone Street, this time at the Moorhead end. The buildings to the left of car 440 were replaced in the 1960s as part of the building of the Grosvenor Hotel. That replacement building was being demolished at the end of 2016, hence the sheeting and scaffolding.

pinstone street 440.jpg

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High Street: then is a postcard with a postmark of July 1908, although the picture probably dates from earlier as a route letter is in use and car 197 had a top cover fitted in 1908. The north side of High Street looks pretty much the same in December 2016 (excepting Kemsley House), but the south side has changed somewhat courtesy of Mr Hitler.

 high street 197.jpg

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Exchange Street was the terminus of tram services to Rotherham and Lane Top via Attercliffe. These days it is a bleak partially pedestrianised road, looking even more forlorn since the demolition of the Castle Market. I wanted to take a "now" shot some time ago before the Castle Market came down but I never made it, so both the then and now shots show nothing adjoining the pub. Back then (11th August 1953) car 177 was alongside the Rotherham House, now (27th December 2016) the Market Tavern stood boarded up with a hoarding around the site of the market..

exchange street 177.jpg

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And finally (for now), Waingate looking towards Haymarket. Cars 71 and 123 heading towards Haymarket with the Norfolk Market Hall prominent on 9th April 1958. The same view on 27th December 2016 with a bus on the right hand side so that the changes on Haymarket can be seen.

waingate 71.jpg

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21 hours ago, madannie77 said:

Exchange Street was the terminus of tram services to Rotherham and Lane Top via Attercliffe. These days it is a bleak partially pedestrianised road, looking even more forlorn since the demolition of the Castle Market. I wanted to take a "now" shot some time ago before the Castle Market came down but I never made it, so both the then and now shots show nothing adjoining the pub. Back then (11th August 1953) car 177 was alongside the Rotherham House, now (27th December 2016) the Market Tavern stood boarded up with a hoarding around the site of the market..

exchange street 177.jpg

I have a memory of the dark blue Rotherham trams standing here. Later on I read that the Rotherham trams were unusual in that they could only be driven from one end. At Templeborough there was a loop the trams went round to keep the cab at the front for the journey back. In Sheffield they turned left along the bottom of the market then right to arrive at the terminus with the cab at the front ready to turn right to go back to Rotherham

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On 29 December 2016 at 16:22, madannie77 said:

Next stop was Darnall following a ride on a 52 (successor to the Crookes to Handsworth tram route)

Again, a bit of guesswork here and the usual problem of angles being wrong due to changed road layouts.

Two views of the bottom of Prince of Wales Road looking north. First up is a view of the 1950s road layout at the junction of Prince of Wales Road, Main Road and Greenland Road and a modern approximation of the same view. Date of the then shot unknown, now was 27/12/16.

darnall 262.jpg

 

And a view of the Darnall Cinema behind car 273 on 05/07/57: now was 27/12/16

darnall 273.jpg

 

These B&W photos bring some memories back, the shop on the left of Tram 262 shows Hills Corn Stores, my sister Eileen and myself used to go to this shop to buy a stone of corn for my Dads hens, plus the Darnell Cinema in the background of Tram 273, I spent quite a bit of time there when I was under twelve .

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4 hours ago, Old rider said:

I have a memory of the dark blue Rotherham trams standing here. Later on I read that the Rotherham trams were unusual in that they could only be driven from one end. At Templeborough there was a loop the trams went round to keep the cab at the front for the journey back. In Sheffield they turned left along the bottom of the market then right to arrive at the terminus with the cab at the front ready to turn right to go back to Rotherham

Rotherham bought 11 single ended trams in 1934/5 for use on the Sheffield service as both termini were loops. A reversing triangle (rather than a loop) was built on Temple Street in Templeborough to allow the single ended trams to reverse when operating short workings.

The triangle can be seen in this post along with one of the single ended cars behind Sheffield 501.

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Thanks madannie. Rotherham went for trolley buses rather than trams, with 2 overhead wires trolley buses could not run into Sheffield . Rotherham had the longest trolley bus route in the country out through Wickersley to Maltby. For your interest in trams here is a digitised glass slide picture taken by my Grandfather who was a keen amateur photographer, and one of series pictures of trams I that I took. 

Fitzalan sq.jpg

Haliifax Rd.jpg

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On 31/05/2009 at 19:27, Stuart0742 said:

Now we join the route from Woodseats

 

Both these are from similar locations looking up London Road from the junction with Queens Road nr Lowfields School.

 

post-1084-1243794303_thumb.jpgpost-1084-1243794331_thumb.jpg

This is certainly the place where the . lines from Wolsley Road crossed the lines up to Highfields at right angles.The trams and most cars had no problems. If you were on two wheels it was a different  matter as l found out the hard way. 

To get a smooth ride the Wolseley Road lines were raised up so the bottom of the groove was level with the top of the other rails so the tram got a smooth crossing  The tarmac was level with them all over the crossing so the Highfield lines were down in a trough which was about motorcycle tyre width. Heading from Heeley to Queens Road meant crossing the deeper lines at a small angle, never a good idea particularly in the rain. 

  Speeding happily long in the middle of the inbound line l was suddenly faced with the deep grooves in  the road at the wrong speed.  Panic is I think the right description followed by heavy  braking and a quick swerve to get a safer line. I walked back to have a good look and sort out which were the problem routes from the safety of the pavement edge. Suffice to say that after that  when motorcycling that whole area was treated with caution.

Cars buses and lorries with wide tyres could ignore this odd unique crossing design. I often wondered how cyclists fared. 

One odd thought. In spite of many hours spent surfing I have never located a close-up photo of the actual rails at this point.  Probably the only time you could have stood safely in the middle of the junction would be first light on a summer Sunday. I regret now I was never that enthusiastic

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1 hour ago, Keith_exS10 said:

This is certainly the place where the . lines from Wolsley Road crossed the lines up to Highfields at right angles.The trams and most cars had no problems. If you were on two wheels it was a different  matter as l found out the hard way. 

To get a smooth ride the Wolseley Road lines were raised up so the bottom of the groove was level with the top of the other rails so the tram got a smooth crossing  The tarmac was level with them all over the crossing so the Highfield lines were down in a trough which was about motorcycle tyre width. Heading from Heeley to Queens Road meant crossing the deeper lines at a small angle, never a good idea particularly in the rain. 

  Speeding happily long in the middle of the inbound line l was suddenly faced with the deep grooves in  the road at the wrong speed.  Panic is I think the right description followed by heavy  braking and a quick swerve to get a safer line. I walked back to have a good look and sort out which were the problem routes from the safety of the pavement edge. Suffice to say that after that  when motorcycling that whole area was treated with caution.

Cars buses and lorries with wide tyres could ignore this odd unique crossing design. I often wondered how cyclists fared. 

One odd thought. In spite of many hours spent surfing I have never located a close-up photo of the actual rails at this point.  Probably the only time you could have stood safely in the middle of the junction would be first light on a summer Sunday. I regret now I was never that enthusiastic

I remember my uncle getting his bicycle wheels stuck in the tram tracks on Abbeydale Road, pedaling like hell with a tram behind him, then jumping off when the tram stopped and pulling the bike away.

Looking at the photo's of Heeley Bottom I can only wonder what kind of thinking reduces such a great shopping area to what looks like deserted streets..

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On 30/12/2016 at 15:19, Old rider said:

I have a memory of the dark blue Rotherham trams standing here. Later on I read that the Rotherham trams were unusual in that they could only be driven from one end. At Templeborough there was a loop the trams went round to keep the cab at the front for the journey back. In Sheffield they turned left along the bottom of the market then right to arrive at the terminus with the cab at the front ready to turn right to go back to Rotherham

Small correction re the Rotherham trams. They were effectively an English Electric  trolleybus bus body on an EMB tram chassis and were intended to use a loop at the Sheffield  and Rotherham termini, not Templeborough.. They did actually have a different type back-up  controller for two situations 

 

Short workings to Steel Peach and Tozer's works gate, destination "Templeborough", just inside the Rotherham boundary, required the tram to do a classic three-point turn by reversing back left on to a short siding in Temple Street,  then out forward right back home That layout was laid down to suit the new style trams in 1934.

The other necessary use would psumably be going part way round the Rotherham loop, then backing along Effingham Street to the depot. Obviously the usual method as every depot photo shows them pointing towards Rotherham town centre. However, nobody seems have managed  to photograph one going in reverse. Pity they were all scrapped before preservation took off or we might have seen one running the length of Crich in reverse. If only!

 

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What a great thread! That's passed on a couple of hours, when I should be working! lol

I found the thread from google images, as trying to see if I could find a shot on Paternoster Row to match the shot I took today.

(a right saddo me, I take shots of old lines, when I find them exposed through building work). Saw 2 lots today and yesterday :)

 

Only taken 9 years to make first post, I just noticed

 

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On 29/12/2016 at 17:01, madannie77 said:

And along Shoreham Street for two shots.

Number 73 on a Woodseats service and number 1 coming off the Cherry Street spur on a special, probably an enthusiasts tour given the lack of crowds on 29th April 1956. My list of tours is not to hand at the moment, alas. Not a great deal of change along Shoreham Street, although I was amazed at the number of for sale and to let signs on the properties.

 shoreham street 1.jpg

Just a thought. The earlier picture was taken on a Sunday. Might this have been a special taking Boy Scouts to the City Hall for the annual St George's day service?

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Fulwood Termius, Canterbury Ave 

501 looks brand new in this shot so I’m guessing that means it was taken in the late 40’s. 

56425789-E951-404C-BF4E-D0B140BC9FB3.jpeg

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"Then" is on Ebay but as there is a wide view of the Midland Station area I thought it more suitable for this topic. Works car 373 again. (information by madannie77 on page 6), but this time at the end of Sheaf Street.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303165626787?ul_noapp=true

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3781634,-1.4648154,3a,30y,45.37h,86.91t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1skIlJHkWiovQlnfVZPqsRVA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

373_statio_then_and_now.png

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The Last Sheffield Tram – 8 October 1960

A friend has sent Me a copy of the Menu for the Guests who travel on the last Sheffield Tram. There are x2 separate pages for Sheffield Trams so I’ve put the Menu on both.

It would be interesting to see a Guest List for the event?

Wazzie Worrall.

Tram Closure Dinner 1.jpg

Tram Closure Dinner 2.jpg

Tram Closure Dinner 3.jpg

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