dark_island2002
Kiveton Bridge Station
Kiveton Park, South Yorkshire.
"Kiveton Bridge" properly refers to the road bridge from which the adjacent railway station takes its name - avoiding any confusion with Kiveton Park Station approximately one mile to the east. The station was built by the London and North Eastern Railway to serve the rapidly growing communities of Kiveton Park and the neighbouring village of Wales following the sinking of Kiveton Park Colliery and the influx of men to work the pit. With the increasing population, there had been repeated calls for a new station that was more central to the two villages, and after 30 years of lobbying Kiveton Bridge opened to passengers on the 8th July 1929.
When built, the new station consisted of two flanking wooden platforms (each with wooden waiting rooms) linked by an overbridge. These were accessed through the road-level booking hall adjacent to the main road. In the 1950s, concrete platforms replaced the old wooden ones, and in the early 1970s the station was further modernised and became destaffed. The booking hall was demolished, the wooden waiting rooms replaced by brick structures, and the station’s lighting was converted from gas to electricity. Both Kiveton Bridge and Kiveton Park stations were remodelled in the 1990s with modern platforms and fixtures, although in the case of Kiveton Bridge, the new station signs read "Kiverton Bridge". These were soon replaced with the correct spelling, but this wasn’t the first time the name had been incorrectly shown. British Railways had made the same blunder when replacing old signs with new, larger enamel ones in the late1950s.
Kiveton Bridge station is situated on the ex-Great Central (formerly the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway) Sheffield to Lincoln line and is served by trains operated by Northern Rail. Services are generally hourly in each direction on Monday to Saturday, together with three services from Sheffield to Cleethorpes via Gainsborough Central, Brigg and Grimsby Town on Saturdays only. Sunday services are few, running only in the late afternoon and early evening.
Late 1950s - early 1960s
In the halcyon days of steam - and when coal was king - this line saw much heavier volumes of traffic than it does today, much of it generated by the many coal mines in the area. Passenger traffic was mainly local trains running between Sheffield, Retford and Lincoln, but other services existed too. One such was the daily Harwich (Parkeston Quay) to Liverpool boat train. The ‘down’ working ran via March, Lincoln, Retford and Worksop as far as Sheffield Victoria where the locomotive terminated. From here the train continued its way across the Pennines via the recently electrified Woodhead Line hauled by a Class EM2 electric locomotive. Meanwhile, the ‘steamer’ was turned at Sheffield for the return to Harwich with the ‘up’ train, which had set off from Liverpool earlier that morning.
For many years, the standard motive power from Harwich to Sheffield and back was provided by Gresley 4-6-0 Class B17s, also known as Sandringhams or Footballers. In later years, haulage was handed over to BR Standard Class 7 locomotives, otherwise known as Britannia Class, though I suspect there may have been an interim period where Thompson B1s were used. When we heard on the grapevine that the 'Brits' were taking over the boat train, I well remember as a boy cycling over to Worksop on Saturday mornings with a few mates to watch it steaming through the station, and on our very first visit it was hauled by none other than the flagship of the fleet, Britannia herself. It didn't stop at Worksop on the outward working, but it did on the return journey, and with lots of other kids we congregated on the station platform to greet it and hopefully manage a chat with the driver and fireman.
The “Master Cutler”
For several years the prestigious “Master Cutler” graced these metals. This train has a varied history and initially ran on the former Great Central Main Line route from Sheffield Victoria to London Marylebone, generally hauled by a Gresley A3 Pacific. In September 1958, however, it was transferred to the Sheffield Victoria - London King's Cross route, calling at Retford where it switched to the East Coast Main Line, but by this time haulage had been taken over by the new English Electric Type 4 (later Class 40) diesel locomotives. Two years on and British Railways (Eastern Region) introduced Pullman coaches to the service, but in 1966 these were withdrawn and replaced with normal carriages. In 1968 the Master Cutler was again re-routed, this time to the Midland Main Line, terminating at London St Pancras.
Geograph®: www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5979128
Kiveton Bridge Station
Kiveton Park, South Yorkshire.
"Kiveton Bridge" properly refers to the road bridge from which the adjacent railway station takes its name - avoiding any confusion with Kiveton Park Station approximately one mile to the east. The station was built by the London and North Eastern Railway to serve the rapidly growing communities of Kiveton Park and the neighbouring village of Wales following the sinking of Kiveton Park Colliery and the influx of men to work the pit. With the increasing population, there had been repeated calls for a new station that was more central to the two villages, and after 30 years of lobbying Kiveton Bridge opened to passengers on the 8th July 1929.
When built, the new station consisted of two flanking wooden platforms (each with wooden waiting rooms) linked by an overbridge. These were accessed through the road-level booking hall adjacent to the main road. In the 1950s, concrete platforms replaced the old wooden ones, and in the early 1970s the station was further modernised and became destaffed. The booking hall was demolished, the wooden waiting rooms replaced by brick structures, and the station’s lighting was converted from gas to electricity. Both Kiveton Bridge and Kiveton Park stations were remodelled in the 1990s with modern platforms and fixtures, although in the case of Kiveton Bridge, the new station signs read "Kiverton Bridge". These were soon replaced with the correct spelling, but this wasn’t the first time the name had been incorrectly shown. British Railways had made the same blunder when replacing old signs with new, larger enamel ones in the late1950s.
Kiveton Bridge station is situated on the ex-Great Central (formerly the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway) Sheffield to Lincoln line and is served by trains operated by Northern Rail. Services are generally hourly in each direction on Monday to Saturday, together with three services from Sheffield to Cleethorpes via Gainsborough Central, Brigg and Grimsby Town on Saturdays only. Sunday services are few, running only in the late afternoon and early evening.
Late 1950s - early 1960s
In the halcyon days of steam - and when coal was king - this line saw much heavier volumes of traffic than it does today, much of it generated by the many coal mines in the area. Passenger traffic was mainly local trains running between Sheffield, Retford and Lincoln, but other services existed too. One such was the daily Harwich (Parkeston Quay) to Liverpool boat train. The ‘down’ working ran via March, Lincoln, Retford and Worksop as far as Sheffield Victoria where the locomotive terminated. From here the train continued its way across the Pennines via the recently electrified Woodhead Line hauled by a Class EM2 electric locomotive. Meanwhile, the ‘steamer’ was turned at Sheffield for the return to Harwich with the ‘up’ train, which had set off from Liverpool earlier that morning.
For many years, the standard motive power from Harwich to Sheffield and back was provided by Gresley 4-6-0 Class B17s, also known as Sandringhams or Footballers. In later years, haulage was handed over to BR Standard Class 7 locomotives, otherwise known as Britannia Class, though I suspect there may have been an interim period where Thompson B1s were used. When we heard on the grapevine that the 'Brits' were taking over the boat train, I well remember as a boy cycling over to Worksop on Saturday mornings with a few mates to watch it steaming through the station, and on our very first visit it was hauled by none other than the flagship of the fleet, Britannia herself. It didn't stop at Worksop on the outward working, but it did on the return journey, and with lots of other kids we congregated on the station platform to greet it and hopefully manage a chat with the driver and fireman.
The “Master Cutler”
For several years the prestigious “Master Cutler” graced these metals. This train has a varied history and initially ran on the former Great Central Main Line route from Sheffield Victoria to London Marylebone, generally hauled by a Gresley A3 Pacific. In September 1958, however, it was transferred to the Sheffield Victoria - London King's Cross route, calling at Retford where it switched to the East Coast Main Line, but by this time haulage had been taken over by the new English Electric Type 4 (later Class 40) diesel locomotives. Two years on and British Railways (Eastern Region) introduced Pullman coaches to the service, but in 1966 these were withdrawn and replaced with normal carriages. In 1968 the Master Cutler was again re-routed, this time to the Midland Main Line, terminating at London St Pancras.
Geograph®: www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5979128