Image Archive 2
The Brightside Station loop refurbishment - 6230+234+237+244
The work on the back line at Brightside Station has been going on now for a few weeks and this was the 1st opportunity to go have a look but unfortunately I had left it a bit late to get a photograph of a scrap wagon. i.e. wagons for scrapping, train which was taking the wagons into the scrap yard at Attercliffe, the E.M.R., European Metal Recyclers. The return out of the yard for the light engine move, having deposited the box wagons, back to Belmont Down Yard, was just 30 minutes before my arrival, which was a bit of a pain, to say the least. Anyhow, withing about 15 minutes, the usual traction through here provided a bit of a colourful lift on this cool, glum afternoon. The top left picture shows a Northern Rail class 144 DMU, 144007, having just passed the end of the loop to the south at the Sheffield end, with a couple of Network Rail vans stood off to the left, but nothing much actually going on. 144007 is on the regular 2R71, Sheffield to Scunthorpe service. The picture indicates that the whole section of line, its sleepers and ballast have been removed, some of the former can be seen strewn around on the embankment beyond the wall with old sleepers on the platform end. At top right another DMU, this time 'Sprinter' class 158, 158859, hurtles south on the 'Express' service, 1L85, from Leeds to Sheffield and will have just had a station stop on the Blackburn Valley line at Wincobank. More materials are stored on the old platform next to the rusting bus-shelter type passenger waiting facility! At top left, 'The Railway' pub, still in operation and with a new board advertising its presence with possibly a London & North Western class 4-2-2, #123, with 7 foot driving wheels, at the front of a freight train. At lower left, it looks like the re-ballasting of the sleepers and rails has started at the far end of the loop and it looks as if the renewal work has continued all the way along to Wincobank Junction, in the distance. This loop is hardly ever used but clearly it has enough importance to warrant the renewal, Stem Rail tours use this line if they are taking the Blackburn Valley route, but that's only 2 or 3 times a year and Track Machines also use this for the same reason. Occasionally a DMU will be re-routed in there for some reason such as the main lines or junction at Wincobank, ahead, is being worked on, but again that too doesn't happen very often... meanwhile on the main line in this picture, another DMU service, 2Y82, passes north on the Sheffield to York run with this time, class 142, 142026 in charge of the service. The old sleepers which have been stored on the platform, certainly did look in need of replacement. Finally, looking south towards Sheffield once more, with no sign of the wagons for scrap being parked in the Attercliffe sidings, so the loco must have pushed them straight into the E.M.R. yard, another DMU, 144021, now approaches from Sheffield once more, this time en-route to Huddersfield on the 2B48 service. It is seen having just passed the entrance to the loop line, this end looking distinctly 'wobbly' and unsupported as it snakes towards the camera. The 'STOP' board is in place at the end and there is more detritus lying about the place and piles of new ballast stored just beyond the old Brightside Signal Cabin, now a graffiti'd relay room, as is the building next to it on this side. The junction over to Tinsley Yard curves away where the pile of ballast is being stored, this being Brightside Junction, this material sitting on the trackbed of the old S.D.R. metals. Looks as if someone has chipped through the rendering on the brickwork where the graffiti has been applied on this side of the larger building, or maybe some graffiti wag has just sprayed a brickwork pattern onto the top of the old 'artwork'. Looks like another addition has been made to the buildings as well, the small grey, green 'windowed', cabin with tapered front is a new addition... maybe things are afoot to remove all the old, time-expired facilities in the other two buildings. I would have said however that the large cubic structure with the flat grey roof, is now something of an icon at this location. The large black building on the left is Sheffield Forgemasters and behind that, the Postal Sorting office and beyond that, the E.M.R. and Cemex Cement Yards, both rail connected and in use regularly these days... all to the good.
The Brightside Station loop refurbishment - 6230+234+237+244
The work on the back line at Brightside Station has been going on now for a few weeks and this was the 1st opportunity to go have a look but unfortunately I had left it a bit late to get a photograph of a scrap wagon. i.e. wagons for scrapping, train which was taking the wagons into the scrap yard at Attercliffe, the E.M.R., European Metal Recyclers. The return out of the yard for the light engine move, having deposited the box wagons, back to Belmont Down Yard, was just 30 minutes before my arrival, which was a bit of a pain, to say the least. Anyhow, withing about 15 minutes, the usual traction through here provided a bit of a colourful lift on this cool, glum afternoon. The top left picture shows a Northern Rail class 144 DMU, 144007, having just passed the end of the loop to the south at the Sheffield end, with a couple of Network Rail vans stood off to the left, but nothing much actually going on. 144007 is on the regular 2R71, Sheffield to Scunthorpe service. The picture indicates that the whole section of line, its sleepers and ballast have been removed, some of the former can be seen strewn around on the embankment beyond the wall with old sleepers on the platform end. At top right another DMU, this time 'Sprinter' class 158, 158859, hurtles south on the 'Express' service, 1L85, from Leeds to Sheffield and will have just had a station stop on the Blackburn Valley line at Wincobank. More materials are stored on the old platform next to the rusting bus-shelter type passenger waiting facility! At top left, 'The Railway' pub, still in operation and with a new board advertising its presence with possibly a London & North Western class 4-2-2, #123, with 7 foot driving wheels, at the front of a freight train. At lower left, it looks like the re-ballasting of the sleepers and rails has started at the far end of the loop and it looks as if the renewal work has continued all the way along to Wincobank Junction, in the distance. This loop is hardly ever used but clearly it has enough importance to warrant the renewal, Stem Rail tours use this line if they are taking the Blackburn Valley route, but that's only 2 or 3 times a year and Track Machines also use this for the same reason. Occasionally a DMU will be re-routed in there for some reason such as the main lines or junction at Wincobank, ahead, is being worked on, but again that too doesn't happen very often... meanwhile on the main line in this picture, another DMU service, 2Y82, passes north on the Sheffield to York run with this time, class 142, 142026 in charge of the service. The old sleepers which have been stored on the platform, certainly did look in need of replacement. Finally, looking south towards Sheffield once more, with no sign of the wagons for scrap being parked in the Attercliffe sidings, so the loco must have pushed them straight into the E.M.R. yard, another DMU, 144021, now approaches from Sheffield once more, this time en-route to Huddersfield on the 2B48 service. It is seen having just passed the entrance to the loop line, this end looking distinctly 'wobbly' and unsupported as it snakes towards the camera. The 'STOP' board is in place at the end and there is more detritus lying about the place and piles of new ballast stored just beyond the old Brightside Signal Cabin, now a graffiti'd relay room, as is the building next to it on this side. The junction over to Tinsley Yard curves away where the pile of ballast is being stored, this being Brightside Junction, this material sitting on the trackbed of the old S.D.R. metals. Looks as if someone has chipped through the rendering on the brickwork where the graffiti has been applied on this side of the larger building, or maybe some graffiti wag has just sprayed a brickwork pattern onto the top of the old 'artwork'. Looks like another addition has been made to the buildings as well, the small grey, green 'windowed', cabin with tapered front is a new addition... maybe things are afoot to remove all the old, time-expired facilities in the other two buildings. I would have said however that the large cubic structure with the flat grey roof, is now something of an icon at this location. The large black building on the left is Sheffield Forgemasters and behind that, the Postal Sorting office and beyond that, the E.M.R. and Cemex Cement Yards, both rail connected and in use regularly these days... all to the good.