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An EM1 leaving Woodhead Tunnel on a westbound train, on or close to the final day of passenger services in January 1970.
GC 5832 - "Pride of Fulham" - Foden 4 nhp tractor (13196); built 11/1928. Hollowell Steam Rally on 6thJuly 2013
Starting from bottom to top!
"Father, the Royal Isle has been cleared of most of the Queen's men. Early reports indicate that the majority of her standing force migrated North to Garheim and not South to the Outlaw territories."
Lord Stout drank deeply from his cup and looked his eldest in the eyes and asked, "what have I taught you?"
He responded, "be greedy when others are fearful."
Lord Stout smiled, "yes my son. Send word to my old friend Khaldoon. Send a messenger West, after he passes The Great Dune Sea have the locals point you towards the richest man in the region. That should get him to his whereabouts. He may have the goods, but I have the ships. Next, send word to Durrough and see if we can pick up any help, particularly Green Frogs with bows! Lastly, see if you can secure a group of mercs out of Grahnhaven to use as guides."
"Yes sir," the young man responded.
Lord Stout added, "oh, and I I want it done yesterday. "
"Sir! A party advances up the main road from Garhaven. At least a dozen men," the sentry shouts from his perch.
Most of he convoy trudged along uninitiated to the deep Garheim snow drifts. But the sentry could tell the men out front were well accustomed the fresh powder. They inched along until they reached just out side the first check point and started to disperse into a more defensive posture to match those of the Garheim sentinels.
The eldest of the men emerged from a middle the pack, and with a grizzled and worn voice he announced their intentions. "I am Lord Stout of Loreos's East Stowburn. I bring with you glad tidings." A collective sigh came from the Garheim soldiers, they were unsure of what to expect as the men approached. "My compatriot Haydar Khaldoon, and some support from Lendfald are hear to help drive the Queen's men into the icy depths!" The Garheim men cheered as they led the party into the makeshift field camp.
The Black Bird guides joined their countrymen around the fires. The Lenfaldian Scout Snipers charged to the perches and took in the vantage points. The Crimson clad brutes passed around what supplies they could, and the ringleaders called for an immediate strategy meeting
The Garheim commander spoke first, "we were 50 strong, a score of us mounted knights, when we made camp a fortnight ago. Bad weather forced us to seek refuge for the night here at the mausoleum. That's when they first attacked, under the cover of darkness they hit us hard. A Queen's force of like numbers came upon us in the early hours and killed 20 brave men before we even notched an arrow. As quick as them came, they disappeared into the morning mist.
We stayed another night to honor and bury our dead, thinking the Queen's forces had left to rejoin their ranks , instead they attacked again as we broke camp. This time we held and drove them back, but not before they inflicted more casualties.
We sent word to Granhaven and we were ordered to hold this point along road. So we have, we've held up here awaiting supplies and re-reinforcements as man by man we fall to enemy's arrows or the biting cold." A wave of relief came over his face as he looked at Lord Stout, "my Lord, we appreciate every man willing to join us, but you come in too few a number to push those demons back."
Lord Stout turns to Khaldoon uncomfortably and then back to the Garheim commander. "Good sir, we will aid you as best we can, but Khaldoon and I are business men. We came to deliver war supplies and the like, we have done so in Grahnhaven and are looking to move on to Havenhill. We were caught unaware that the main road was closed off by the insurgents. Our guides thought we may be able hold up here for the night as well. We are prepared to move out in the morning. We are willing to leave the Scout Snipers behind, but our business is in Havenhill and we will press on."
The Garheim commander raised his war hammer as to smash the table before him in anger, when suddenly the horns sounded. The Gaheim's sprang to their feet and sprinted to the half hazard palisades. The sentry shouted a gargled "they're here," as an arrow pierced his throat ...
Grand Central Trains Class 180, 180114 passing through Manors working 5A61 Heaton Depot to Sunderland, taken 17th September 2018
A recent visit, to photograph one the 3 remaining Sheffield Gasometers, to the locale of this still extant station building on the GC's old Blackburn Valley line, now a walking trail as far as Chapeltown through the area once occupied by the mighty, and smelly, Smithywood Coking plant, prompted this mosaic 'history' piece of the area. This 9-part mosaic shows the area in the form of 2 maps, 2 Google Earth views some local road-side scenery, the station when still in use but sadly with no train on the tracks and a view of the gable end of the building showing what good condition it is still in, a local DMU service passing close by on the Midland line and commemorative material attached to the lamp-post just outside the local pub.
The stations along the line north from Meadowhall were- this one Meadowhall & Wincobank Station, Grange Lane, Ecclesfield East, Chapeltown Central, Westwood, Birdwell & Hoyland Common, High Royds & Dovecliffe. With the corresponding coke & colliery works being- Smithywood Coke Works, Thorncliffe Iron Works, Tankersley Tunnel, Wharncliffe Silkstone Colliery, Hoyland Silkstone Colliery, Rockingham Colliery & Barrow Colliery/Coke Works
In the first of what now turns out to be enough material for two pieces a set of 9 images has been put together to illustrate the area around what was just about the closest proximity the Midland and GC lines ever came in the Blackburn Valley; the next piece of this 2-parter will show just how close. Along with other pictures taken on the large tract of land remaining after Arthur Lee Stainless vacated and the buildings which filled all of this space were demolished, just a few years ago it now remains to be seen what will happen to the land. When traditional Industry vacate their premises, it is usually difficult to find a new use for the large area of land, beyond the standard, Country Parks, Supermarkets, New Industrial Units and Commercial Retail Outlets, but around here its becoming all to clear that there aren't enough 'things' to sell on land once occupied by wealth generating concerns and we are left with dereliction, maybe for a short time but what IS going to replace all this spare capacity...
1. The junctions, roads and lines which remain in the area of the old Meadowhall & Wincobank Station as it looked on a 2004 OS map.
2. In similar fashion, how the much more interesting scene looked in the area of the Meadowhall & Wincobank Station on the 1953 OS map; the station at that time still in use, but this would change when it was closed to passengers from December 7th; the same time as Grange Lane and Ecclesfield East.
3. Google Earth view in 2008 with Items S, A->K identified.
--S: The location of the GC's Meadowhall & Wincobank Station north of Meadowhall Junction, point (A), to the left of the station site, until quite recently, stood Lee Stainless i.e. 'Arthur Lee & Sons Trubrite Steelworks', which occupied the whole of the large piece of land north of the Gasometers and their company filled the space between the GC line on the right, nearest the M1 motorway in the centre of the picture, and the Midland line, running up the left-hand side of the Gasometers. This image was taken in September 2008 when all of the site was still extant; by early 2009, the northern half had been demolished, what was left is visible here in this picture taken in 2009 by Adrian Wynne-
www.flickr.com/photos/37093581@N06/3513001787/
looking east towards the GC line and the Royal Oak pub. The company closed in March 2009.
--A: The GC's Meadow Hall junction which takes line line due south to join the Midland Main line at Blackburn Valley junction (E) and the other, to the east, towards the junction with the GCs line east,
--B: the point where the east-curve passes into what is now the M1 northern interchange site where originally the line ran underneath the lower deck and turned east at Tinsely West junction (H) and then joins the main line at Tinsley East junction (K),
--C: This was Wincobank West junction from the Midland's Blackburn Valley line over to Wincobank North junction at (F), the bridge abutment carrying the line over the road just to the north of point (D) is still present but the bridge carrying this line eastwards over the GCs line no longer exists, and would have been in the car park of the Travelodge to the north of point (D),
--D: The still extant bridge over the road, now just to the site of the Travelodge Hotel which carried the GCs Blackburn Valley Line, from (A), to its junction with the Midland line at Blackburn Valley Junction (E),
--E: Blackburn Valley Junction taking the GCs line onto the MIdland main line towards Sheffield,
--F: Wincobank North junction is the Midland's connection from its Blackburn Valley line at point (C) to the east bound Midland line towards Masbrough,
--G: Marks the Sheffield Supertram route which used part of the GC's Blackburn Valley line trackbed and at (G) the Supertram line now curves sharply south-west to its terminus at Meadowhall Interchange to the south of point (E).
--H: Tinsely West junction. Where the GC's line went off towards the East Junction, curving through the area now 'full' of the new EoN Biomass facility and, just to the upper right of the (H) marker in this 2008 picture, the brown patch marks the ghostly remains, at ground level, of the 'Twin Towers' of Minas Anor (The Tower of the Rising Sun) and Minas Ithil (The Tower of the Rising Moon), Tinsley's two demolished cooling towers. This Google picture, taken on the anniversary of Bilbo and Frodo's birthday on September 22nd, was just one month after the Towers were demolished at 03:00 on Sunday 24th August; the date the Google picture was taken also marking the departure of Beren and Luthien to the Great South Land... though that was a coincidence!
--K: Tinsley East junction. With the River Don and Tinsely Canal just below and the line coming in from the south junction and Shepcote Lane into Tinsley Yard and along the GCs other line to Woodburn Junction.
4. After closure, the line was taken over by the fledgling heritage railway organisation, the South Yorkshire Railway Heritage Society and they amassed stock, some diesels and rolling stock, on the line which can be seen in this earliest, 1999, of Google Earth pictures of the area. The stock is sat on the lines extending north as far as the Gasometer, point (A) in the above list which is Meadow Hall Junction and south of the station site. The 'Heritage Shunters Trust', as it is now known has this to say on its 'Our Aims' page-
'...The Heritage Shunters Trust was originally set up in the 1970's and had a base on a main line connected siding at Meadowhall known as the South Yorkshire Railway. The railway built up an impressive collection of steam, diesel, shunting, industrial engines and restoration was carried out here. Unfortunately the Trust had nowhere to run the locomotives and an application for a running licence was turned down. Subsequent to this the Trust was given notice to quit the Meadowhall site but happily found a new home in 2002 at Rowsley at the Peak Railway in Derbyshire...'
5. The station was opened in 1868 by the South Yorkshire Railway which latterly became part of the Great Central Railway and after the Grouping in 1923, this became the L.N.E.R. This is how the building looked before closure to passengers in December 1953 and the line was closed completely in July 1987; the line from Tinsely South junction to here being lifted in 1988.
6. Looking south down the line off in the trees to the right with the Railway Inn on the left and the decorated lamp-post prominent, this is to mark the sad death of two teenagers in a fatal, head-on road collision just a few days before Xmas last year, see-
www.thestar.co.uk/news/family-of-sheffield-crash-victim-l...
The road under-bridge can be seen just above the black car at the side of the post.
7. Looking north along the road past the station building on the left with the track-bed running along to the left of the station building and the decorated lamp-post prominent once again to the right, details about this are given above. The access to the GCs line is on the left of the picture and this takes walkers along north in the direction, past the site of the old Grange Lane station, still extant though now in domestic use, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/11241800293/
and further north, just south-east of Chapeltown, the infamous, and smelly, Smithywood Coking plant, built by Newton Chambers in the 1920s, see
www.flickr.com/photos/37093581@N06/3604021254/
from Adrian Wynn's flickr site.
8. In remarkably good condition, but un-maintained, the South Yorkshire Railway station gable end, sanding and a coat of paint wouldn't cost much, can be seen and further along, the house proper has had attention to the south-facing gable; ex-station masters house maybe with the main station facilities in the foreground.?
9. Passing, having just left Meadowhall Interchange is a Northern class 144 DMU, 144xxx on the 2L22 Sheffield to Leeds service once more as threatening storm clouds gather, but amount to nothing... the GC station and line just out of shot to the left ?????? extra pic....
A train passing along the GC line north of here, between Grange Lane, the next station along the line, and Ecclesfield East to the north of Grange Lane, can be seen in a picture posted here in February last year, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/12521491454/
showing a local DMU service on the Midland land, passing only a few hundred metres away from the GC's line with an RCTS Tour heading north past the Midland's old lattice bridge on the right; in charge is class B1, 61165 and just behind, class D11, 62660, 'Butler Henderson'; no such luck here nowadays!
Georgia Central U23B #3957 leads three more U-boats through the south Georgia pines near Collins,GA.