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Heading for a short trip north, DBC class 66, 66112 heads towards the old station on the 6V29, Attercliffe Sidings(EWS), via reversal at Thrybergh Junction then back south on the Old Road to Cardiff Tidal T.C., arriving at 20 minutes to one, early tomorrow morning. There was discussion about why the loco didn't simply run around in the Brightside Sidings and then head off south through Sheffield from here so missing out the short jaunt north to Thrybergh, to do the same operation; answer unknown. On the right, a sampler Sheffield's scrap, each MBA wagon being full to the top so probably close to 100 tonnes; the timing load being 1760 tonnes and there were 18 wagons in the consist. Speeding off north, an attempt was made to catch the reversal at Kilnhurst just north of Thrybergh, but the train had performed and moved off back south awaiting its path from Aldwarke, so no picture; this is Saturday 2nd May 2016, around 3pm.
Second of the large composites to take full advantage of the changing scenery on this busy road. It appears that it just can't be helped sometimes as new photographically useful material strolls into the scene as traffic pass back and forth, the dynamic change and the train of condemned scrap hoppers passes over to meet its doom. Once more, the wagon with what I thought was the 'EWS Tulip Head' earlier at Grimesthorpe and is seen gain here and yet again maybe the text is 'EWS - Heta TWP Lois - HETA'... and again anybody any idea. 66129 is 'heading', reversing its consist of 25 condemned coal/coke hoppers into the bowels of the E.M.R. metal recyclers at the old Attercliffe Goods Yard, hauling the wagons down from the Tees Marshalling Yard with a timing load of 715 tonnes, though this lot can't weigh that amount, on the 6Z70 scrap move to the Attercliffe M&G site. The information on the road sign on the left, appertaining to the Sheffield Arena has been carefully blotted out with a 'brown smudge' and the sign indicates we are in one of the 'classic areas' of Sheffield for Steel-making, Newhall, with Brightside, Atlas, Carbrook and Darnall not far off.
As one enthusiast, further north than me at Masbrough, mentioned today, 'another sad passing', as a line of coal/coke hoppers is trundles down, all the way form Tees Yard to the site of the old Coopers Scrapyard at Attercliffe, now the abode of E.M.R., the European Metal Recyclers. I guess there is a reason why such a load would come all this way to be scrapped but the reason is good enough I guess so, if this must be done, better to do it here for our sake! This 1st pair of shots in a series of shots taken at 3 locations as the working made its way south from Wincobank Junction clattering along here through the increasingly sad looking state of affairs and the ill-named, though maybe not today, Brightside Station. The working had set off a few minutes early from the Northern side of the well denuded Tees Marshalling close to the River Tees. In keeping with other sites such as this, much of it has now gone and been taken over for redevelopment, one area, 42 acres, now given over to the Maze Park Nature Reserve. After leaving, the load made good progress but then vanished for almost an hour once it got into the vicinity of Doncaster and looked to be 'holed-up' in Belmont Down Yard, where it should have only spent around 40 minutes but loitered around for a further 35. I had decided to set off home, only to check developments after 10 minutes to find it was on its way and it managed to pick up about 15 minutes once it got moving. In these pictures it is passing very slowly through the station, due to traffic density towards Sheffield and is here 30 minutes late. The coke hoppers are being hauled to their demise by DBC class 66, 66129 and the view south on the right shows the 25 hoppers stretched out along towards Brightside Junction and the sidings beyond in the distance, at the left-hand side of which was the location of the Grimesthorpe Engine Shed. All that has long since gone, leaving only Forgemasters continuing trade in an area once crammed with Iron & Steel works of one sort or another. The sidings do get used occasionally, those on the left, as a run-round facility, once a week by the cement and scrap moves out of the Yard; today this train will do the same thing to access the YArd with the loco on the back pushing the wagons into the Yard, see next pictures.
Day 164: Sheffield Steel ⚙️⛓⚙️ Sheffield is synonymous with its steel forge masters so I thought it's about time I represented that within the 365, as I pass this factory quite a bit & it was a lovely day for it #365project #SheffieldIsSuper #SheffieldForgeMasters #ScenesOfYorkshire #ExploreWithBrendan #BrendanClaytonPhotography
And, at the rear, another nicely turned out Colas liveried unit, this time class 60, 60047 which one assumes provide traction moves back and forth without the leading loco having to run round the RailVac unit and its associated ballast wagons. The remnant of the trackbed of Brightside curve, taking train moves from the Midland Main line here along the SDR (Sheffield District Railway) metals and over Sheffield Road and then into the north-west end of Tinsley Yard, can be seen at the side of the leading 56105 where the palisade fence encloses a track-side relay box. This is now largely over-grown with birch trees here but parts of the track-bed, atop its embankment which took the SDR lines over Sheffield road on a bridge is still visible. The shiny metals but weed-ridden track of the Brightside loop can be seen at right; where the DMU turned off last week, en-route up the Blackburn Valley but which was right behind a Cleethorpes bound TPE 185 which was just passing through here in an earlier picture, causing a bit of an anxious time as I had thought it had been signalled improperly... but no. Colas 60047 and leading loco 56105 are on the 6C53, 800 tonne Civil Engineers move from Shipley, Leeds to Toton North Yard on this very glum Sunday morning in Bright(not)side at the end of June; this was not a portent for the weather to come for the remaining week, thankfully, as it is set to get into the high 20s here today, Tuesday 30th...
With an enthusiast over-looking the newly reinforced, stockaded wall, the palisade looking charming once more in this ancient stone landscape, the 'Power People' are in attendance, with a key for the fence, to enable them to wallow around the scruffy area, where once track-side folk were wont to stray to take their photographs, a picture of 57313 passing by in November 2013 on the Oxford to Scarborough Charter shows this. Now its all fenced off and only 'officials' are allowed access... pity really, but not unexpected. As well as 'Nationalgrid' attending to matters on through the wall, Hopwells of Orgreave, '...is a family-owned business and one of the UKs largest independent frozen food distributors to the catering industry and serves all sectors of this varied market...' passes by on the main road as the Colas Infrastructure Monitoring Train comes along from one of the industrial heartlands in the background at Grimesthorpe with DRS, Direct Rail Services, class 68, 68004, 'Rapid' heading the 1Q31, Derby R.T.C. to Heaton T&R.S.M.D. working.
Looking north at the site of the old Brightside Station.
'Locomotive Services Limited', L.S.L. with the 'Statesman Rail's 'Settle & Carlisle Circular' with class 47s, 47805, ex-D1935, 'Roger Hosking MA 1925-2013' and 47828, ex-D1966, 'Joe Strummer' in 'B.R. Intercity Livery' on the 1Z25, Uttoxeter to Appleby charter. It will returned later that day on 1Z26, Appleby back to Uttoxeter.
A Northern Rail class 195, 'Civity', 'CAF, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, S.A.' follows with 195011 on the 1Y11, Leeds via Sheffield to Nottingham service.
Looking north at the site of the old Brightside Station.
'Locomotive Services Limited', L.S.L. with the 'Statesman Rail's 'Settle & Carlisle Circular' with class 47s, 47805, ex-D1935, 'Roger Hosking MA 1925-2013' and 47828, ex-D1966, 'Joe Strummer' in 'B.R. Intercity Livery' on the 1Z25, Uttoxeter to Appleby charter. It will returned later that day on 1Z26, Appleby back to Uttoxeter.
A Northern Rail class 195, 'Civity', 'CAF, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, S.A.' follows with 195011 on the 1Y11, Leeds via Sheffield to Nottingham service.
Somehow this reminds me of the 'good old days' of train-spotting; the guy on the right, bereft of camera, tripod and other paraphernalia is watching the 'special' go past, with notebook, taking a record of the numbers and enjoying the scene. Guess this class of traction isn't to everybody's taste, its something new, but at least its on a Network Rail move to monitor the state of 'Our Railway' with the standard canary-yellow coach set to make record of the state of the line. In this scene at Brightside Junction, the past isn't too far away with 'bits and bobs' poling into the picture here and there and the old junction of the Sheffield District Railway, heading off to the left, just behind the rear of the train, in front of the Forgemasters building still visible and marked by the inter-locking building, seen above the central part of the train, and graffiti'd, a long while ago by 'Fista'. Behind the Forgemasters building on the left, the red sign marks the Postal; Soring office, built on the site of Grimesthorpe Shed, -
'...Grimesthorpe engine shed was an engine shed in Grimesthorpe, Sheffield. It was built by the Midland Railway and opened in 1860 to serve the Midland Main Line. Up until 1935, Grimesthorpe shed code was 25, then changed to 19A by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. Grimesthorpe gained the shed code of 41B after transfer to British Railways Eastern Region in 1958...'
Today DRS class 68, 68004, 'Rapid' is seen passing the sights on what turned out to be an 'out and back' run, this one, 1Q31,the Derby R.T.C. to Heaton T&R.S.M.D. move.
It appears I have not been in the Brightside area for a long while, as it turned out, 10th November, 2023 when a D.B.S. hauled scrap wagon move occured when a class 60, 60074, 'Puma Energy - Luke', 'ex-Teenage Spirit', came up from Toton North Yard to Attercliffe M&G', 'Marple And Gillott', on 6Z83, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/53322856908/
Since then, much has happened, but being conveniently timed on a Saturday during the school holidays, it was an easy drive over and back to see what was to be seen. The working number alone, '6Q', and on a Saturday, meant something unusual was afoot as this out-of-gauge usage and its route, meant that part of the consist had a restriction on some sections of the local lines. As an indication that this was actually going to run, the light engine move, 0E04, up from Toton T.M.D. was activated very early, at 03:06, heading for one of the yards to the west of Worksop, the old Down Yard; coaching stock being clearly still stored there. This move, with DBS class 66s, 66099 and 66007, set out a few minutes early at 08:20 and arrived in Worksop at 09:47. The route time-tabled from Worksop Down Yard took the train up the South Yorkshire Joint line to Doncaster and I had thought at first it was picking something up from there, but no...
Apparently, local knowledge had it, (thanks to Marcus), that part of the set was out-of-gauge for the lines between Worksop and Sheffield, along the Lincoln Line and hence the set had to approach Sheffield along the Midland Main lines from the north and thence through here...
Once at Worksop Yard, the 2 light engines picked up a D.V.T set, comprising class 82, 'Driving Van Trailer', 82220 and 5, Mark IV Coaches, No.s 12526 11316 10328 12304 12219. It also must have picked up class 67, 67014, as the timetable didn't indicate it came up from Toton. So the consist on departure was D.B.S. 66099, the D.V.T 82220 & coaches, and at the back 67014 followed by 66007, and this is how it came along south, through Brightside. This is therefore 6Q04, departing Worksop Down Yard at 11:48 and heading north to Doncaster then south via Sheffield, Loughborough, Leicester, Nuneaton, Colwich, Stafford and then to the Crewe Traction Maintenance Depot arriving at 16:54, what a pleasant jaunt!
There were 5 'enthusiasts' out for the viewing, the weather was warm and muggy and the light was very good.. so, all-in-all, a pleasant return to one of the areas iconic locations..
Sunday morning and two events, a run of the N.M.T., 'New Measurement Train', test train is passing along the Midland Main line and 1 hour later, the return of one of the two class 50, 'Hoovers', which came up from Chaddesden Sidings, Derby, earlier that morning and went up to Knottingley. Haven't been in this area since the beginning of the year when 'The Awkward Week Adventurer' charter tour passed through this area, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/52602895703/
and what a treat that was... Today, on this quiet, sunny Sunday morning, the 'chat' overtook me somewhat and I almost missed the Test Train set as it 'flew passed' without making too much of a noise... First up a review of the locale, which didn't disappoint with loads of detritus, vegetation and other unmentionables on the deck of the old footbridge..
In the first, 3-part, shot, at left a Cross Country Train class 221, 221135, hurtles south on the eight and a half-hour, 1V52, York to Plymouth service. With excellent light off behind the camera, the old 'Railway Hotel' stands sentinel over the platforms of the old Brightside Station, its rail customers long-gone, a victim of the changing times in the early 1990s when all the 'action' was shifted further north along the line to the then new Meadowhall Interchange providing facilities for rail, car, bus and the new Sheffield Supertram services. At right, local Sunday services continue with the now regular traction for this, a Northern Rail, class 195, 'CAF, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, S.A.', 'Civity', this one 195014 on the 2L06, stopping service from Sheffield to Leeds.
Having set off from Welwyn G.C.C.S.D (answers on a postcard please) at 09:53 this morning and utterly confusing the Real Time Trains timetabling system after Lenton Junction, the service arrived in Sheffield at 14:31, not 16:52 as stated on RTT and in fact did not hang about anywhere, passing this point at 14:35 coming up from the west in the direction of Grimesthorpe Junction in the background. The old Grimesthorpe Engine Shed was at this location just off to the left behind the track unit occupying space between the SDR's goods station and Brightside Sidings, the location of which was where the postal sorting office now located, to be seen in the next picture. Up until 1935, the Grimesthorpe shed code was 25, then changed to 19A by the LMS Railway after transfer to BR, Eastern Region in 1958 it became 41B. The shed closes in September 1961 but was used for while as a diesel stabling point until Tinsley Yard, and its diesel depot, was opened in 1965. This is a Network Rail Track Unit, USP5000RT by VolkerRail, part of VolkerWessels; a Plasser & Theurer Matisa, number DR75402 on the 6J32 Welwyn G.C.C.S.D to Doncaster D.C.E. Sidings working. The picture was taken from just in front of the site of 'Cyclops Works' of Charles Cammell, now the site of Charles Day, 'Laser Flame Waterjet HD Plasma' precision steel cutting services.
With nothing much else of interest on offer, apart from frequent local DMU services and Voyagers flashing past on mainline national services; there wasn't much point in hanging around. The set is commencing its slow passage through the station with the signalling at red in the distance as the set came into the station but which changed to single yellow as the 57 made its passage through. The upper picture shows the poignant livery of the DRS loco advertising the details of a very simple point; cable theft on Network Rail was becoming a multi-million pound problem, until the way in which the copper and other metal was sold at scrapyards and exchanged for cash, was changed. The sellers of the materials now having to give names and addresses and accept cheque payments, rather than cash for the material; this has, over the last year or two, produced a very dramatic decrease in the amount of signalling and other track-side cabling. In the lower picture, DRS class 47, 47828, brings up the rear of this TnT, Top-n-Tailed, Belmond Railtours 1Z40 service from Nottingham to Oxenholme in the Lake District. Arriving at 12:47 and departing back to Nottingham, the 1Z41 service at 17:00. As this picture well illustrates it was a respectable length in terms of coaches and each one I looked at was full... I guess on a day like this, with sun and warm weather developing as the service went north to the Lakes, it must have been a grand jaunt...
Back at Grimesthorpe Junction after exactly 1 year as this time last year saw passage of the canary yellow HST test train set, and today, travelling from 'south-away' what turned out to be a pretty dull move, in the form of a track machine. First off though, looking the part as it passes the postal sorting office on the the land once occupied by the vast Brightside Sidings, a Northern Rail class 144, 144019 heading into Sheffield on the frequent Huddersfield, here 2B45, service.
With line-side detritus about in both directions, the Track Unit passes the postal sorting office and heads towards the large black building behind it, the still extant and operating 'Sheffield Forgemasters'; just about the last remnant of what most industrial buildings used to look like in this area in the heyday of steel and Sheffield cutlery making; oh and the Iraqi supergun.. ! 'BloodAxe' Graffiti also appears to have appeared on the nice black fence along the lines which connect Brightside to the old SDR/LDECR station site further down the line behind the unit, the space now occupied by a large metal recyclers; European Metal Recyclers, with scrap movements in and out of the works once or twice per week.
Slowly heading passed the 'Forgemasters' building, looking black and poking out of the remnants of this years 'greenery', the set is heading for the overhead gantry signal, showing red, S0172, on the 1st sidings line. The next line in and the last one, are both showing large amounts of weed growth between the rails, the one on the far left being the access line into the E.M.R., 'European Metal Recyclers' & 'Cemex Cement' works site, across the River Don bridge on Stevenson Road. This area was once the site of the Sheffield District Railway and L.D.E.C.R.'s Goods Station, in 'days of yore' when had had a much more interesting rail infrastructure network in these parts, still its good to have the site still in use and
rail-connected with frequent cement and scrap trains in and out.. Not entirely sure why the R.H.T.T. set are clearing the rails as the normal S.Yorks R.H.T.T. passes along here every day of the week in both directions, at around 04:30 and 70mins early, again at 07:55 and finally for a reversal back to York, at 17:20. The N.R. relay room at left appears to have been re-graffiti'd and now the 'Fista' tag, one of the 1980s graffiti artists, Simon Sutherland, see-
www.independent.co.uk/news/artist-drawn-to-crime-is-jaile...
is no longer visible. Just at the other side of the palisade fence, is the location of the old Sheffield District Line trackbed which carried a double track line over from here, through Tinsley Yard and onto a connection with the North Midland line at Catcliffe. Some of this track-bed is still walkable, heavily over-grown and the last metal bride over the River Don remains, the section beyond Attercliffe Road, which runs alongside the Ikea car park can still be accessed but beyond there it now heads to a dead end, at Shepcote Junction, just outside Tinsley Yard. Its good to see some class 37 traction on a R.H.T.T. working in this area, though a bit abnormal, it was well worth dashing out for .. this is the D.R.S. class 37 set, 37407, ex-D6605, 'Blackpool Tower' with 'Scotty Dog Emblem' & B.R. 'Large Intercity Logo' with 37419, ex-D6991, 'Carl Haviland 1954-2012' in 'B.R. Intercity Livery' at the back seen here, on one of the 5 workings for today, 3J52, from Scarborough back along to York then south to here, and onto the Brightside Up/Down East Slow line in the Attercliffe Sidings. The set started out this morning, as usual from York, on 3J51, but by the time it got to its destination, Scarborough, the rest of the diagram along the East Coast through Bridlington, Beverley, Hull and Selby, had been cancelled. According to the time-table, 3J51, 'This service was cancelled between Scarborough and York Thrall Europa due to overrunning engineering works (I5).' which I was told by a guy at Brightside, were over-0running engineering works at Nafferton on the East Yorks line between Bridlington and Driffield. The set departed York Thrall 11mins late at 10:01 and arrived in Scarborough at 11:10, after which the diagram was cancelled. It then waited an hour on platform 2 at Scarborough, before it set back off to York on a new diagram, 3J52, which took it via Doncaster, at 13:54, 15 mins after I heard of its impending arrival in this area, and on onto the Brightside Up/Down East Slow line here, arriving at 14:23. In the right-hand picture, 37419, now at the front with its head-lamps illuminated, is sat waiting for the off, in about 11mins, whilst to the left, the driver is out having a break, leaning against the signal gantry support, whilst at right, a Northern 'classic' passes, class 150, 150215, heading into Sheffield on the 2Y89, York to Sheffield service. Approaching on the up fast from Sheffield, Cross Country train class 220, 'Voyager', 220004, on the 20 station-stop service, 1S45, from Plymouth(09:26) to Edinburgh(18:13). Once there once these two have cleared out of the way, and an approaching, partially cancelled Northern class 195 service with 195020, 1L61, 'This service was cancelled between Leeds and Sheffield due to late arrival of an inbound service (YI).)', the R.H.T.T. will get underway on the third of today's re-diagrammed workings, this one, 3J53.
It appears I have not been in the Brightside area for a long while, as it turned out, 10th November, 2023 when a D.B.S. hauled scrap wagon move occured when a class 60, 60074, 'Puma Energy - Luke', 'ex-Teenage Spirit', came up from Toton North Yard to Attercliffe M&G', 'Marple And Gillott', on 6Z83, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/53322856908/
Since then, much has happened, but being conveniently timed on a Saturday during the school holidays, it was an easy drive over and back to see what was to be seen. The working number alone, '6Q', and on a Saturday, meant something unusual was afoot as this out-of-gauge usage and its route, meant that part of the consist had a restriction on some sections of the local lines. As an indication that this was actually going to run, the light engine move, 0E04, up from Toton T.M.D. was activated very early, at 03:06, heading for one of the yards to the west of Worksop, the old Down Yard; coaching stock being clearly still stored there. This move, with DBS class 66s, 66099 and 66007, set out a few minutes early at 08:20 and arrived in Worksop at 09:47. The route time-tabled from Worksop Down Yard took the train up the South Yorkshire Joint line to Doncaster and I had thought at first it was picking something up from there, but no...
Apparently, local knowledge had it, (thanks to Marcus), that part of the set was out-of-gauge for the lines between Worksop and Sheffield, along the Lincoln Line and hence the set had to approach Sheffield along the Midland Main lines from the north and thence through here...
Once at Worksop Yard, the 2 light engines picked up a D.V.T set, comprising class 82, 'Driving Van Trailer', 82220 and 5, Mark IV Coaches, No.s 12526 11316 10328 12304 12219. It also must have picked up class 67, 67014, as the timetable didn't indicate it came up from Toton. So the consist on departure was D.B.S. 66099, the D.V.T 82220 & coaches, and at the back 67014 followed by 66007, and this is how it came along south, through Brightside. This is therefore 6Q04, departing Worksop Down Yard at 11:48 and heading north to Doncaster then south via Sheffield, Loughborough, Leicester, Nuneaton, Colwich, Stafford and then to the Crewe Traction Maintenance Depot arriving at 16:54, what a pleasant jaunt!
There were 5 'enthusiasts' out for the viewing, the weather was warm and muggy and the light was very good.. so, all-in-all, a pleasant return to one of the areas iconic locations..
* Preamble.
This three-part mosaic was prompted by two events at the end of last year, another trawl through Adrian Wynn's 120 roll film collection, consisting of black-and-white and colour negative film in 3 of the 120 formats, 50x60, 60x60 and 70x60 millimetres. The second was that at long last, I purchased a 'pre-owned' Epson Scanner, a V500, which had hardly been used and was in excellent condition. Up until this time I hade been using my Epson V370, 35mm slide scanner, and scanning the large negatives in 3-5 strips, the latter for the large 5x4inch media, and then stitching the strips together in Photoshop. Fortunately both scanners allow a scan of the full bed length, which is around 230mm in each case, 60mm on the V500 and only 25mm on the V370. The multiple scans was fiddly to say the least as there had to be a respectible overlap _and_ the negative strip had to be pushed through 'square' in each move to make sure no sections at the sides were missed. The 'new' scanner will do full width at 60mm and so its also much easier to do the larger format, 5x4inch(125x100mm), in just 2 passes on the short side.
So, since early December, it has been much easier to take a look at some of the interesting material which was neglected earlier due to the effort required described above, and now, once the scanner is set, do 1 strip of 3 negs at a time. The 120 roll film was cut into 4 strips of 3 negatives per roll by Adrian and kept in the usual 'ClearFilm' packets. These are now catalogued in numerical order and I have assumed this is also in date order, though there is only scant information given on the top of the packets regarding _any_ details including locate and time & date of exposure; a very great drawback.
These were two of the negatives which came up in the long trawl through over the last 6 weeks, 42 'ClearFilm' packets having now been looked at with between 2 and 6 negatives scanned from each of the packets around 160 pictures in all. There was also a bit of a learning curve with the new scanner, to get the best results and this process has taken some time over-head as well..
The 2 pictures at left were both taken by Adrian Wynn on the same day at about the same time, in 1990, and they mark the construction of the 'Don Valley Stadium' for the 1991 'World Student Games', see-
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Summer_Universiade
which were held in Sheffield between 14-25th July 1991. At this time Sheffield was reeling from the devastation caused by the closure of much of its heavy industry over the previous 10 years and not helped at all by the severe decline in coal mining all over the East Midlands. The picture at left is replete with many icons of the Sheffield skyline with the Athletics Stadium at Woodburn to the left of 'Douglas Management', the 'Park Hill Flats' standing prominent on the horizon further along and the full, Effingham Street Gasometer to its right, this now demolished. Closer to the city centre, the 'Hyde Park Flats', see-
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyde_Park,_Sheffield
were used as the accommodation venue for the Student Games, built between 1957 and 1961, they consisted of 4 blocks, A, B, C, & D, connected at a high level walkways. The concept of the flats was described as 'Streets in the Sky', a poster for which was designed by Adrian Wynn, see-
www.adrianwynn.tightfitz.com/Archive/2132/2132-2-1.jpg
The concept was for broad, deck-access, walkways, wide enough for milk floats to travel along and had a large number of front doors opening onto them. Unfortunately, in the 60s, the fabric of the buildings decayed somewhat and some other disadvantages have become apparent with the result that people were moved out and 2 of the 4 blocks were demolished, leaving two remaining which were refurbished and in 1991, these became the accommodation venue for the Student Games; after which they were returned for use as Council housing. The 'Park Hill Flats' seen in this picture and also built between 1957 and 1961 were also subject to a decline in usage but in this instance they were preserved, the managed to attain Grade-II listing, and have since been under a prolonged re-development, by 'Urban-Splash', to bring them up to date during 2-phases in 2013 and 2024; almost all of the sections are now occupied, with the final, phase 5 section, taking place now, much more detail here-
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Hill,_Sheffield
As regards the other venues alongside the Tinsley Canal, from north to south, 'The Don Valley Arena, The Don Valley Bowl and the Don Valley Stadium, the Arena, built as part of the 1990 programme of works has survived and is now the 'Utilita Arena' events venue, also included in the works was the 'Don Valley Bowl' and this has survived pretty much as it was. The 'Don Valley Stadium' however did not survive and was demolished 23 years later, in 2013, in a maintenance cost-cutting exercise, the area now being occupied by the 'Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park'. Finally, in the City, the 'Ponds Forge International Sports Centre', also survived the nineties and noughties and is still in its original state, now as a leisure complex, with Olympic-sized swimming pool.
Thirty five years ago now, Adrian captured the action here, over-looking the 'Don Valley Stadium' development with is its prominent green 'KRANE Services Ltd.' high-reach crane at left, much having changed in the 10 years prior to this. There are also other pictures of his from this time, reflecting the changes here and in many other parts of Sheffield.
In the centre picture on the same negative strip as the one above, his camera is now turned 180 degrees about and the view looks in the opposite direction, directly north-east over what was then becoming an area under massive re-development, over Newhall & Brightside with Wincobank in the background and the Meadowhall industries off to the right. The tall, black, four roof-gabled building is 'Forgemasters'-
'...Sheffield Forgemasters traces its origins to a 1750s blacksmith forge, and then Naylor-Vickers and Co. founded by George Naylor and Edward Vickers, the predecessor of Vickers Limited. Vickers built the River Don Works in 1865, in 1983, the River Don Works, then part of state-owned British Steel, merged with Firth Brown Steels to create Sheffield Forgemasters...'. And, its still there!, see last picture on right. This scene shows the view during the transition period in the 1990s when the industrial complex at Meadowhall had been largely demolished to make way for a new Shopping Centre. Many of the buildings were still around at this time in 1990 and to the upper right of centre, on the other side of Coleridge Road, marked by the building with the red staircase, the dealership of 'Mercedes-Benz' can be seen with its sign writ large in white letters. The large area of land, out-of-shot to the right of the dealership, had been cleared in the late 1980s and subsequently, in November 1988, the Meadowhall Retail Development was constructed and the place opened on 4th, September 1990, shortly after these photographs were taken. LAnd development is already taking place right in front of the camera on Whitworth Lane, which ran up from Old Hall Road in the foreground. There is ain interesting set of what would now be called 'Vintage Vehicles' parked up on the roads, no signs of yellow or double yellow lines at this time!, these are, with their dates of first registration-
Grey Audi, VWB 125Y, 010882-310783
White saloon NFN 91R, 010876-310777
White hatchback, A789 YET, 010883-010784
White Van, A617 WHL, 010883-310784
Red saloon, AVM 738Y, 010882-310783
Police car, F246 CWF, 010867-310768
and a red, 'EuroFleet Sheffield' skip truck, registration not known.
All the buildings on the two roads mentioned above, to the right and left and as far as Attercliffe Common where the Mercedes dealership can be seen, were demolished to make way for a new development. Some of this development has already started, as can be seen at upper left at the end of Whitworth Lane. As can be seen to the right, the scene has now changed beyond recognition..!
Finally, at far right, the Google Earth view from November last year, showing what was new to the area along the canal in December, 2003, so hardly a 'Now' shot, but hey-ho.. It was built on the land shown in the centre picture, across from the old 'Don Valley Stadium' site which was on the opposite side of the junction of Old Hall Road, in the foreground, and Whitworth Lane now curving around from the end to pass at the side of the 'English Institute of Sport', a gleaming white building dominating the area and proclaiming its presence, see-
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Institute_of_Sport%2C_Sheff...
I am sure the weather used to be fine in the 'olden days'! but Adrian was ever a one to only take photographs when he could guarantee a featureless sky providing 'flat light' and I tend to know what he meant, having had to deal with many pictures with bright, overhead light illuminating the top third or half the picture, using gradient filters in Lightroom... Looking exactly as it did 35 years ago, beyond the sparkling white 'Institute of Sports' is the dour-looking 4-gable roofed 'Forgemasters', which was on Bold St, but now its Alfred Rd, standing as a testament to glories gone by; its associated buildings, looking equally dour can also ben see, now amongst the greenery for which Sheffield is famous. Wincobank, in bright sunshine, can seen in the background, also now amongst its own greenery and the canal passes quietly by behind the camera, now with its very much cleaned waters, and abode of much wildlife, herons, kingfishers with the waters teeming with fish.. The building work which was just commencing at the top end of Whitworth Lane, in the picture at left taken 35 years, can now be seen to have extended half way down with, of course a large car park in front and plenty of double-yellow, no parking lines, painted at the edges of the roads, all over the area...
1 piece of work showing a remarkable change in fortunes for the Sheffield area, particularly in this region of once very high industrialisation...
With 30 seconds to spare, then duff battery exchange for camera and the set was slowly heading this way and back once more to the old station site at Brightside! Fortunately, the early afternoon traffic from the north of Sheffield along through Hillsborough and the Wicker, was light and like a fast passenger train, I was motoring under all-green lights. Very fortunate indeed, as on arrival at the site, the pair of 37s were already pulling away from a brief station stop at Meadowhall, just 900m away to the north-east, but then proceeded to travel slowly along the down fast line, heading for the turn-out onto the Brightside Up/Down East Slow line in the Attercliffe Sidings in the distance. I have to thank Gavin.B for the phone alert at around 13:40 indicating an unusual foray south, of the East Yorkshire R.H.T.T. set, coming along for a reversal into the Brightside Sidings, very unusual indeed. This turned out to be a pair of the several class 37s which run on the East Yorks diagram from York, via Scarborough, Bridlington, Hull and Selby, clearing the North Eastern metals of leaf gunk during the Autumn season. Last year I had an extended period, 4 months, on the east coast and didn't return until early November, so was able to photograph this working in many of the places through which it ran during the month from around the beginning of October until 2nd November. All this material, and earlier shots of the E.Yorks R.H.T.T. can be found here-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/albums/72157713050743272
The two locos featured here, 37407, ex-D6605, 'Blackpool Tower' & 37419, ex-D6991, 'Carl Haviland 1954-2012' can be seen on the E.Yorks workings last year, along with 37401, 37402, this one 37407, 37422/266, 37218, this one 37419 & 37425, so a bit of a 'cornucopia' of class 37s all running along North Eastern metals for just over 2 months...
Having arrived at the footbridge and fumbled out with the camera, it turned out the battery was flat, I seem to recall it was on its last gasp the last time I went out, but had forgotten to change it, fortunately, of course, there's a fully charged spare, but the two 37s were now entering the station site and it was just seconds before the 1st shot was taken at 14:20.. after that it was a bit of as rush as the set passed by and headed for the reversal in the sidings along the line. Leading is D.R.S. class 37, 37407, ex-D6605, 'Blackpool Tower' with 'Scotty Dog Emblem' & B.R. 'Large Intercity Logo' with 37419, ex-D6991, 'Carl Haviland 1954-2012' in 'B.R. Intercity Livery' on one of the 5 workings for today, 3J52, from Scarborough back along to York then south to here, and onto the Brightside Up/Down East Slow line in the Attercliffe Sidings.
* 'The Building of an Icon' using 'air-borne' traction!
As 'promised', this is a follow up to the 7-part mosaic piece relating to Adrian Wynn's pictures in the Meadowhall area taken in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the 17th set, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/54893486202/
This 'follow-up' could almost be a 'Window on the Past' piece in its own right as there is much interest in the 4 pictures, all taken, this time during the building of Meadowhall, after all the old industrial infrastructure was swept away. I have to confess however, I know nothing of the 'aerial acrobatics' which took place when the site was being developed and access to certain areas would be clearly easiest by helicopter.
The helicopter in the 4 sots was a Sikorsky S-61N Mk.II, C/N 61-476, Built in 1970, built by 'British International Helicopters', registration number/call sign, G-AYOY.
See the following for more information about the early days of this mode of transport provided by, B.I.H, British International Helicopters-
www.helis.com/database/cn/186/
www.helis.com/database/model/687/
www.helis.com/database/modelorg/BIH-S-61/
As of November 2012, British International Helicopters ceased all helicopter flights to the Isles of Scilly and subsequently, the company went into liquidation. However, this site, Helis.com, indicates that B.I.H was acquired by 'Bristow', 22nd August, 2022, and is now named 'Bristow B.I.H.' adopting the former's name & branding, see-
www.helis.com/database/news/bih-bristow-acquisition/
In these four pictures, taken in 1988, as the Meadowhall development was rising from the ashes of the old industrial past, the Sikorsky Helicopter can be seen flying in with some construction part at top left then with an empty payload at top right. Below,G-AYOY is seen hoisting another load, this time flying towards the east, I am not sure if this isn't the same as the ones above but the negative numbers are in sequence so it looks as if there had been two 'lifts'. Further, there is one of these pictures in Adrian's book on Sheffield, 'A View of Sheffield 1982-1992', pub. by 'Pickard Communication' with the obvious caption, 'Construction of the Meadowhall shopping centre, 1988', on page 19.
In all four pictures, there are some intriguing glimpses of some still extant industries in the background at either side of the Meadowhall 'dome', an easily recognisable feature, then and now.. I have tried to work out what the buildings are, starting from the far left and over to the far right-
* Upper left & right. Look to the south-east and are dominated by the 'Shepcote Lane Steelworks' at both left and right of the dome, these works were still extant until quite recently but the are has now largely been taken over by new industrial buildings. To the right of these works, hidden somewhat in the diffused light, is the still extant but now 'Marcegaglia', S.M.A.C.C., 'Stainless Melting and Continuous Casting' & Alloy Steel Rods facility. The foreground sis dominated bye the also still extant, Meadowhall Electric Sub-Station. At far left in the upper-right shot, standing dimly in the haze, and having nothing to do with the industrial aspect of the site, is the still extant 2-story block of brownish looking flats on Ingfield Avenue off Bawtry Road, just 100m from the M1 motorway; it must be a noisy place...
* Lower left. With the camera now pointing to the right, south, of the dome, The Tinsley Wire Industries building can be made out in the gloom whilst just behind it, once more are the 'Shepcote Lane Steelworks' extending across much of the background. Somewhere, also in the gloom, to the left of the cube-shaped building, is Tinsley Yard. The road running across the picture in the foreground with a bridge over the River Don, is Meadowhall Road. The red-brick building at lower left, along Meadowhall Road, is still present and is a heavily fenced-off area, part of the Electric Sub-Station. Obviously, a lot has to happen before it looks like it does these days, 37 years after these pictures were taken.
* Lower right Now with camera viewpoint over to the south-east, looking in the Tinsley Viaduct direction looking, the prominent 2-story block of brownish looking flats on Ingfield Avenue off Bawtry Road can once more be made out, with a perfectly clear view over to them, 100m behind the M1 motorway. Directly in front of the flats, easily visible in those days, not so much now, one of Meadowhall's smaller, 'pointy towers' can be seen under construction quite close to the River Don loop around the site, and one of its attendant, tall NAtional Grid pylons. To the right of this, between the red jib of the crane and the dome, Tinsley Wire can now be seen on Sheffield Road and the cubic looking building of the 'Shepcote Lane Steelworks'. Part of the S.M.A.C.C. works can also be seen at the far right edge,,,
There may well be other features in the pictures which I have missed and I would be interested to know about these...
It was quite a half hour, shame there weren't any other workings through here at this time though, as it turned out, there was a class 37 run from High Marnham Powergen, via Worksop and through Sheffield to Derby RTC at 12:54, the 3Z11 working. As the following video will illustrate, the set came back in full cleaning throttle, hissing and steaming as it went along with the usual class 37 'warble' and 37419, ex-D6991, 'Carl Haviland 1954-2012', is now leading. The set looks as mucky as the local class 66s on this part of the diagram, but the 37s look much better of course, it is now heading back north on the 3J53 working from Brightside to the Barlby Loops near Selby. Although the diagram had the set passing back through Rotherham Central as it did on the inbound journey, with seemingly no issues from the recent closure due to flooding at the station, and elsewhere, once again, it did not go that way but ran on the main line through Masbrough; hard luck for anyone waiting at Rotherham for the return...
In the picture at right, 37407, ex-D6605, 'Blackpool Tower' with 'Scotty Dog Emblem' and the large 'B.R. Large Intercity Logo' on the side, brings up the rear and for the last few months, pictures here are no longer 'contaminated' by the detritus of past 'glories' i.e. the rust bus shelter and the 2 tall, non-working, lamp-standards, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/53055232975/
for the comparison, though even there, some 'cloning' has been applied! On the right of the departing working, the long disused track-bed of the up goods loop which, like the down goods loop on the left, ran behind the station and fast passenger services to pass slower moving goods train.. An example of the down goods loop being used by a passenger DMU on a Sunday morning about 5 weeks ago, can be seen here-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/53203482058/
Today's outing for the East Yorkshire R.H.T.T. had been modified, as mentioned earlier, due to engineering work over-running in the Nafferton area, between Bridlington and Driffield on the N.E.R. line. By the time the set left here, it looks like the engineering work was complete, as the following table of the 5 workings shows-
D.R.S. 37419 ex-D6991 'Carl Haviland 1954-2012' & 37407 ex-D6605 'Blackpool Tower', The East Yorkshire R.H.T.T. modifications for Monday 23rd October, 2023-
3J51 York Thrall Europa(10:01) to Scarborough(Cancelled)(11:10)
3J52 Scarborough(12:10) via York to Brightside Up/Down East Slow(14:23)
3J53 Brightside Up/Down East Slow(14:34) to Barlby Loops(15:41)
3J54 Barlby Loops(16:02) via Bridlington(rev) to Hull(19:56)
3J55 Hull(20:33) via Selby & Doncaster to York Thrall Europa(22:35)
www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.4033048,-1.4197015,3a,75y,342.2...
streetview 2016
(Now Sheffield Forgemasters)
Twas soon over, as they say, with the engines revving and on-time workings both this morning on the run-up with the wagons earlier on, see this shot at Masbrough, by WilbertB-
www.flickr.com/photos/75892080@N06/53320538519/
which shows a pretty unimpressive haul of 2, MHA type wagons and then a rake of flat-bed types..
It set off this morning from Toton at 07:42 and arrived at the Attercliffe Sidings at 10:33, having spent almost an hour in the Kilnhurst loop. Nine minutes late at 11:37 it set of for its reversal in the Kilnhurst loop taking around 20 minutes and then headed off south to Toton via the 'Old Road' arriving back 23 minutes early at 13:00, no idea why it just didn't go back on the mainline through Sheffield and cut out all the reversal and change of direction to the south... This is DBC class 60, 60074, 'Puma Energy' & 'Luke', ex-'Teenage Spirit' returning from the initial 6Z83, Toton North Yard to Attercliffe, 'Marple And Gillott', E.M.R. scrap Wagon move, this one is the return 0Z83, Attercliffe Sidings E.W.S. to Toton T.M.D. On the right, the sun is once more co-operating as the shadows clear away and 60074 heads through the cleared Brightside Station site, the place once resplendent with semaphores, a busy goods service, passengers awaiting their train and lots of other rail-related paraphernalia.. Still, the scene looks good at this time of year...
* A 50Mby MP4 phone Video which is 1m 6s long.
* NB: As this is shorter than the fixed 3 minute viewing in the Flickr interface, the Video can be watched here... or downloaded as usual.
Today's outing for the East Yorkshire R.H.T.T. had been modified, as mentioned earlier, due to engineering work over-running in the Nafferton area, between Bridlington and Driffield on the N.E.R. line. By the time the set left here, it looks like the engineering work was complete, as the following table of the 5 workings shows-
D.R.S. 37419 ex-D6991 'Carl Haviland 1954-2012' & 37407 ex-D6605 'Blackpool Tower', The East Yorkshire R.H.T.T. modifications for Monday 23rd October, 2023-
3J51 York Thrall Europa(10:01) to Scarborough(Cancelled)(11:10)
3J52 Scarborough(12:10) via York to Brightside Up/Down East Slow(14:23)
3J53 Brightside Up/Down East Slow(14:34) to Barlby Loops(15:41)
3J54 Barlby Loops(16:02) via Bridlington(rev) to Hull(19:56)
3J55 Hull(20:33) via Selby & Doncaster to York Thrall Europa(22:35)