Samuel Fox Steelworks sidings at Fox Valley Retail - 3010+012
Has been a good long while since I last visited here to take any photographs which were rail-related and, here, to do with the regular hauls of steel up from the Aldwarke U.E.S. area of Parkgate in Rotherham. As they say, 'a lot of water has flowed under the bridge' since then and in the last year or two, the working up to here and back have been quite sporadic and, at present, are non-existent. The Fox Valley Retail area has gone from strength-to-strength and on this day, a Friday in mid-morning, traffic was backing up onto the road to get onto the site, mainly caused by folk who wanted spaces right next to the front of the stores they were going too. The shots taken from earlier times, show at the first link below, the development having just begun in early 2015. I got there, with Adrian Wynn, on the 24th March, 2015, but I haven't published any of those shots on Flickr however, just 4 months later, the both of us returned on the 17th July, almost 8 years ago now, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/imarch1/49538374276/
which is a mosaic showing the development as it was then, almost 2 years after it started in 2014, a plan of the old Samuel Fox Stocksbridge Steel site accompanied by a shot showing how close the back of the retail development was to the single track line, though into the works. At the bottom of the mosaic picture, a 1955 OS amp showing much detail relating to the site and the surrounding area with the newly electrified Woodhead line, over on the far right.
In addition, over a year after that visit, I returned yet again, on October 3rd, 2016, to take some shots of the resident shunter, coming back down-grade from the steelworks and passing through the sidings with some old, rusty flat-bed wagons over on the right.
The first shot shows the shunter in the sidings, 'racing' the dustcart down-grade, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/29978204952/
and another set of mosaic shots with the shunter continuing to make its way eastwards through the sidings, with me following quickly in the car. Further along the track the line, now single, passes close to what will ultimately be the back of the Fox Valley residential area, the shunter heading for the Ellen Wood Sidings just a bit further along over the River Don bridge, to pick up more steel billets/blooms for rolling in the old Samuel Fox mill, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/29464534134/
Although the work was underway and in its early stages in the first pictures I have, taken on 24th March, 2015, there was no development at all on 1st May 2013 and again, during early January 2014, the 7th, when the diesel shunter 'Yorkshire' was once more in action, moving billet/blooms wagons in and out of the sidings down to the Ellen Wood Sidings in the east; no pictures on Flickr for this time either. So the development must have commenced between that date, 7th January 2014 and March 2015. Whilst exchanging a jacket with broken zip at 'Regatta Great Outdoors', I took the opportunity to have a look at what may be seen at the back of the retail shops, where the single line from the sidings makes its way north-west and under the road bridge into the steelworks, once 'Samuel Fox', then 'Tata', then Liberty' now Gupta's 'British Steel', maybe? It was immediately obvious that the rail hadn't seen any traffic for a good while, well before Xmas at least, there's nothing in the sidings and the manual points are set for the northern line into the sidings; the line straight through being at left. In the left shot, the housing at the eastern end of the 'Dransfield Development', can be seen beyond the retail bill hoardings at left. The site is bound by the high ridges of the Don Valley to the north and south, this must make the area pretty dark most of the winter months; the valley is aligned E/W so the swings around to the right, the south, and must be hidden a lot of the time behind the high hills of Hollin Edge, Sunny Bank, Ewden Brows & Ewden Height.. these pictures were taken just before mid-day. In the right shot, the view looks north-west towards the still large site of the steelworks, the single line now hedged-in behind the low concrete wall, presumably a flood defence barrier from any incursion from 'The Little Don or Porter River', off to the right also passing underground here, into and through the steelworks and forming the outlet of the Underbank Reservoir at the west end of Stocksbridge. The sun beams over the top of the surrounding hills off to the left and there is plenty to see in terms of refurbished stone buildings, the massive steelworks running the narrow valley but sadly, at present, no traction activity, large, class 66s, or small, the local shunter, 'Yorkshire, No. 35'...
Samuel Fox Steelworks sidings at Fox Valley Retail - 3010+012
Has been a good long while since I last visited here to take any photographs which were rail-related and, here, to do with the regular hauls of steel up from the Aldwarke U.E.S. area of Parkgate in Rotherham. As they say, 'a lot of water has flowed under the bridge' since then and in the last year or two, the working up to here and back have been quite sporadic and, at present, are non-existent. The Fox Valley Retail area has gone from strength-to-strength and on this day, a Friday in mid-morning, traffic was backing up onto the road to get onto the site, mainly caused by folk who wanted spaces right next to the front of the stores they were going too. The shots taken from earlier times, show at the first link below, the development having just begun in early 2015. I got there, with Adrian Wynn, on the 24th March, 2015, but I haven't published any of those shots on Flickr however, just 4 months later, the both of us returned on the 17th July, almost 8 years ago now, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/imarch1/49538374276/
which is a mosaic showing the development as it was then, almost 2 years after it started in 2014, a plan of the old Samuel Fox Stocksbridge Steel site accompanied by a shot showing how close the back of the retail development was to the single track line, though into the works. At the bottom of the mosaic picture, a 1955 OS amp showing much detail relating to the site and the surrounding area with the newly electrified Woodhead line, over on the far right.
In addition, over a year after that visit, I returned yet again, on October 3rd, 2016, to take some shots of the resident shunter, coming back down-grade from the steelworks and passing through the sidings with some old, rusty flat-bed wagons over on the right.
The first shot shows the shunter in the sidings, 'racing' the dustcart down-grade, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/29978204952/
and another set of mosaic shots with the shunter continuing to make its way eastwards through the sidings, with me following quickly in the car. Further along the track the line, now single, passes close to what will ultimately be the back of the Fox Valley residential area, the shunter heading for the Ellen Wood Sidings just a bit further along over the River Don bridge, to pick up more steel billets/blooms for rolling in the old Samuel Fox mill, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/29464534134/
Although the work was underway and in its early stages in the first pictures I have, taken on 24th March, 2015, there was no development at all on 1st May 2013 and again, during early January 2014, the 7th, when the diesel shunter 'Yorkshire' was once more in action, moving billet/blooms wagons in and out of the sidings down to the Ellen Wood Sidings in the east; no pictures on Flickr for this time either. So the development must have commenced between that date, 7th January 2014 and March 2015. Whilst exchanging a jacket with broken zip at 'Regatta Great Outdoors', I took the opportunity to have a look at what may be seen at the back of the retail shops, where the single line from the sidings makes its way north-west and under the road bridge into the steelworks, once 'Samuel Fox', then 'Tata', then Liberty' now Gupta's 'British Steel', maybe? It was immediately obvious that the rail hadn't seen any traffic for a good while, well before Xmas at least, there's nothing in the sidings and the manual points are set for the northern line into the sidings; the line straight through being at left. In the left shot, the housing at the eastern end of the 'Dransfield Development', can be seen beyond the retail bill hoardings at left. The site is bound by the high ridges of the Don Valley to the north and south, this must make the area pretty dark most of the winter months; the valley is aligned E/W so the swings around to the right, the south, and must be hidden a lot of the time behind the high hills of Hollin Edge, Sunny Bank, Ewden Brows & Ewden Height.. these pictures were taken just before mid-day. In the right shot, the view looks north-west towards the still large site of the steelworks, the single line now hedged-in behind the low concrete wall, presumably a flood defence barrier from any incursion from 'The Little Don or Porter River', off to the right also passing underground here, into and through the steelworks and forming the outlet of the Underbank Reservoir at the west end of Stocksbridge. The sun beams over the top of the surrounding hills off to the left and there is plenty to see in terms of refurbished stone buildings, the massive steelworks running the narrow valley but sadly, at present, no traction activity, large, class 66s, or small, the local shunter, 'Yorkshire, No. 35'...