* Another in the Mosaic Series of pieces
* A proof-read version of the original, completed last night.. quite a few bits needed re-wording, clarifying and spell-checked.. think the ‘flow’ is now much better. As you may realise, after completing all this, was glad to see the end of it and get it on-line, the 1st ‘edition’ was up-loaded on 28th February, 2016 and the piece has been well-viewed with currently, 24/2/22, 13,690 & 39082 views from the two sites, Imarch1-
www.flickr.com/photos/imarch1/49556224938/
and Views-in-Camera-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/26425061234/
making a grand total of 52,772, impressive interest!
Prompted by the recent changes in the area which is now seeing the GC’s line between Tinsley & Rotherham being used as part of the new Tram/Train system, between the two behemoths of Meadowhall and Parkgate retail ‘worlds’; the tram part of the Tram/Train facility having been delivered to the Nunnery Tram depot a few weeks ago, it seemed timely to push on with a piece of work started earlier this year. Having been progressively pushed back due to other interesting recent ‘passing traction events’, but a return to it was prompted by developments along the GCs line, picture-wise, was almost complete, it was time to move on with it and present it here. The short section of line between Sheffield Wicker, the presence of the canal cut between Tinsley and Rotherham and the wish, in the 19 century, of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway to press on with a line from Woodburn Junction through to Mexborough, all meant some rather dramatic changes to the scene outside Rotherham, immediately to the south-west of the town centre, changes which, in the Victorian period brought a landscape to the town which remains into present times and which, at the time of construction were considered to be significant, if disruptive, engineering events. By the time of the arrival of the MSL’s line through Rotherham, the Midland had already completed its north/south line from Derby to Leeds and the line went though the area, thought not really close to the centre of the town, passing as it did, and still does, through Rotherham’s 2nd station; the one at Masbrough; now no longer in use. The 1st station, and by far the closest to the town centre was the Midland/Wicker branch to Westgate, until the move, in 1987, by the MSL’s Central Station, a little further north along its own line which then put that station close to the centre of town. Its unclear why this wasn’t the location in the first place, but the move of the station in 1987 precipitated the closure of the far less convenient Masbrough. By the time the MSL wanted to push its line through Rotherham, there was a problem when it reached the outskirts of the town on the east side of Templeborough, at Ickles.
The first of the two central maps (item 10) shown at left, is the 1853 plan of the area just to the west of the town centre and shows the Midland line, which arrived just 13 years earlier, passing north/south along the left-hand side and at this date, a chord had been constructed by the Midland to take traffic from Sheffield along the Sheffield & Rotherham line from the Wicker to a station at Masbrough. Its clear from this that any folk in Sheffield wanting to travel south to London, had first to come here to this station, change trains and then head back south along the Midland’s Main Line, at that time; all of which didn’t go down too well in Sheffield. The ultimate solution to that problem of course was the building of another line, branching off to the north-west on the Midland Main Line, from just north of Chesterfield at Tapton Junction, passing through Bradway Tunnel to the south of Sheffield at Dore & Totley, the line then approaching Sheffield from the south; the situation we have today. When the MSL attempted to build a line to the north of Rotherham, from the west side, the Midland refused to let them tunnel under the old S&R, Midland, line, to reach a convenient site for the station in Rotherham. The MSL had however purchased the River Don Navigation and this was to prove fortuitous in this circumstance as the only way to reach the town centre was the use the existing canal cut which conveniently passed under the Midland’s Westgate Branch, the old S&R line, so enabling them to push the line through to their station just off Main St., close to the centre of town. They also owned the Ickles Cut, seen in the lower left corner of this map, joining the River Don at Ickles Lock, the Cut also passing under the Midland’s main line, seen here in the lower left corner. By this time the Midland was running trains through Sheffield along the line through Masbrough, the old north/south line became known colloquially as the ‘Old Road’, the other being the ‘New Road’. On the 1853 map, Rotherham Masbrough can just be made out near the left edge, above the centre, The Midland’s other station, Westgate, can be seed at right, in the centre, having just come across the wooden bridge over the River Don. Other notable attractions on this map are at lower right the ‘Rotherham Old Brewery’, above which is the ‘Wheathill Foundry’ at lower left, ‘Ickles Mill’, at centre lower left, the ‘Bromley Sands’ Locks, to the right of which is the old ‘Bow or Saddle Bridge’, under which the River Rother flows into the River Don, the bridge just south of the confluence of the two Rivers. The embankment on which the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway built its Westgate Branch was still in situ until the late 1960’s after which it was removed and with the building of Centenary Way, the only sign of there ever having being a railway here is in the west, from Holmes Junction, the short stub of line passing Mill Moor Cottage, left of centre on the map, the line now passing into the bowels of Booth’s Scrapyard, the yard now occupying the land either side of the line. In the east, before the line crossed the River Don, there was a Midland bridge across the old canal formation, the line then heading directly into Westgate Station over the River Don; the change from water under this bridge, to a rail formation, is the basis for the present narrative.
The second of the two central maps (item 11) shown at right, is from an OS plan just 35 years later, 1888, and now shows the new layout of canal and MSL railway into Rotherham and its Station, on Central Road, just off Main St. To the left, the Midland has added another curve to permit west to south moves from the direction of Sheffield and so south along the ‘Old Road’; this west-to-south connecting curve is Masbrough South curve on its massive bridge and although the track was removed in the 1980s, the bridge, a listed structure, is still present. All the heavy material was removed from the formation in August 2011 and an inspection of the bridge was made in February 2013. The main stars of the show are, however, the re-aligned canal now passing directly east from what was Bromley Sands Lock, now Ickles Lock and heading towards the River Don, curving north to join it at Don Island, north-east of the Don and Rother’s confluence near the ‘new’ Bow Bridge. It is unclear to me why the MSL decided to take the new cut from Ickles Lock, all the way along to Don Island; why not simply allow the water to flow into the Don just at the other side of the Lock and reduce the amount of colossal manual labour required to dig the long stretch over to its joining with the river at Don Island? Having diverted the canal, the MSL was then able to use the alignment of the Canal for its metals and to facilitate this, the canal bed had to be raised to about half its depth and this was achieved by manoeuvring old barges filled with stone into the correct place and then sinking them. In this way, the new railway formation was raised to 3 feet below the old tow-path level; the tow path level then being the height of the new platforms in the station. At the other end of the old canal formation, north of the new Central Station on the 1888 map, the old canal connection to the south-west on the 1853 map was cut off just at the ‘elbow’ where the canal turns north-east, and a single track, which crossed the canal here, passed over to ‘Forge Island, the latter day home of ‘Tescos’ which has also now quit this site to a much larger one on the north-east of the town centre, can also be seen on this map. The MSL has used Ickles Cut to reach the line coming along from Tinsley and Templeborough and the formation will soon be the closest line along the north side of the Iron & Steel works which will grow up along the Don Valley, all the way over from Sheffield area. At this time, some works have already sprung up between the Westgate Branch and the MSL’s new line through Rotherham, this area being ‘New York’. In later times this area will see the building of the RUFC’s New York Football Stadium to the south-west of the other industrial concern south of the Westgate Branch line; Guest & Chrimes, its building still present, now listed and up for sale but to date, no takers; the buildings can be seen on Don Street alongside the River Don near the bridge carrying the Westgate Branch over the Rover Don. In the lower left corner, just to the left of ‘Bromley Sands’, sounds idyllic, and between the Midland’s ‘Old Road’ and the MSL’s line, the 1st signs of the coming of the Iron & Steel works which dominated the landscape in Templeborough, conveniently alongside both the River and the railway line. The MSL’ line has ‘sprouted’ sidings along the formation towards Rotherham and on this map is the only signal box, ‘Rotherham Station’, which can be seen in one of the accompanying pictures, item 12. In later years, between the two wars, the sidings at either side of the line expanded to fill out much of the free space seen in this map including two lines over the River Don in the Bromley Sands area, passing close to the end of the small terrace of housing development just west of Bow Bridge at the end of Marsh Street; one of the streets off there, River Street, was very appropriately named; only Marsh Street now remains, the rest being under the large roundabout which connects Sheffield Road with Centenary Way. One of the lines crossed Sheffield Road and fanned out into a large array of sidings atop a large mound of flat ground, opposite to what used to be the Rotherham Corn Mill, the site of Rotherham Old Brewery on this map and latterly the ‘Flour Mill’ of R.H.M., this latter was demolished in 2012. To the west of Rotherham Central Station were sidings and a goods shed set higher up than the level of the main lines; the station had staggered platforms, the north-bound being at the north side of the lattice footbridge (marked F.B. on the map) and the south-bound being on the south side of the footbridge. From the south-bound line, looking over to the embankment on the other side where wagons were usually waiting, someone had installed a fish-tank in the ground about half-way up; to be able to see the fish, they had the bright idea of inclining a plane mirror above the tank, set at 45 degrees, so passengers could see fish swimming around, in what they thought was the front of the tank; the tank itself being buried in the bank with a sign, ‘TRAVEL by RAIL’, set above the mirror and in front of a 30-yard long garden, including varieties of potted plants. I only just recently discovered a picture of this, thinking possibly I had been imagining it, after all it would have been over 50 years ago since I was last on the platform; the Station won the 1956 British Railway’s district competition for the Eastern Region’s best kept station! In the years after 1888, the year of this map, when the line got busier with the advent of large quantities of iron, coal and steel traffic, two further signal boxes appeared, one in the south-west, just on the east (right) side of the Midland Line on the left, this was Rotherham Main and one to the north just beyond the top edge of the map at Thornhill, this was Rotherham Road, which was also the site of the 1st station out of Rotherham Central to the north; all these signal boxes and the station have now gone of course. Rotherham Central’s location moved about 300m to the north, making it more ‘central’ for the town, in 1987 since when it recently underwent and well deserved refurbishment; the new station still being fitted into the tiny space left due to rail land being sold off on the west side of the running lines. The mammoth South Yorkshire Police Headquarters was built on a large part of the land on the east side towards Main St., the canal and river were just a few yards away at the north end of the site.
The pictures which accompany this text are from present photographs and archival material regarding how the MSL managed to push its line through Rotherham, having obtained the necessary powers south from Woodburn Junction and north on through Park Gate, Thrybergh, Mexborough, Conisbrough, Warmsworth, Hexthorpe and so into Doncaster. The piece is separated into 2 sections, at top, 6 items of historic interest showing what the MSL did to drive its line through Rotherham and overcome the limitation placed on it by the Midland Railway who wouldn’t allow burrowing, at the eastern end near to the River Don, under their branch line from the Wicker in Sheffield to Westgate Station in Rotherham. Two central maps, 1853 at left and 1888 at right, spanning a period of 35 years during which time the landscape was changed to permit the MSL to re-route the canal and hence be able to push its line through the western side of the town. And the lower section of the piece, comprising some 14 pictures, along with 1 at the top for comparison purposes at Don Island, these pictures taken on a cold clear day in February this year(2016).
The Upper 8 pictures show the state of the GCs line through Rotherham after the diversion work on the canal to take the line under the Midland bridge which carried their line from Sheffield Wicker, over the Don to the right here and into Rotherham’s most Central Station, at Westgate-
1. The original, not very substantial Bow Bridge, over the end of the Rother, just before it joins the Don at the confluence at Ickles. At this time, this area west of Rotherham was ‘open countryside’ – a far cry from what it was subsequently to look like when the Industrial Revolution got into full swing. Rotherham Westgate at this time was the closest station to the centre of Rotherham and the Midland’s station at Masbrough, visible over on the left, had only been in existence for around 13 years, the line being built by George Stephenson in 1840. The only connection to the main Leeds/Derby/London line which the worthies of Sheffield had was via a connection made off the S&R’s Westgate line at Holmes Junction, the line into Masbrough Station curving round north to the station allowing connections to be made to main-line services; something which was way from satisfactory.
2. The new canal cut from Ickles went 500m along parallel to the River Don to the west of its confluence with the River Rother at Bow Bridge and the canal cut was joined up with the river at the end of Don Island, the ‘spit’ of land which was the outcome of the new cut’s path to the river. The type of operation and some of the equipment used can be seen in this picture, though the quality isn’t too good. There is a line of timber baulking holding back the river whilst the new cut is made good along the side of the river; the new ‘spit end’ of Don Island can be seen in the lower right corner as can some of the 19th century industries and their buildings on the other side of the river; both running along Don Street where Guest & Chrimes was located.
3. The contemporary view, from February 2016, can be seen in this picture, looking towards the now overgrown ‘spit of land’ at the Canal/Don confluence, which is Don Island with its ‘traffic sign’ indicating the route for canal barges and pleasure craft. To the right, the route along to the Ickles lock and on along the Sheffield & South Yorks Navigation to Tinsley and thence to the Sheffield Canal Basin at Victoria Quays. To the left the sign indicates a ‘dead-end’ as far as navigable waters are concerned; the Don continuing on to its confluence with the River Rother at Bow Bridge; the Don then continuing its course through what were some of the heaviest industries in the country at Templeborough; they not only being ‘heavy’, but also heavy polluters as well. The turn off onto the Rother is navigable for only a short distance to what was, in these times, the Rotherham Corn Mill, latterly the R.H.M. (Rank Hovis McDougall) building, which was finally demolished in 2012.
4. This is close-up looking towards the Central Station in Rotherham in the early days shows what appear to be, and are, rope marks on the S&R Westgate bridge abutment which supported the line from the Wicker in Sheffield over to the terminus in Rotherham. This part of the bridge stood in the middle of the formation and so, sadly, is no longer in place; almost all of the bridge, the embankment and the formation on the other side of the canal having been removed. The marks have arisen from canal barges being towed along the tow path which went around the abutment, with the canal on the other side, and so the rope between the barge and horse, for a short distance had to make contact with the corner of the bridge support until the rope could be ‘thrown round’ to allow the barge to continue its journey; an altogether odd sight at this height above a railway line with no sign of water in sight!
5. This picture and the one below it, (9) show two views of the the S&R bridge over the River Don, in (5) looking along Don St. on the left, past the Guest & Chrimes building with the next of the wooden bridges which the S&R deployed over the River; a canal barge lies moored just at the confluence of the River Don and Rother, in the foreground. All Saints Church, in the centre of Rotherham, is at top right and the foundries and other heavy industry type businesses which were emerging at this date can be seen alongside the river.
6. This is the 1853 OS map showing what the scene looked like in Rotherham in 1853 before the building of the MSL’s line through the town. Some notable features are; the line of the old canal formation coming in from Ickles in the west and swinging round north to cross under the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway’s line into Rotherham Westgate from the Wicker; this was eventually taken over by the North Midland company. The S&R Railway line coming through Holmes Junction & Station, at the left edge, with its connection from the S&R line to Stephenson’s North Midland line, built and in operation by 1840, with its station at Masbrough, the Midland line at that time passing over the main road which went in a tunnel under the lines; this was superseded by the road-over-bridge, Coronation Bridge, in 1953.
7. Just 35 years later, 1888, and the scene has changed dramatically with the canal formation taken over by the MSL for their line from Woodburn, through Rotherham and on to Mexborough. The canal has had a new cut formation made and for a reason I am at a loss to explain, they took this a full 500m north to join the River Don, forming Don Island in the process, a long way the other side of the confluence of the Don and Rother. Why the canal cut wasn’t just taken the short distance to join the Don at the ‘elbow bend’ where the new lock was installed, is intriguing to say the least, the extra work involved in taking the cut the extra 500m was enormous, to say the least, with little mechanical aid and a lot of shovelling, see picture 2 for a shot of the work. At the left edge, another curve has been added to the S&R line through Holmes Junction, this line now curves south and meets the Midland line at Ickles in the Bromley Sands area and this line is called the Masbrough South Curve with its huge, well-engineered, now also listed, bridge over the Canal cut. The curve joined the Midland’s line at Masbrough South Junction with its famous array of semaphore signals across the large number of lines which existed there at this time. The MSL, latterly GC’c Rotherham Central Station now takes a prominent place to the left of centre and already it has sidings to the north and south, a connection over the the canal cut to Forge Island, until recently the home of Tesco though its predecessor was a very noisome forge whose forge hammers resounded through the centre of Rotherham at all times of the day or night; I well remember getting of the No. 69 Sheffield bus at the lower end of Corporation St around 10pm at night and hearing this almighty ‘forge-hammer of the gods’ rhythmically pounding, at about one crash-down per minute, just away over behind ‘Ratcliffe’s the Stationers’, just 200m away on the island site…
8. The centre bridge support on the MSL’s line into Rotherham with Rotherham Station signalbox to the left, it was just at the other side of the bridge abutment which can be seen in picture 10 below and to the left of this one, on the station side of the line; there now being no sign of this structure remaining. The Rotherham Main signal box, further along south-west towards Templeborough, was only about 800m away and located under the Ickles Viaduct carrying the Midland Main Line, at that time, through Masbrough to the south. There were two signal boxes to the north in the local area, one just north of the main road on the west side of the line, the box being Greasbrough Road (for obvious reasons) and again about 800m away and finally, at Parkgate, another 800m away, on the other side of the line was Rotherham Road. The S&R line would have passed over right in front of the Rotherham Station box and this view of the central support also shows rope marks on the corners from the passage of horde towed canal barges along the old cut.
9. The 1st of the wooden bridges across the River Don with the spire of the All Saints Parish Church featuring prominently amongst the town’s river-side factories and chimney stacks. Through the 2nd of the wooden arches from the right, carrying the railway over the river, one of only 4 of the surviving medieval bridge chapels, ‘The Chapel of Our Lady on the Bridge, may just be glimpsed. On the right bank of the river, at the S&R Railway’s terminus, the scant wooden station buildings, then fronting onto Westgate, may also be seen; this must have been a very chilly place to wait for a train in the middle of winter. One of the early locomotives and set of coaches belonging to the S&R may also be seen in this old drawing, looking across the then pristine waters of the Don, over into Westgate Station. Some information on the bridge chapel-
‘…The chapel was built in 1483, part of a new bridge across the River Don. We can date it from the will of a local teacher called John Bokying. In 1483 he left "3s.4d. to the fabric of the chapel to be built on Rotherham Bridge." It is possible that Thomas Rotherham, Archbishop of York, donated most of the money needed for building. The chapel was richly decorated and contained a statue of the Virgin and Child "of gold, welwrought". In November 1485 Arnold Reresby of Thrybergh left "6s.8d. to the glassing of a window"..’
10. Close-up of Westgate Abutment. The S&R’s, latterly Midland, line through to Westgate went over a bridge across the old S&SYN canal cut here, but as this narrative indicates this was long ago turned into the track-bed of the GC’s line into Rotherham. The western bridge abutment, carrying the line over from Holmes Junction on an embankment which strode across the land here to reach the west side of the River Don, can be seen over on the left. The shot looks north-east towards Don Street and the location of the wooden bridge which once carried the line over the River Don and into Westgate; the Guest & Chrimes building, a listed structure and now cleared of its asbestos materials is seen at far right in this picture with the new Rotherham council offices poking out half way down the bridge abutment.
11. Looking the other way passed the remaining abutment and westwards along the alignment of the line towards Booths scrapyard, now at the other side of Centenary Way on its deck, the road alignment having cut the area in half. There is no remaining signs of the embankment which carried the line over to Holmes Junction in the distance, the old line now being cut short in the bowels of Booths scrapyard, the line being occasionally used to convey materials in for scrapping. Earlier a Freightliner class 66, 66619, ‘Derek W. Johnson M.B.E.’ can be seen backing a handful of old HHA coal wagons into Booths scrapyard along the only remaining stub of the S&R’s line from their station at Wicker and over to Rotherham Westgate. Now the land, derelict for a while, has been taken over to be used as yet another town cark park and is very handy for the RUFC’s ground at New York Stadium, just behind the camera. The substantial nature of the MSL’s bridge construction can be seen in all these pictures and reflects other such artifacts along the line; all being built to last.
12. Looking back towards the council offices once more, towering over the scene in the background as a Northern Rail DMU comes along the line, the view looking in the direction of Rotherham Central station. One of the new Tram/Train overhead poles lies in the foreground waiting to be erected on its flat-topped steal base and after this phase of erection, the wires will go up; though the latest news to this day, Sunday 15th May, is that Network Rail aren’t now going to complete all of this work until… 2018 and a new Tram/Train unit arrived at Nunnery last night; 2 Tram/Trains and no usable tracks! A class 142 passes the old bridge abutment of the Westgate branch on the left and the DMU has just turned onto the eastern end of the Holmes Chord coming off the GC’s main line through Rotherham; the unit is 142060 and is on the 2Y87, York to Sheffield passenger service. The multi-segment concrete fence at the other side of the DMU would have been where the far bridge section would have been, the line then continuing over towards Don St. and close the southern side of the new council offices, before crossing the Don on its wooden bridge to head into ‘The Rabbit Hutch’, as Rotherham Westgate Station was fondly known as.
13. From slightly further back at the south side of where the embankment would have been, as far as I could measure, over beyond the bridge abutment, the new Council offices are on the left alongside the River Don and the listed Guest & Chrimes building over on the right. The view looks directly along what would have been the railway alignment heading for what was, until recent years, Rotherham’s most central of stations at Westgate. Palisade fence has now gone up along the tracks from the S&R bridge abutment, all along the line and round the corner into Booths, joining the pre-existing section; yet another section of this stuff constituting yet more of a ‘blot on the landscape’.
14. This view looks along the River Don towards the centre of town with the new-build flats built on the site of the old Rotherham Public (Old) Baths, the ‘New Baths’ being behind the camera on Sheffield Road on the bank-side close to Don Island. The ‘Old Baths’ were disgusting, with the misty air heavy with a slight green tinge from the excessive chlorine used to make sure there was nothing swimming around in the water other than the bathers; I have direct experience of this as this is where I attained my Grade 1 Swimming Certificate. In addition the ‘Gents Urinals’ emptied directly into the river below, no grate over the hole so the sight of the odd brave rat swimming by underneath could often be glanced, so I think the new building is a much better sight than the old one and hope the toilet facilities have been updated since the early 1960s. At the far side of the river, just in front of the Main Street, is the eastern abutment of the S&R’s railway line, the wide extent of the bridge here indicating the fact that the double-track lines fanned out into the station neck whilst still on the bridge. The S&R’s Rotherham signal box was just this side of the river on this side of the line, just about where the camera is located and is shown on the map at (7) from 1888, just to the left of the ‘Sta’ sign marking Westgate Station; the fanning out of the lines can also be seen on that map.
15. Looking along the line to the Main St. bridge and under towards Rotherham Central, moved about 500m further north along the line in 1987, shows a passenger service having just left the station, headed by a Northern Rail class 144 DMU, 144003 with class 142, 142092 at rear. This is the 2N23, Leeds to Sheffield return service and the set is heading for the turn-off along the Holmes Chord, to join the Midland Main Line into Sheffield at Holmes Junction. The set is passing along what would have been the old Rotherham Central’s down line platform on the right, the platform extending under the Main St. bridge seen overhead. Rotherham Central in those days had staggered platforms, the up line platform being beyond the station’s footbridge, with access from the northern end of the down platform, further north on the other side. Behind the down line platform and just in front of the DMU was the cattle dock occupying some of the space this side of the S&R’s bridge over the line; the cattle dock facility being accessed from a line coming back from the down line beyond the S&R’s bridge. The land on the right which was the location of the platform has been left as it is and a picture taken here before the New York Stadium development got fully under way shows some evidence that part of the platform still exits.
16. Just a little further along and this shot now looks back across to where the MSL’s line, and before that the canal, passes under the S&R’s formation on the bridge carrying the line into Westgate Station. In the background, beyond the last remaining part of the old bridge, the view looks along the alignment directly towards Booths Scrapyard which now dominates the background. There are no signs of any bridge materials on this side of the line as yet another Northern Rail DMU passes, this time a class 144, 144005, working on on the 2N24, Sheffield to Leeds service and is about to exit the Holmes Chord junction just off to the right; it would possibly only need train services to be a little more frequent, to warrant the single track being doubled over to Holmes Junction making for a much better railway scene for photographers. The ‘slope-up/slope-down’ font of ‘Booths’ writ large on the side of one of their buildings, and which has been there a good few years, can be seen over the central part of the leading DMU; and behind the DMU, on some spare ground, one of Booths, ‘skip parks’ with ancient looking, rust coloured ‘units’ parked higgledy-piggledy on the ground; the car park to the right now filling up. The old RUFC’s ground at Millmoor can be glimpsed, marked by the position of the 4 tall floodlight stands at the ground over in the right background.
17. Some detailed shots now relating to the canal formation which was altered by the MSL to allow its line to be pushed along through the centre of Rotherham. This view of the canal exit looking towards the new locks with Forge Island over on the left, shows the new and old exits. On the right, the old exit, now cut-off, which came up in a broad curve from the direction of ‘Bromley Sands’ lock on the 1853 map at left exited here, joining the cut from the River Don, on the left, the River passing over the Town Weir near to what used to be the site of Rotherham Forge, latterly Tescos Store, this ‘Rotherham Cut’ avoiding the river and being part of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation. The section here turns through almost a right angle to pass to the south-east of the new Central Station. The court offices building is right of centre, the new flats alongside the river, mentioned in an earlier picture, are through the trees on the left and the Forge Island Locks are left of centre.
18. A wider shot of the scene taken a little further back with a canal barge pointing towards what would have been the old exit from the waterway here, along towards the ‘Bromley Sands’ lock. There wasn’t a connection to the River Don there from this waterway, the Ickles cut coming up from the River further along to avoid yet another weir outside the eastern end of what became the Templeborough Steelworks. A fisherman plies sits calmly at the side of the now clean waters teaming with fish, the whole area’s feel having been improved by Council and Waterways efforts to remove old buildings, rubbish and old barges; the improvement to Rotherham Central helping a great deal in the look of the area as well. The old cut exit, with the pedestrian footway across it left of centre, into the S&SYN on the bend is now ‘grilled off’ and I imagine the water-way is lost, a now subterranean ditch used to collect rain-water and probably blocked off at some point.
19. Further along still, now at the side of Rotherham Central Station after completion, the new station building seen over on the right along with its new terrace over-looking the canal in-lieu of the canal-side building which I think ought to have been renovated and used rather than being pulled down. A garden on the bank of the canal where the burnt-out barge once stood, before being towed away and in the background at left, the canal exit from the Forge Island locks on the River and to its right, what now looks like a very diminutive exit from the old cut, can be seen.
20. Moving back to the railway part of this long piece (have to get this finished today!) and looking along GC line towards Rotherham with Holmes Chord coming in from the left, to join the MSL/GC’s main line heading along from Woodburn Junction, through Rotherham and on to Mexborough, at right. Heading along the chord in front of Booths Scrapyard, another ‘double-header’ of sorts, in the form of another pair of Northern Rail sets, this time class 144, 144007 leading and with 144002 at the rear working the 2N25, Leeds to Sheffield passenger service with the sun out and the light good. At this time, Network Rail have the line under a Possession, one of their rail-mounted ‘STOP’ boards can be seen to the right of the rear of the DMU set, mounted on the far right rail, blocking access for wrong-line moves in that case, though I have never seen any along here; the line on the far right being for moves _towards_ the camera. Good lineside clearance here by Network Rail have helped photography enormously but its a shame that there isn’t a better frequency of more interesting traction. The difference in grade between the MSL/GC lines over on the right, and the rising grade of the the Holmes Chord, can easily be seen; the rising grade accomplished by moving barges filled with stone to the site along the old cut and then sinking the barges to make up the level, as described in the introduction above. New York Stadium is in the background and still visible in the very early Spring weather, all the lineside vegetation has been removed in preparation for more work on the Tram/Train system which will use the rails on the right together with an electrified overhead supply system at 750VDC.
21. Looking the other way along both the MSL/GC lines through Templeborough on the left and the Holmes Chord to Holmes Junction on the right, we now see a ‘STOP’ board facing the correct direction for travel and with good evidence of lineside clearance. The relay cabin between the two sets of lines has been graffiti’d and the high spot-lights look over onto the Brinsworth St Level Crossing, controlled from the York ROC via Sheffield PSB. The old, decades old, crane at Booths Scrapyard is to the right, the cab also having not moved for a few decades; you’d think they would scrap it all! On the far left, at the side of the ‘STOP’ board, is one of the bases for the Tram/Train overhead stanchions and behind that, the railings going over the ‘new cut’, MSL’s divert of the the canal through here. The diversion from the original formation which is where the DMU is passing along, took the canal around 5m below track level and there is a lock just off to the right to take the waters of the S&SYN down to the lower level allowing it to pass under the rail formation bringing it down to the level of the River Don which it will meet at Don Island. The DMU is coming up the grade, to join the GC’s line, its formation being made by sinking barges loaded with stone along the old canal bed, to bring the level up to the site of the Rotherham Central station. So, the final DMU set in this sequence is yet another class 142, this time 142029 en-route to Sheffield on the 2R82, Adwick passenger service having just passed Sheffield PSB’s S0749 for moves along the bi-directional single track.
22. The piece-de-resistance and the picture which, in some part, has been holding up the show a bit, as Network Rail line possessions along here for days and weeks on end occasionally meant no freight movements. The only one, the Stocksbridge Steel, the move occuring outside working hours when the Line Possession was lifted, being too late, light-wise, at this time of the year, early February when most of these images were taken. The shot required was dictated by the wish to have a freight move, in sunny conditions and coming over the Ickles canal bridge so that the difference in level between the MSL line and the ‘new cut’ canal formation was clearly seen; ‘clearly’ being the operative word for, as the weeks went by, more ‘greenery’ sprouted and the view started to look ‘congested’. This shot was taken on the 5th May and the following week, last week, no moves of this working took place along here, though it did run, diverted and the long way round, on the Midland Main Line and Old Road through Masbrough. On Wednesday last, after weeks of not running at all the late afternoon Aldwarke to Tees Dock Export ran, via Tinsley for reversal! at 15:35, so the Possession must have had to be lifted for this move. This coming week, it is now back in full force and nothing is running along the GC line through Templeborough and Tinsley, not even the evening Steel train to Stocksbridge. So in bright sun the DBC operated but EWS liveried class 66, 66034, comes rattling through and on time, I had missed this the week before as it ran 30 early, on the 6M69, Heck Plasmor to Dowlow Briggs Sidings in the Peak Forest and amply shows the work the MSL were involved in to get their line ‘into town’. The Midland had refused permission for a burrowing formation under their Westgate Branch into Rotherham and as the MSL now owned the canal formation, they took the decision the use the canal bed as a basis for the railway formation. As described above this meant excavating a new cut along to the River Don, and using the old cut, which went through town and formed the new track bed. Over on the far left is the Brinsworth Street level crossing over the line installed in 1987 to take passenger services from Sheffield over to the site of the new Rotherham Central Station. This line rises in grade to meet the GC’s formation at the junction near Main St. attaining the correct height, built up from the level of the old canal formation, as described earlier. Ingenious and all because of the fractured nature of the old Railway Companies who vied with each other for routes, freight and to a far lesser extent, passengers; a situation which has spectacularly changed in terms of passenger numbers using the railways.
23. Finally, in this mammoth piece, a shot looking along the line in front of the freight train heading towards the Midland’s Old Road line over the MSL/GCR formation at Ickles. Once more, the change in level which the MSL had to contend with in the work involved to get its line through Rotherham in any sensible way, is clearly seen as the water level drops around 5m from the level of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation over on the right at the other side of the road bridge, part of the lock actually being underneath the bridge, down to the level to join the River Don at Don Island. At this time, the Tram/Train posts hadn’t been erected yet along the lineside and the new Biomass facility at Templeborough, alongside both the Midland and GC lines, is seen early on in its construction and the track-side has been cleared of any over-hanging material; have to say putting 600VDC through here has meant quite a bit of clearance both on the GC line itself and any crossing lines such as the Midland ahead; NR having been down and cleared the Ickles viaduct bridge of any hazardous material.
Finally, in summary, a piece relating to a journey on a train in 1840, along the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway from the Wicker Station in Sheffield to what is described here as a ‘spacious shed’ in Rotherham, at Westgate Station. 1840 being the year of course when Stephenson completed the North Midland Railway-
‘…The North Midland Railway strikes off’ from the Midland Counties Railway about a quarter of a mile from Derby. It first runs up the Derwent valley, from which it emerges near Belper. It then passes through the Amber valley, leaving Matlock six miles on the left. It next enters the Rother valley and proceeds long it past Chesterfield and across the Yorkshire boundary as far as the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway. Proceeding northward, it passes three miles to the east of Barnsley, and two and a half to that of Wakefield. Ten miles from Leeds it is joined by the Leeds and Manchester Railway, and shortly afterwards by the York and North Midland. It terminates at the east side of Marsh-lane, at Leeds, and is there joined by the Leeds and Selby Railway. Its total length is seventy-two miles; it passes through five tunnels in its course, and is expected to cost at least two millions sterling. The summer of the present year will, in all probability, behold its completion; and, at the same time, we shall have the happiness of again appearing before our readers as its historian, describer, and eulogist. The view of Rotherham from this part of the railway, is beautiful and imposing; but as it lies directly in advance, it can only be seen by adventuring the head from the window of the carriage. The church rises majestically on the left of the landscape; Canklow Wood clothes the hills which stretch far away on the right; and, on the beautiful acclivity which forms the centre, rests a considerable portion of the fair town of Rotherham. On the top of the hill the Methodist Chapel stands conspicuously; and not far from it appears the New Poor House. The mass of the town lies beyond the rising ground, and is consequently invisible. Canklow Wood, which so beautifully overhangs the town, is the property of the Duke of Norfolk. On the summit of the hill which it envelopes, a little structure has been erected, on which the name of Boston Castle has been bestowed. From this point the eye can range over a wide tract of country; and the prospect is as enchanting as it is extensive. After crossing the headstream of the Holmes, we cross the river Don company’s new cut by a handsome bridge of three arches, of which the centre one is iron and of thirty-six feet span. Again we cross the headstream, and immediately afterwards the River Don, by a noble wooden bridge of seven arches. Immediately after passing this bridge, we find ourselves beneath the spacious shed of the Rotherham station. As this, however, closely resembles that at the other extremity of the line, a description of it is unnecessary…’
( Note boxes on the GC line-
Mexborough to Woodburn
E50/23 Mexborough No3
E50/24 Kilnhurst
E50/25 Thrybergh Junction
E50/26 Parkgate
E50/27 Aldwarke Main/Aldwarke Junction
E50/28 Rotherham Road
E50/29 Greasborough Road
E50/30 Rotherham/Rotherham Central
E50/31 Rotherham Main
E50/32 Ickles
E50/32a Frith’s Siding
E50/33 Tinsley East Junction
E51/01 Tinsley Junction
E51/02 Carbrook North/Carbrook
E51/03 Carbrook South
E51/04 Broughton Lane
E51/05 Brown Baileys Siding
E51/06 Attercliffe Station
E51/07 Attercliffe Junction
)
