in the early 70s i was at woodbourn rdjunior school and remember an almighty bang and the floor shuddered we went outside at break as normal and i remember seeing helicopters overhead and thought nothing ofit when i got home it was all over the news that one of those massive gas tanks on effigham rd had exploded killing quite a few people apparently one man had been blown over half a mile away does anyone have an idea what year this was

I remember the event, it was pre-1974, definitely, I can date it to no later than that, as my cousin was not yet one yr old, and my aunt, (his mother) was still living in her flat on hyde park, which overlooked the "gasometers".

I don't think it was "quite" as dramatic as the tale you heard:- it's a bit "UL"-ish (the geezer being found a long way from the site). I don't remember more than one person being killed.

I have just asked Mr PT, to see what he remembers, but although he remembers the incident happening, he doesn't remember specifics, either.

PT

Is this the incident where a gasholder/gasometer was being scrapped and tho all the gas had been removed the tank had not been purged and gas from the watertank in the base of the holder was still present in the water (Like fizzy pop)..anyway a man or two men where on the top of the tank with metal burning gear and when they cut through the top of the Holder the gas ignited and the rest is history...I believe one man was blown quite some distance onto a nearby roof. Thats how I heard the story.

Hi Timbuck

It was 1971/2 when that blew up and my best mates father was killed there, a Mr Lomas.
His son was in my class both at Pyebank and Hinde House and i remember him being called away from school when the incident happened to give him the bad news.

I worked down Effingham street when it went up it was like the end of the world coming,dont be kidded by folks who tell you it wasn't bad, it was and it was as close to being a trouser changing moment as you will ever get. One bloke who worked with us had just cut his forehead inside work .....nothing serious but he was walking over to the first aid room when an ambulance man and bobby stopped him and put him in the back of an ambulance and whipped him off to casualty. owdlad.

i am guessing summer 72. i was asleep after doing nights
and the noise woke me at andover st pitsmoor.
probably around lunchtime.

i have just read the post about the gas explosion ,and there is a book available called Sheffield in the seventies and it says that the explosion was in 1979. There are a couple of pictures in there of the explosion and one in particular where there is a just a big hole with cars in it caused by the expolosion.
The book is still in print and is on sale at Waterstones and WHSmiths.

the book has to have it's facts wrong.

(either that or it was another explosion that happened, a few years later, on pye bank road pitsmoor, around that date)

the effingham road one was pre 74, as my aunt still lived on hyde park when that incident happened


the pye bank road one sounds as if it is the more likely explosion referred to in the book. that one was a maisonette/ house that went up, not the big gas tanks.

PT

I stand to be corrected, but the book also has a newspaper cutting which is taken from the front of the star reporting the blast and the date is 1979.
It has been roughly 4 weeks since i looked at the book, and once again apologies if i am wrong. I will check this tommorrow and give the date from the star.

its deffo pre 1974 cause i was at woodbourn rd junior school the day it happend

i am going to have to eat humble pie and say sorry.
I have just checked the book and it says 1973, i have no idea where the 1979 date came from, the newspaper clipping says 1973 too, so i'm sorry for doubting you all,
I was telling my dad about it being in 1979 and he shot me straight down, he says it was deffo 1973 as he was working in Manchester at the time, and he heard it on the news.
I still had a doubt though as my dad is not the most accurate at remembering dates.
It must run in the family.

I remember it well i was sat on the wall of pye bank junior/infants school on the junction of grey street and andover street,and it was in the early 70's.
the bang was so loud the wall shook,and all the people came out to see what had gone off.

john t

I seem to remember that it was in 1973/1974 during Rotherham schools holiday week (possibly half term in October).
It was heard in Wickersley,Rotherham,which is probably 9 to 10 miles away.

Originally posted by Plain Talker
the book has to have it's facts wrong.

(either that or it was another explosion that happened, a few years later, on pye bank road pitsmoor, around that date)

the effingham road one was pre 74, as my aunt still lived on hyde park when that incident happened


the pye bank road one sounds as if it is the more likely explosion referred to in the book. that one was a maisonette/ house that went up, not the big gas tanks.

PT PT, The gas explosion on Pye Bank Road happened in 1978 and blew the Varander off and almost demolished the old mans flat.
It was a loud bang just after midnight and my bed shook.
The guy that lived there some how survived.

cycleracer, I knew that the explosion on Pye Bank Road had to be about 78/79 because I had not yet left school, but. it was after my sister was born, which happened in 1977.

My grandmother lived across the valley from that particular explosion, in the high-rise that run up the side of the Ponderosa at Upperthorpe (the ones which have been refurbished with brown and cream cladding (not the blue/ green clad ones opposite the university roundabout)

She was awoken from her sleep, by the explosion, even though she was quite a way-away, over the valley.

She said that it seemed much nearer to where she lived, it sounded so loud. My gran was very surprised to realise it was on the hillside opposite, she thought that it was in the immediate area.

I do remember it happening, and that it was on the maisonettes on Pye Bank Road, and that it pretty much blew the whole of the front wall of the flat off, including the verandah.

It was definitely by some sort of a miracle that the chap who lived there (and his neighbours!!) survived.

I can't remember exactly which of the lower blocks of maisonettes/ flats it was (it was either the one nearest the footbridge, or the one below that I think). What I do remember of it, is that it was the very bottom flat in the block, which, on each of the blocks was a sort of bedsit, and not one of the maisonettes.

PT

It was roughly opposite the Fox and Duck and it was a lower bedsit flat.
I remember the Verandah in the middle of Pitsmoor Road and the whole front of the flat gone.
The old timer as you say did survive but its hard to think why and how as it was total devistation.
It was a summer evening and as I said my bed jumped off the floor.
The old man moved back as I remember.
Did you know Georgie Salt.

i was working on saville street at the time at firth brown tools circular saw dept. i know it happened around 11.30/11.45 because i was on my way to the firth brown cafe with my dad when the gas cylinder blew it shook the very ground we walk on ,very scarey.

Gosh, you're sure bringing back some memories here.

Alongside my memory of the Arundel Gate underpass crash - see post elsewhere - is this one of the gas explosion. 1973 would sound about right, making me three or four years old. Again, we were in town shortly after it had happened and all I can remember is my eldest brother saying something about a man on top of the gas cylinder whatchamacallit.

I didn't fully understand at the time, but recall looking up expecting to see a man on top of some large chimney. Yet, it's there somewhere in some dusty corner of my memory.

And talking of chimneys, let's hear it for good old Fred Dibnah. Rest in peace Fred XX

The gas explosion in Effingam Rd. was 1973 one of my mates dad was killed Mr. Lomas. cycleracer must be a mate of John or his younger brother Keith. they have a sister called Marie or Denise. not sure which. The one up Pye Bank was around 78 if I remember right. My mate Tony Heathcote was living next door to it.

[B]On the 24th October 1973
A massive explosion devastated an area of around 100 yards when it ignited on the morning of the 24th,at the East Midlands Effingham Street Gas Depot.Four men were killed and at least 25 injured.Emergency service from all over Sheffield and Rotherham rushed to the scene.

also [url][U]www.Burngreave Messenger.co.uk A View from Byron Wood

and????????

an area of around 100 yards

100 yards is a length

or was it a 10yards x 10yards area -not very large

What is this thread about????

okay how about radius

100 yards is a length

or was it a 10yards x 10yards area -not very large

Thanks for pointing this out this was a quote from the Sheffield Star. Maybe you should contact them.

What is this thread about????

please re read there may been a problem with posting

What is this thread about????

four men getting KILLED whilst at work, i feel sorry for their families after all you don't go to work to get killed

Incredibly, although I was only 4 years old, I recall this incident.

It has been discussed on a thread before.

The link does not work (or at least, I've tried it twice and no luck).

Mod: Threads merged.

Timbuck's version of the incident is virtually correct.

One man started cutting before he should have done and the explosion was the result, he was the one killed.
I worked in the offices of the East Midlands Gas Board when it happened, I along with a colleague were in the middle of training some new staff in a location away from the EMGB main office and had to return immediately to help the staff cope with all the phone calls that we received.
Cynthia, Ontario, Canada.

Timbuck's reply was virtually correct.

As I understood it one man started cutting before he should have done and he was the one killed.
I worked in the offices of the East Midlands Gas Board at the time, I along with a colleague were in the middle of training some staff in a location away from the main office when the explosion happened, we had to return immediately to the main EMGB main office to help the other staff cope with all the phone calls that we received.

Cynthia, Ontario, Canada.

Strange i was filming down round there last week and was talking about this i was on my way home from school and have a image in my mind of some poor bloke chared to a roof nearby.. It was 1973 that i do remeber..

0742

I remember the gas-o-meter explosion.

I was at Wybourn school at the time and that day we had a boat trip on Sheffield Canal from the canal basin, so we passed the gas-o-meter on the canal.

The explosion must have happened whilst our boat was down towards Tinsley, because as we headed back towards the canal basin I remember hearing all the sirens. I don't recall hearing the actual explosion but we were in a covered boat and we were probably being noisy kids on a day out.

The explosion must have happened about 11AM

interesting picture in the Sheffield Star tonight, (15/7/06)
in the then-and-now section, in the middle of the paper, is a photograph showing the local aftermath of the explosions.

It shows a row of cars parked up nearby to the explosion, with debris scattered all over them.

PT

I was very near the gas explosion in 1973 - about 2-300 yards away, working in the Tempered Spring laboratory next to the river.

I was looking down a microscope when the explosion occurred - and it was very disorienting! - there was a rush of air through the building and confusion as to which way to run for safety.

When we walked out into the yard it was noticeable that everywhere was covered in fist-sized lumps of shredded brick.

Most memorable image was of our bosses 1949 bentley which was parked nearer the centre of the explosion - a concrete upright from the adjacent wall had been blown across the car and acting like guillotine, almost cut the car in half!

<snip>When we walked out into the yard it was noticeable that everywhere was covered in fist-sized lumps of shredded brick.

Most memorable image was of our bosses 1949 bentley which was parked nearer the centre of the explosion - a concrete upright from the adjacent wall had been blown across the car and acting like guillotine, almost cut the car in half!

wonder if one of the cars in the photo i mentioned above, was your boss's car? :hihi:

I remember my dad coming home from work and telling us about it. He worked in The Vulcan Foundry - Oxley's on Saville St. I remember him saying how they were showered with years of muck from the rafters and roof of the foundry. He died in '77, so it was a few years before that.

Hi folks, I remember this incident rather too well I'm afraid - I was a serving firefighter at Sheffield Central and we turned out to it at 11.32am on Wednesday 24th October 1973. Bricks, concrete and dust everywhere. We were ordered to look for 6 missing workmen. We pretty soon found them in separate locations and in conditions that I couldn't describe here. One thrown through a factory roof; one underneath the crane he had been operating; a welder up on a nearby gas holder; one thrown against a brick wall; one in the roadway; one recovered from site. Six in all died and 20 further persons were treated at hospital and released.
Dismantling of iron and pipe work above an 'empty' underground tank 100 feet diameter by 20 feet deep was being carried out by a welding gang. Sparks ignited pockets of flammable distillates. As there was about 3 feet of reinforced concrete aver the tank, the resulting explosion was vastly more powerful.
For me it was a rude awakening to the job I had chosen

I remember this although I must have only been about 4 at the time. I lived on Hyde Park Flats, the side that overlooked the gas tanks, and if I remember rightly it actually shattered some windows the blast was so massive!

My wife said that her Dad was the Police Superintendent who was interviewed on TV for this, so it must have been 1973.

Having just read the thread, I've been to quiz my Dad about the day the Gasometer blew up.
Fortunately, my Dad was in Derbyshire that morning, but when he got back to Sheffield, Effingham Road was closed, and he had to go via the 'dark arches; to get back to Swift Levicks, where he worked. Hedley Green, had already repaired the damage to my dad's car. The car had been parked in the carpark of the North Pole pub, and was the only one hit by the flying debris. A black, piece of masonary had gone straight through his windscreen, I think we still have it somewhere in the loft, and the last time I came across it, I can remember stating it still smelled of 'gas'!!

i work just across the canal and you can still see where the gasometer was the roof of our unit (sipelia works) show some repair work to the rafters i'll assume this was caused by flying debris coming through the roof as we're only about 50 yds away i'd be very interested if anyone has any pics or links to pics of the disaster.thanks .on a seperate note i'd love to get onto the top of the remaining gasometer when it's at full height to take some pics is there any where i can apply to? i know people might think this is a bit weird but on a website about gasometers it said that transco wanted to do away with them altogether within 10 yrs and i just wanted to get a few pics that nobody else would get...YES i know i'm sad but ?

My father Herbert Hall was in charge of a party of contractors on the Effingham Street Gasworks Site and they were dismantling a gas holder at the time of the explosion. He himself had left the site to buy new tools and he returned find utter chaos. He lost a few friends that day. He would never talk about it though.

I remember going past the bottom of gower street after the explosion and seeing cars at a secondhand car dealers covered in rocks and debris and that must have been over half a mile away from effingham road