In my opion the railway station for sheffield is crap. It's small and has 2 shops where as manchester has a whole shopping centre whithin it. Even Doncaster's railway station is better than sheffields. I think we need to knock it all down and rebuild it from scratch. I would be interested to see wot every 1 else thinks.

Yes, I'll agree with you. For starters it's only got 8 platforms. I am not sure now but a few years ago it used to be quicker to travel to Doncaster and catch a train to London from there than to go direct from Sheffield. The East Coast mainline which Doncaster is on is fully Electrified and a more direct route. I remember once seeing the Orient Express pull into Midland station and it was a embarassment to see such a fine train on the platform of such a rundown station.

Someones moaning about the station only having 8 platforms how many can they possibly use at once.

Originally posted by MARTINO 1
Someones moaning about the station only having 8 platforms how many can they possibly use at once.

The wheel is still turning but the hamster is dead.

:lol:

Yes it is crap and doncasters is marginally better. Yes the trains do get to london quite a bit quicker from doncaster as i went recently and travelled to doncaster station instead of using sheffield even though doncaster was slightly further away from where i live. Sheffield station is rubbish theres hardly anywhere to wait for people and the roads round it are all bumpy and potholey and look a mess.

I do however think its improving i saw the plans for it and although not much progress has been made (just a few plants and a new coffee cart really) I think itll be a lot better when its done.

Also - too many beggars and police dont do anything about them other then escort them outside and they just come back in once the police officer has walked away.

When i was at Londons King Cross i saw no beggars at all and i didnt see any at Doncaster either.

I was indecently assaulted in Sheffield station and he kept following me so I went into the ticket office and told them. They called the transport police who were on platform 1 (a 5 second walk away) and asked them to come and find me in the ticket office. 10 minutes later they still hadn't bothered to even come to find me, the b*stard was well far away by then, and I had to go and catch my train.

I was not impressed. I was ok - not hurt, and more angry than traumatised, but the lovely woman at the ticket office had told them I was very distressed and that the man was still there, and they didn't even bother to come!

Makes you wonder why they're there at all really.

Grrr.

How awful for you! Im not surprised it happened though as I do feel very vulnerable when im waiting round there there are a lot of unsavoury looking characters around. From what Ive seen of the police on that platform theye about as useful as a chocolate fireguard. Youre supposed to report sightings of people asking for money to them but you can never find them and when you do they dont do anything.

Sheffield's station is potentially very attractive, if they didn't keep trying to fill it with modern extras. The new bridge is a vast improvement over the old one, but the new waiting areas beneath it are already looking tatty and the concourse is a disgrace. The fact that it isn't bigger and filled with shops I think is an advantage, though - the last thing you want when rushing to catch a train in a (possibly unfamiliar) station is to get lost amongst loads of shops. The fact that the platforms are open is an advantage too when all the trains are diesel. Given a proper refurbishment with quality materials and some intelligent consideration to the way it's used the current station would be something Sheffield would be proud of. Then all we need to do is get rid of all the tat that lines the railway on the way into Sheffield. Or plant a lot of big trees. Either way, something needs to be done - irrespective of how bad the station is, people visiting Sheffield (particularly from the North) have already made up their mind that it's a dump.

Too right have you seen what it looks like when you come via meadowhall into the station it looks awful all those horrible dark tunnels with god knows what running down them and graffiti everywhere. The whole route from rotherham to sheffield is depressing but once you hit sheffield the depressing factor increases 10 fold as darkness hits you and all you have to look at are the 30 year old bits of litter that have been thrown down and the mouldy crevices of the tunnels that look like they could fall down any minute. The signals dont even work properly the number of time the train stops and the driver gets off and messes around with them. No wonder the trains are always late when they have to do this.

There are a couple of good sites here (http://www.bdp.co.uk/projects/piccadilly/default.asp) and here (http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/interactive/360/pic_concourse.shtml)

showing the concourse at Manchester Picadilly. It is very much like an airport departure lounge.

The other station, Victoria, is still very old and scruffy though, in much the same state as Sheffield.

Train station? Is that what they pass it off as?! :lol:

Sheffield car parking...
http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1917

Manchester Piccadilly a utterly brilliant and is what a 21st century railway station should look like. Lots of shops to enjoy while waiting for the late train, nice new toilets that you have to pay for but at least that cuts out cottaging etc. It's all in doors so it's comforable and very clean. Overall a great railway station and a credit to manchester. Why can't Sheffield do ther same???

Originally posted by alchresearch
There are a couple of good sites here (http://www.bdp.co.uk/projects/piccadilly/default.asp) and here (http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/interactive/360/pic_concourse.shtml)

showing the concourse at Manchester Picadilly. It is very much like an airport departure lounge.

The other station, Victoria, is still very old and scruffy though, in much the same state as Sheffield.


wow i cant imagine a train station looking like that! Surely if machester can afford it sheffield can???

The new Manchester Piccadilly station is brilliant. The bits I remember were that I bought a new CD to listen to on the way home, and they even had a health food shop where I stocked up on all my favourite goodies.

It's also just generally cleaner and a more pleasant environment to be in.

We could learn a lot from them!

There's no bins...

(People will think I'm obcessed with bins or something!!)

However, I am very impressed with the train service to Leicester.

Originally posted by Sidla
There's no bins...

(People will think I'm obcessed with bins or something!!)

However, I am very impressed with the train service to Leicester.

That's the St. Pancras service so it's always going to be frequent.

There always used to be bins on Sheffield station, but they were all rounded up and locked away in a store room on platform 1 on police orders, about the time when the I.R.A. kept leaving bombs around the railway network. The police policy is still the same, no bins allowed on main stations unless continous staff supervision is possible.

Originally posted by Andy C
There always used to be bins on Sheffield station, but they were all rounded up and locked away in a store room on platform 1 on police orders, about the time when the I.R.A. kept leaving bombs around the railway network. The police policy is still the same, no bins allowed on main stations unless continous staff supervision is possible.

So thats why the lines are always covered in rubbish.

Midland Station has 9 platforms, capable of receiving 13 trains at once, the station regularly has 8 trains simultaneously at platforms, i would know i go there like every day.
the off peak circulation is one train every minute, meaning, it can cope with approx 600 trains a day.
I know Doncaster, and .. well with 8 platforms, and coping with a train every 5 minutes, i fail to see why you don't like Midland Station.
At least @ Sheffield, there are shops.
May i remind you the aim of a station is to get you on trains ? not buy cds :p If you wanna do that, there's HMV on Fargate.
Unlike Manchester's piccadilli, Sheffield is also used as depot, which means the 2 times 2 tracks in the middle are used to store DMUs at night. That means in the morning staff don't have to go to the depot to get your train and it'll be there in a few minutes, compared to 30 mins minimum if it comes form the depot.

Midland station is a magnificient victorian building, if they washed it ... And is not likely to get destroyed as it's listed.
Manchester's new station is repulsive,and reminds me of the Winter gardens: waste of money.
All you need in a station is a bench, a platform and trains, Sheffield has it, and as far as i know sheffield services to London are 1hour and 30 shorter than from Manchester, with ruffly the same distance. We are lucky to have a company like Midland Mainline running Midland (and giving us free tea onboard).

If you understood the complexities of rail transport, you would realise you are much betteer off than others, yes, much better.

Regards,
Greg

Originally posted by Gregsd
Midland station is a magnificient victorian building, if they washed it ...

Agree with this bit, though I think it needs more than a wash. It deserves a thorough, and sympathetic, renovation and consideration made to how the space behind the arches is used. Walking to the station and finding yourself confronted with a muddled taxi rank and scruffy glass doors is not welcoming.

I agree, they could do some washing, remove all the pollution. You will agree they done work on the canopies on platform 2-5.
And that section on the right towards the carpark, under the arches could be delt with. Or re-open it as a drop-off section ? I remeber it beeing really handy :)

I also agree with Sidla, there are no bins.
We could do with havin cheaper food at Burger King too... 3 quid for a double bacon & cheese burger... they're nice but the wallet don't like it :p

Regards,
Greg

I think Sheffield Midland Station is beautiful. It provides a lovely sight for visitors entering our wonderful city. A fine example of magnificent architecture. Buildings have rights too you know, please don't discriminate against them on the basis of looks, colour, or sexual orientation.

Originally posted by t020
I think Sheffield Midland Station is beautiful. It provides a lovely sight for visitors entering our wonderful city. A fine example of magnificent architecture. Buildings have rights too you know, please don't discriminate against them on the basis of looks, colour, or sexual orientation.

Out of interest, which buildings in the city would you class (or have come out as being) homo- or bi-sexual?:)

On the issue of Burger King - if you're going to pay that much then it should at least be somewhere half-decent. I think it'd improve the station no end if they replaced it with something better.

Originally posted by Chris
Out of interest, which buildings in the city would you class (or have come out as being) homo- or bi-sexual?:)

On the issue of Burger King - if you're going to pay that much then it should at least be somewhere half-decent. I think it'd improve the station no end if they replaced it with something better.

1. mmmh gay buildings, that's a new one...
Lemmy think, gay building could be applied to:
the Winter Gardens
the Millenium Galeries
Howden House
the New Castle Market (to be built in place of the Sheaf Market)
the new Cole Brothers tower (one of those start trek buildings Council likes)

2. I agree entirely, a victoria Building does not need to be downgraded wiv a fast food, Upper Crust is one thing, BK is another, we could probably do with more windows to buy reservation tickets...

I have done a 3D reproduction of Midland Station, i'll probably post screenies of the rendering if you guyz are interested. You prolly won, but perhaps ?

Regards,
Greg

Originally posted by Gregsd
1. mmmh gay buildings, that's a new one...
Lemmy think, gay building could be applied to:
the Winter Gardens
the Millenium Galeries
Howden House
the New Castle Market (to be built in place of the Sheaf Market)
the new Cole Brothers tower (one of those start trek buildings Council likes)

2. I agree entirely, a victoria Building does not need to be downgraded wiv a fast food, Upper Crust is one thing, BK is another, we could probably do with more windows to buy reservation tickets...

I have done a 3D reproduction of Midland Station, i'll probably post screenies of the rendering if you guyz are interested. You prolly won, but perhaps ?

Regards,
Greg

Greg, if you were around 100-150 years ago, would you have been so negative about every new building then? If so, we wouldn't have had the station you're so fond of. Can you name what was on the site of the Millennium Galleries before it was built? Most people can name the Eggbox that was around before the Winter Garden. Had a cathedral been demolished to make way for the Winter Garden I'd be at the front of the queue to complain, but it wasn't. What we have now is an improvement, and without improvements the city will be at a standstill.

Don't want to seem totally negative here - you're right that the shops and ticket hall at the station could be better. And I'd be interested to see your renderings :) I like having a go at that kind of thing when I've the time...

It might seem strange but i do prefer the eggbox to the winter garden...
I also think the new St Paul Gardesn are rubbish, there was a lot more grass before, and i do agree on demolishing the wall, but not those huuuge thingies ;)

Greg

Originally posted by Gregsd
It might seem strange but i do prefer the eggbox to the winter garden...
I also think the new St Paul Gardesn are rubbish, there was a lot more grass before, and i do agree on demolishing the wall, but not those huuuge thingies ;)

Greg

A very nice church was trashed so that they could build the peace gardens and the 'eggbox'

Originally posted by alchresearch
A very nice church was trashed so that they could build the peace gardens and the 'eggbox'

Saint Pauls.
But wasn't it bombed in WW2 ?

Greg

Originally posted by Gregsd
It might seem strange but i do prefer the eggbox to the winter garden...
I also think the new St Paul Gardesn are rubbish, there was a lot more grass before, and i do agree on demolishing the wall, but not those huuuge thingies ;)

Greg

I thought the gardens looked out of scale with the area when built, but they do make more sense (in terms of the size of features such as the 'giant eggcups') now the Eggbox has gone. Which does make it seem strange that they're going to enclose the area so completely again. And there was more grass before, but I don't remember many people sitting on it. Having spoken to one of the people behind the garden I know the thought and effort that went into it, but even before I spoke to him I found it impressive how popular they had become. I don't like seeing the city become less green (I'd be the first to stop anyone trying to build housing or offices on any of it's parks), but I think in this case the bit of unused grass lost seems insignificant compared to the atmosphere gained.

It's not strange to like the Eggbox. I liked some aspects of it - it was unusual. It wasn't the right building for that site, though. It didn't use the land particularly efficiently and it's facade was too dull compared to the Old Town Hall. Despite being designed to fill a particular space it was an object building - great as an architect's model and would have looked fine in a space where you could see it from a distance, but overbearing in the middle of the city centre.

Originally posted by Gregsd
Saint Pauls.
But wasn't it bombed in WW2 ?

Greg

I thought it was too, though that was somewhat before my time. I can imagine there being complaints at the Eggbox if St. Pauls had been in any way repairable, especially considering the use Coventry put it's destroyed cathedral to.

Originally posted by Gregsd
we could probably do with more windows to buy reservation tickets...

There's plenty of windows, they just need more staff to man them...

LOL, it's so true...

I think the lads and lasses who work at the station do a cracking job sometimes under very trying conditions. How many people think the railways should be renationalised instead of the present set up.

I think the people who invested in Railtrack shares should be personally held accountable to plough money back into it.

Well Railtrack is no more, it's Network Rail... And unfortunetely, although railtrack owned Midland Station, it's MML who is appointed operator of the station, and it's them who decide what to do.

Greg

lol lol lol

Originally posted by t020
lol lol lol

Yeah sure, whatever, but it's true though ;) ;) ;)

Greg

I thought you lot being so net savvy would be buying tickets online (qjump.co.uk) and collecting from the Fasticket machine rather than queuing up to buy tickets from a real person! ;-)

By the way, noticed on Friday afternoon some idiot who clearly does not understand the concept of double yellow lines and also cannot follow signs had stopped their car somewhere stupid at the front of the station, gridlocking half of the city centre.

yes but in my experience manchester has better everything

Originally posted by Andy C
I thought you lot being so net savvy would be buying tickets online (qjump.co.uk) and collecting from the Fasticket machine rather than queuing up to buy tickets from a real person! ;-)

By the way, noticed on Friday afternoon some idiot who clearly does not understand the concept of double yellow lines and also cannot follow signs had stopped their car somewhere stupid at the front of the station, gridlocking half of the city centre.

I might be a net savvy (i have 5 websites to maintain), but if there is something i will not do is buy tickets online, coz that means ... card... And paying cash is kinda easier. And those machines are like... collecting dust, get rid of them, save money, and put more staff.

Greg

I ordered some tickets on Q-Jump for collection from the Fast Ticket machine, but it wouldn't give them to me, so I had to queue up for the ticket window anyway. Fortunatly the guy there was able to issue them from his computer, but it would have been easier if I'd not bothered pre-ordering.

Going to Newcastle on Monday with Virgin Trains. Wish me luck!