Sheffield Steam Sheds Article in Steam Day Magazine

[CHAIRBOY 10]

Amazing! I spent six of the seven weeks summer holiday of 1980 in West Germany and sorry, trumped you! I had a nine-day and then a sixteen-day DB railcard, both first-class, it was such good value as you say. It also gave you half-price on the boats Am Bodensee. I planned it such there was a gap betwen them when I was based in a large city, eg Munich. I think I got my money's worth on the Hamburg to Munich journey. I was familiar with Das Rheingold and certainly travelled on "Albrecht Durer" - a Nuremburg train.

In 1981 I bought the 28-day, first-class, Nord-Rail pass which took me all over Scandinavia and on boats. I went for six weeks and extended the pass by going to Denmark and paying for that bit of travel to Odense and Aarhus. I'd planned to miss the Royal wedding but the Danish TV seemed very interested?

The girls at Woodcocks, then on Fulwood Road, let me have an expired Thomas Cook European timetable guide for which I was extremely grateful. It was indispensible, and once again, an educational exercise in forward planning.

As for the smoke.... most welcome on cold days as you snook up to an engine for a warm to generate life into frost-bitten fingers. The braziers on platforms were also welcome.

A further beautiful journey is the Oslo to Bergen rail line - beautiful. Unfortunately, I went west on the midnight sleeper and had a boil in my ear on the return trip.

Often wondered how snow poses them few problems yet any adverse conditions here and it's mayhem?

[hillsbro 28]

Well, of course, the problem on our railways is that it's always the wrong kind of snow. And whenever the mercury falles below zero, or we have more than an inch of rain, or those dreaded sycamore trees are shedding their leaves, our trains seem to grind to a halt.

The German "Tourenkarte" also allowed cut-price travel to Berlin, with a free city tour thrown in, and so in 1981 my friend and I had a view of The Wall.

Rail-rover tickets in Britain seem to be a thing of the past, but they were good value. I had a 7-day ticket in 1978, and apart from using sleepers to go to Penzance and Inverness, and on one of the days taking the Royal Scot from London to Glasgow and the Flying Scotsman back, I even paid a bit more and went to Ireland. I took the sleeper from Euston to Stranraer, then the morning boat to Larne and on by train to Belfast. Then it was the Enterprise Express to Dublin, an evening boat train to Dun Laoghaire, steamer to Holyhead and another sleeper back to Euston. I must have been mad. I've also had rail-rover equivalents in France, Hungary and Finland. Hungary in 1983 still had steam-hauled passenger trains on some branches (such as Vámosgyörk to Gyöngyös) but by 1990 the lines had been electrified. The Finnish ticket took my friend and me just north of the Arctic Circle at Kemijärvi, and as it was June (1988 ) we saw the midnight sun. The Cook's European Timetable was invaluable (as was their Overseas Timetable for outside Europe).

And this love of travelling, especially by rail, was partially inspired decades ago by standing on Sheffield's Victoria or Midland stations, bunking Millhouses or Darnall shed and poring over those Ian Allan books. Ian Allan himself was still going strong, the last I heard. Some years ago I sent him a 70th birthday card and got a nice postcard back (with a picture of a fine loco, of course).

[CHAIRBOY 10]

Yes, I did the East Berlin - Severin & Kuhns - coach trip. Far from memorable apart from talking to a couple of Dutch lads on the trip. Passports checked, handed back in an ungracious manner -taken to the Russian cemetery, the Pergammon Museum and a cafe to exchange one's DMarks at a derisory rate (scam)!

My Finnish travel was included in the NordRail pass but felt a long way from home. Although I have knowledge of Germanic languages

(Swedish), Finnish is something else. Three days in Helsinki, two in Tampere and then I headed for Vaasa to the boat for Umea. From there, I headed north, stayed at Gallivare and then made it to Narvik. Decided to thumb and hit lucky - a lift from Narvik in a Golf to the Youth Hostel in Trondheim with an Oslo guy who even paid for two short ferries - no strings! From Trondheim, a long journey by train for more Stockholm before the Oslo-Bergen part.

I still have my Ian Allen metal badge - circular with a red ring round a silver centre (loco). I'm trying to think of Sheffield-related trips but think I have exhausted them.

When you mentioned Dogdyke, weren't Torksey and Tattersalls also in that fishing vicinity?

With sheds, roundhouses were easier to collect numbers from the centre but you were well exposed. Old Oak Common had four massive roundhouses. Millhouses - we usually entered round the back but the obvious door was just that - and when something special eg Clan, was there, it was thronged with spotters and a keen foreman!

I was chased out of two sheds Tyseley and Stirling but ran like billy and got on a nearby train at the station.

[hillsbro 28]

Your travels in Scandinavia sound tempting - my brother and his wife go to Sweden every year and always enjoy their holidays there. Berlin has certainly changed since the early 1980s; I was there again in 1999 and there was no comparison. After several trips to Finland I can get by, or bluff my way in the (highly inflected) language. I am fairly fluent in German, thanks to innumerable visits there (my godfather was a p.o.w. in Lodge Moor camp!)

The article in "Steam Days" that began this thread is excellent. It could perhaps be extended to cover, say, Barrow Hill and Canklow, for the benefit of old timers like us. Neepsend shed was before my time. Honest it was. I hadn't realised that Grimesthorpe shed dates from 1860, or that Darnall was only built 20-odd years before I first sneaked round it. The author of the article clearly isn't local - he refers to the old Wicker station being near "Pital Hill" and falls for the common mis-spelling "Eccleshall".

I always remember Dogdyke station because, after it closed in c. 1962, the station porter's maroon-painted wooden barrow found its way to Sheffield Midland where it remained in use for some years - the words "Dogdyke Station, E.R." hand-lettered in yellow on the handle. Dogdyke station was indeed near Tattersall on the Lincoln-Boston line; Woodhall Junction was where the line diverged from the Lincoln-Firsby-Skegness route. Torksey (another location popular with fishermen) was on the long-abandoned direct route between Retford and Lincoln.

I bunked Old Oak Common shortly before I gave up trainspotting in 1966, but I had forgotten the roundhouses. I think Willesden shed was very near; the information on how to get there having come from my trusty shed directory...

[CHAIRBOY 10]

Old Oak Common V Willesden? Old Oak Common serves Paddington - you'll remember Ladbroke Grove etc - the line which goes out west to Reading. Willesden isn't far away but going from Marylebone turns right northbound to Wembley and Amersham etc.

"Eccleshall" was mis-spelt on Multi-map - don't know if it has been amended since I told them? I like books to be accurate or I soon become uneasy with what to believe.

I wasn't around in the war but spent three months in Lodge Moor hospital in 1993 following a medical blunder and am now in a wheelchair. There are some positives but the thing I miss most are my trips to the Netherlands which were based on an NS Kaart and hopping from train to tram to bus and metro!

I've been back through Schiphol but only once to visit friends. The IC trains have steep steps and you have to log 24 hours notice which is very restrictive. Stockholm is easy for me, fly to Arlanda, airport train into Central Station and then a lift up to the hotel from out of the station. Stockholm is my favourite destination. I've never heard anyone not liking Cape Town but I am under review for skin cancer and have a snake phobia!

[hillsbro 28]

Well, I'm sure that Old Oak Common and Willesden sheds weren't too far apart. I'll have a look in my shed directory when I'm "home" tomorrow, but I remember taking the tube to Willesden Junction station, and then walking to both sheds. The lines out of Euston and Paddington run westwards, parallel with each other and about half a mile apart, just north of Wormwood Scrubs. I am not quite sure where the sheds were, but "Old Oak Lane" is nearby. Anyway I'll check tomorrow.

My wife's mother also spent some time in Lodge Moor hospital following a medical blunder (undiagnosed broken neck in an RTA) and was then wheelchair-bound. A sad story all round.

Train to tram to bus etc. sounds a bit like Germany (though the ticket rules and regulations were worked out with Teutonic attention to detail, and can be quite inscrutable). Maybe in Sheffield we'll eventually have one ticket for all the buses and trams - or maybe that's hoping for too much. Anyway I get my bus pass in April...

I think that better use could be made of some of Sheffield's closed or neglected railways. Apart from a possible Supertram line to Dore & Totley (using the full width of the trackbed, as it used to be), maybe one day they will revive (for trains or trams) the old line through Neepsend to Wadsley Bridge etc. They have been talking about a renewed Woodhead route (using the perfectly good tunnel) but otherwise a Supertram line to the northwest suburbs seems a good idea.

I wish I'd had a camera when bunking Millhouses shed, but I have seen some fine photos taken by others, and there are some good ones in the Steam Days article and other printed sources.

Your comment "I like books to be accurate" strikes a chord with me. In 1986 I was advising on a Trans-Siberian travel guide. I told them that the loco scrapyard given as being at Elansk was actually hundreds of miles away at Ilansk. Despite several reminders the error was repeated in as many editions. I can just imagine enthusiasts peering into the virgin forest near Elansk.

I don't exactly have a snake phobia but I told my friend to be careful as he was poking (with a short stick) and photographing a pretty snake we found in a country road in South Africa. It turned out to be a puff adder...

[CHAIRBOY 10]

Regarding the bus passes in April, I've had clarification from Nick Clegg and a man from SPTE that Sheffield's rules will apply in April ie 9am all day, rather than the proposed 9.30am to 11pm elsewhere. For disabled pass holders - all day. I had feared moving one step forward and then two back!

[hillsbro 28]

Thanks for this. I will turn up at the appropriate office on 6 April with my birth certificate, mugshot etc. In fact (as I will begrudge paying £1.70 to get into town on my 60th birthday) I might walk down to the Hillsborough office...

In the days when bus fares were 10p or less (in 1986 they trebled overnight) a bus pass wasn't so much of a perk. But now the 61 year-old Mrs hillsbro and I will be making good use of buses and trams when we are in Sheffield. Her ticket is Lincolnshire-based, but of course from April we'll be able to use the tickets anywhere. In fact, with a bit of determined local-bus timetable work, we might manage to go in short stages to visit our friends in Devon on the cheap...

[mikeG 16]

By Gum. I can't beat you pair but I did train spot at Dore and Totley cutting in the late 50's. Jubes and Derbyshire Yeomanry the best you could get, I think. Spent some Saturdays on Leeds City with Clans and Scots added to the usual tally. Other Sats at Manchester London Road. Two trips to Crewe. Summer holidays at my grandparents in Sandy Cove, just outside Rhyl on the Towyn side. August Bank Holiday Saturdays saw an amazing number of specials to Llandudno from Bradford, Manchester, Birmingham. Got the occasional B1 and a few stray Jubes, Scots, Pats and Brits. A great era.

[CHAIRBOY 10]

Hi Mike, Whatever the scale, they are fond memories to you and sure you'll agree with Hillsbro's summation of what a useful hobby it was, contrary to popular belief.

I remember wth Sheffield LSC going on a Sunday trip and 'doing' Wrexham and Croes Newydd sheds, almost certainly Chester as well, that must have been about 45 years ago.

More recently, we fly regularly to Dublin but a few years ago - when the Holyhead-Dublin boat service was launched, I won a competition (dubious pleasure) because the train was a journey from hell in both directions after Manchester.

Two happier memories were that we went through Llan...........goch? Secondly, and I have genuinely forgotten the name of the bridge with those large stone lions at the entrance?

I'll let you remind me but it was one often seen in TI pictures with the 'mail' train crossing it - very imposing. I seem to recall Lord Rowallan being one such engine? I was very pleased as it struck me at the time - you may think I've been everywhere but I hadn't been over that before and now I have, many years on from those halcyon days of steam!

[hillsbro 28]

Yes indeed, CHAIRBOY, it's nice to hear from MikeG. Dore and Totley was a good place for spotting, and you could play an impromptu game of football on the piece of scrubland within the triangle, while keeping an eye on both main lines.

I never went to Leeds before the "Scots" began to run through Sheffield, but I remember my older brother telling me about copping Scots and Clans there. When the Scots began to be displaced by diesels on the West Coast main line etc., we used to see them in Sheffield, and the "Steam Days" article confirms that five Scots were allocated to Millhouses during 1961, the last year when the shed was open.

I can imagine the variety of locos. that would find their way to Llandudno in summer, likewise Blackpool. Occasionally, these summer excursions would have unusual motive power such as the odd 9F. A great era, as you say, and a useful hobby. It was many years after I began to wear long trousers that I realised how character-forming an interest in railways could be - bringing out qualities of honesty, a sense of adventure, discipline, teenage self-sufficiency when travelling, record-keeping etc.

CHAIRBOY - it's the Britannia Bridge, across the Menai Strait, that has the stone lions guarding each end. And yes - the Irish Mail was a crack express. I would see it when spotting at Crewe, and the "Brit" No 70045 Lord Rowallan often pulled it - here's a photo http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/6gparttwo/coltas004fin.jpg. And that station in Anglesey with the long name is Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. I still have one of the (long) 3d. platform tickets, and the ability to say the name of the place is my Welsh "party piece"...

[CHAIRBOY 10]

Thank you, Britannia Bridge, how appropriate that a 'Brit' should be at the head! I couldn't get Royal Border Bridge out of my head, which I well know that whereabouts, especially when Berwick has been at the forefront of discussions this week. I trust they aren't the stone lions from the City Hall? To your list of admirable qualities, I think photography skills could be added as an attribute for learning?

I had forgotten Mold Junction from the North Wales trip and I'm sure the package also involved Birkenhead (GWR).

Talking of the "Combined" annual, there was always a picture of a means of transport that served Immingham Docks - a tram I believe? I saw the pictures but never witnessed it live. Why would that qualify in the locomotive annual?