Sheffield Steam Sheds Article in Steam Day Magazine

[hillsbro 32]

Any steam railway buffs might like to see these photos of 45690 LEANDER at Carlisle on Tuesday 23 June..

[Person6 10]

At the risk of resurrecting an old thread, I would like to thank the various contributors for the memories.

 

I'll have to dig out my old Ian Allens! Sadly the most important and complete one, the Combined Volume for 1962, was lost in a house move in 1974. I have others, but not enough records to piece together those lost.

 

My "local" shed was Darnall and the first one I ever visited and Millhouses was the second. My dad, who was a railwayman, had told me of the demise of the steam locomotive and I didn't really believe him until I turned up at Millhouses shed one Sunday morning to find it occupied by a diesel shunter and a couple of wagons with not a steam engine in sight.

 

From then until August 1968 it became a manic dash to see everything steam before it all disappeared.

 

I owe a great debt to my neighbour Alan Dagnall, who was a little older than me, for introducing me to the thrills of "spotting". We started out locally at Darnall and on the wall at Bernard Road which gave a view of traffic through Victoria and Midland, before moving on to Doncaster, Crewe, Derby and all the other well documented centres of railway activity. Towards the end it became almost a morbid passtime as we sought out the scrapyards where steam was meeting its end. Still, great memories though.

[Runningman 148]

Why have I just spent an hour reading through this thread ??

 

Bit of railway related info.

Completed a couple of cycle rides recently, the last one being the Eroica vintage bike ride from Friden in Derbyshire with my youngest son.

Part of the course was down what was the Hopton Incline on the C&HPR

I commented to him that it was once the steepest worked incline by steam in the UK

 

Please confirm or otherwise !

 

You mean to say Dad that steam trains pulling wagons got up here !!

 

Couple of months ago I rode a mountain bike event from Fox Valley at Stocksbridge.

Part of the course was up the incline West of Worsborough.

No wonder they had a banker on the back of those coal trains !

[oldrowley 10]

Why have I just spent an hour reading through this thread ??

 

Bit of railway related info.

Completed a couple of cycle rides recently, the last one being the Eroica vintage bike ride from Friden in Derbyshire with my youngest son.

Part of the course was down what was the Hopton Incline on the C&HPR

I commented to him that it was once the steepest worked incline by steam in the UK

 

Please confirm or otherwise !

 

You mean to say Dad that steam trains pulling wagons got up here !!

 

Couple of months ago I rode a mountain bike event from Fox Valley at Stocksbridge.

Part of the course was up the incline West of Worsborough.

No wonder they had a banker on the back of those coal trains !

 

For Hopton Bank, have a look here Runningman. There are a few

[Runningman 148]

Evening oldrowley and thanks for that, pure nostalgia, I wish I had seen it for real situation.

The run up Hopton Incline was I presume the last day of working, judging by all those folks witnessing the occasion.

[Person6 10]

Why have I just spent an hour reading through this thread ??

 

Bit of railway related info.

Completed a couple of cycle rides recently, the last one being the Eroica vintage bike ride from Friden in Derbyshire with my youngest son.

Part of the course was down what was the Hopton Incline on the C&HPR

I commented to him that it was once the steepest worked incline by steam in the UK

 

Please confirm or otherwise !

 

You mean to say Dad that steam trains pulling wagons got up here !!

 

Couple of months ago I rode a mountain bike event from Fox Valley at Stocksbridge.

Part of the course was up the incline West of Worsborough.

No wonder they had a banker on the back of those coal trains !

 

Hopton at 1 in 14 was indeed the steepest adhesion (worked by normal locomotives) incline in the UK.

 

I visited the southern section of the C&HPR in 1964 on an enthusiasts trip - Don't remember who organised it but the ever present Charlie Foster was there. There were only about ten kids and a couple of adults on it though.

 

We got to see everything working on Cromford Wharfe and Sheep Pasture and went to Middleton Top but as far as I remember there was no railway activity that day.

[Runningman 148]

Hopton at 1 in 14 was indeed the steepest adhesion (worked by normal locomotives) incline in the UK.

 

I visited the southern section of the C&HPR in 1964 on an enthusiasts trip - Don't remember who organised it but the ever present Charlie Foster was there. There were only about ten kids and a couple of adults on it though.

 

We got to see everything working on Cromford Wharfe and Sheep Pasture and went to Middleton Top but as far as I remember there was no railway activity that day.

 

You lucky person !!

[Person6 10]

You lucky person !!

 

Even though I was very young I was aware by that time how lucky we were and how fast it was all changing. When I started spotting in 1959 I think there were around 14,000 steam locos and by early 1968 there were about 350 or so.

[athy 10]

1959? We may have met on the platform ends of Midland or Vicky stations, as my train-spotting career started about that time, though it reached its peak in 1961-62 with a couple of friends I made when I went to grammar school.

I remember, it must have been a couple of years later, one of the periodic proposals for a Channel Tunnel being in the news, and asking my Dad "But how will they get rid of all the smoke from the engines?"

[hillsbro 32]

...We started out locally at Darnall and on the wall at Bernard Road which gave a view of traffic through Victoria and Midland...

Hi Person6 - this view will be familiar to you, taken from the wall at Bernard Road. The bridge at the upper left carried Navigation Hill over the railways. The former City goods station can be seen at top centre of this photo; part of the goods line (closed in 1965) that served the City goods station can be seen at mid-level in the first photo. This photo shows the Supertram bridge which is more-or-less where Navigation Hill was. Here are two. photos showing the bridges more clearly.

[Person6 10]

Hi Person6 - this view will be familiar to you, taken from the wall at Bernard Road. The bridge at the upper left carried Navigation Hill over the railways. The former City goods station can be seen at top centre of this photo; part of the goods line (closed in 1965) that served the City goods station can be seen at mid-level in the first photo. This photo shows the Supertram bridge which is more-or-less where Navigation Hill was. Here are two. photos showing the bridges more clearly.

 

Thanks hillsbro

Yes, all very familiar. I have a picture somewhere, taken by Keith Pirt I think, which is taken from somewhere at a lower level than Bernard Road. In the top right of the picture the spotters can be seen silhouetted on the wall. I'll dig it out over the next couple of days and post it. I didn't have a camera then unfortunately, and much to my regret now. I have a few pictures taken in later years but none of them of the locations and events I would like to know about now. I live in hope that someone will turn up with pictures of things I remember happening but only have memories of.

 

---------- Post added 09-07-2017 at 18:30 ----------

 

1959? We may have met on the platform ends of Midland or Vicky stations, as my train-spotting career started about that time, though it reached its peak in 1961-62 with a couple of friends I made when I went to grammar school.

I remember, it must have been a couple of years later, one of the periodic proposals for a Channel Tunnel being in the news, and asking my Dad "But how will they get rid of all the smoke from the engines?"

 

Our paths probably crossed at some time but I was the youngest of the group I knocked around with and would probably have been ignored by many of the enthusiasts we came into contact with. I was around eight at the time and my friends were all eleven or so.

[ALAN 58 10]

Hi Person6 - this view will be familiar to you, taken from the wall at Bernard Road. The bridge at the upper left carried Navigation Hill over the railways. The former City goods station can be seen at top centre of this photo; part of the goods line (closed in 1965) that served the City goods station can be seen at mid-level in the first photo. This photo shows the Supertram bridge which is more-or-less where Navigation Hill was. Here are two. photos showing the bridges more clearly.

Thats where i started my train spotting, i only lived down road opposite Durham Ox pub.