Darnall trainspotter

[RobertDSmith 10]

Thanks for that Hills, that might have been taken even before my time !

But what an up-market signal box ! with a bay window ! I expect it's still there.

I would love to trace my old pal Derek Hughes with whom I covered the country and spent days on the Crewe footbridge. It's very sad, there's no guarantee they are still alive.

I did make a start converting my old slides to digi' but ran out of steam, no pun intended.

You may just smile, on my first date with my wife of 56 years, I took her on a bus to Toton engine sheds. Well it was a big depot !!

Needless to say she has'nt let me forget it !

Bob.

[elenac 10]

There are no trace of any buildings at this location now, all signalling is controlled from Sheffield.

Edited November 20, 2009 by elenac

[terry457 10]

i spent many a day at st james bridge doncaster with dave burgin and roy maskery, i lived near darnall station so i was brought up with the sound of trains. the master cutler, the south yorkshireman and the boat train veiwed from acres hill bridge,if you wanted to see the elete we had to go donny or if we wanted to go further afield york was a great day out. ive still got ian allens combined volume from 1957 it cost me a paper round price 10/6. 60162 st johnstoun was the only A1 not underlined in my book, i wonder how many of these books are about, ive seen one on display at york railway museum,we didnt get many streaks at darnall, sometimes very rareley we would see one in darnall sheds, i can still smell the age of the steamtrain.

 

Can you remember when the boat train stopped running through Darnall ?

[hillsbro 28]

Can you remember when the boat train stopped running through Darnall ?

It would have been in the mid-1960s with the run-down of Victoria Station. For a few years the electric services to Manchester continued from Victoria, until the last one ran in January 1970.

[stephen peace 1]

Hi I was a avid trainspotter and visited both the Ssheffield stations but Victoris was my favourite as I traveled with my dad on the fishing excursion trains passing through DarnalI. I lived on the Shiregreen estate and regularly in the school dinner hour cycled down to Grange Lane to watch the goods engine running round its train on its way to Droppinwell Colliery. I also remember getting on day excursion trains from this location and getting back very late at night. My further school years was spent bunking off the cross country run from school every Wed to go down to Wooley Woods to see the the Thames Clyde express with Scot or Jubilee on just could not hang on for the Waverley.I started my carreer (short one) has a signal lad at Sheffield Midland South 1 and the moved to Brightside Junc in 62 . You could see all sorts of locos there even a few N E Pacifics on Troop or Pigeon Specials. I was allowed (signalman allowed not BR) to work the box while the signalman  snoozed I grew up very quickly, and while on nights always was aware that the stationmaster might pay a visit and he could see me before I could see him. I  had to report to control down at the old the Westgate Station Rotherham  they got used to me giving them every detail including the engine no, I  had to tell them also if we had checked the express passenger trains and explain why .During this stay I was sent to Darnall Station Box as a relief for a short while and I was not welcome being from the Midland the words went someting like this (I think you better get back to the LMS sharp)but I remember that in the early hours of the morning there was a different Pacific on the shed every day it must have come in on a parcels from the NE. Note this box was busy and only the very busiest boxes were allowed a lad. I had relations living near Woodhouse  station and Uncle said you could set your clocks to the Master Cutler Train as it clattered over the iron bridge. After leaving the railway (Beeching and no prosects )I found myself living at the side of the line at Woodhouse and can remember painting the eves of the house regularly I suppose so I could get a better view to the top of the bank where a train of wagons would come along in the afternoon probably from Toton over the LMS  with one of the rare to us named original Peak diesels in charge.

[Padders 2,850]

9 hours ago, stephen peace said:

Hi I was a avid trainspotter and visited both the Ssheffield stations but Victoris was my favourite as I traveled with my dad on the fishing excursion trains passing through DarnalI. I lived on the Shiregreen estate and regularly in the school dinner hour cycled down to Grange Lane to watch the goods engine running round its train on its way to Droppinwell Colliery. I also remember getting on day excursion trains from this location and getting back very late at night. My further school years was spent bunking off the cross country run from school every Wed to go down to Wooley Woods to see the the Thames Clyde express with Scot or Jubilee on just could not hang on for the Waverley.I started my carreer (short one) has a signal lad at Sheffield Midland South 1 and the moved to Brightside Junc in 62 . You could see all sorts of locos there even a few N E Pacifics on Troop or Pigeon Specials. I was allowed (signalman allowed not BR) to work the box while the signalman  snoozed I grew up very quickly, and while on nights always was aware that the stationmaster might pay a visit and he could see me before I could see him. I  had to report to control down at the old the Westgate Station Rotherham  they got used to me giving them every detail including the engine no, I  had to tell them also if we had checked the express passenger trains and explain why .During this stay I was sent to Darnall Station Box as a relief for a short while and I was not welcome being from the Midland the words went someting like this (I think you better get back to the LMS sharp)but I remember that in the early hours of the morning there was a different Pacific on the shed every day it must have come in on a parcels from the NE. Note this box was busy and only the very busiest boxes were allowed a lad. I had relations living near Woodhouse  station and Uncle said you could set your clocks to the Master Cutler Train as it clattered over the iron bridge. After leaving the railway (Beeching and no prosects )I found myself living at the side of the line at Woodhouse and can remember painting the eves of the house regularly I suppose so I could get a better view to the top of the bank where a train of wagons would come along in the afternoon probably from Toton over the LMS  with one of the rare to us named original Peak diesels in charge.

Ah, what memories … 

I lived on Woolley Wood Rd, and remember vividly the Thames Clyde express.. we used to sit and wait at the bottom of the field 3-30pm , you could hear it thundering down the track well before it appeared.. it came from Chapeltown/Ecclesfield  heading to Sheffield.. If my memory serves me right it was never late.

[Person6 10]

Fond memories of Darnall shed. My dad took me on my first visit in 1959. It was the first time he took me anywhere unaccompanied by my mother so we took a trip round the shed rather than the park or anywhere else sensible.

He worked for British Railways and was based at Grimesthorpe at the time so it was reasonably legit, and over following years I took it that I had inherited free roaming rights. I have a photo to remember the day by, it's not of me but of a K2 on the scrapline.

I could see the pall of smoke hanging over the shed from my bedroom window in the early mornings so it was always lurking as a seductive presence whatever else I was doing. I spent a lot of time hanging around there and became a full-on railway enthusiast as a result. I started collecting numbers along with my mates and playing on the dead engines- J11's, N5's and K2s early on all the while being schooled by older lads on the why, wherefore, rules- written and unwritten of the trainspotting world. It wasn't a glamorous shed and all of it's loco's had the 'camel**** and sand' darnall livery but it would throw up regular surprises such as 60100 Spearmint one weekday in the early sixties. It stood out like a sore thumb on the eastern end of the shed all gleaming and clean. I don't know what it was doing there but a few days later it was in Doncaster Works yard looking very sorry for itself.

I enjoyed every minute even when  breaking my arm falling off one of the retaining walls of Kettle Bridge and I always regarded Darnall as my 'home' shed after moving away and being near other more prestigious sheds.

Edited July 8, 2019 by Person6

[hillsbro 28]

Oh - the memories! Especially the Thames-Clyde Express: eleven coaches with full dining car, pulled by a top-link "Jubilee" and then, after about 1960, a "Scot" which we rarely saw in Sheffield before then.  In steam days the Master Cutler was pulled by an A3; I remember going to London in 1957 behind 60102 Sir Frederick Banbury. Here is the Thames-Clyde Express in born-again form at Carlisle in August 2017. https://i.postimg.cc/qMB4nx21/Newcastle-2017-014-Carlisle.jpg

[Padders 2,850]

1 hour ago, hillsbro said:

Oh - the memories! Especially the Thames-Clyde Express: eleven coaches with full dining car, pulled by a top-link "Jubilee" and then, after about 1960, a "Scot" which we rarely saw in Sheffield before then.  In steam days the Master Cutler was pulled by an A3; I remember going to London in 1957 behind 60102 Sir Frederick Banbury. Here is the Thames-Clyde Express in born-again form at Carlisle in August 2017. https://i.postimg.cc/qMB4nx21/Newcastle-2017-014-Carlisle.jpg

What a beast .

[Dreb48 35]

2 hours ago, Person6 said:

Fond memories of Darnall shed. My dad took me on my first visit in 1959. It was the first time he took me anywhere unaccompanied by my mother so we took a trip round the shed rather than the park or anywhere else sensible.

He worked for British Railways and was based at Grimesthorpe at the time so it was reasonably legit, and over following years I took it that I had inherited free roaming rights. I have a photo to remember the day by, it's not of me but of a K2 on the scrapline.

I could see the pall of smoke hanging over the shed from my bedroom window in the early mornings so it was always lurking as a seductive presence whatever else I was doing. I spent a lot of time hanging around there and became a full-on railway enthusiast as a result. I started collecting numbers along with my mates and playing on the dead engines- J11's, N5's and K2s early on all the while being schooled by older lads on the why, wherefore, rules- written and unwritten of the trainspotting world. It wasn't a glamorous shed and all of it's loco's had the 'camel**** and sand' darnall livery but it would throw up regular surprises such as 60100 Spearmint one weekday in the early sixties. It stood out like a sore thumb on the eastern end of the shed all gleaming and clean. I don't know what it was doing there but a few days later it was in Doncaster Works yard looking very sorry for itself.

I enjoyed every minute even when  breaking my arm falling off one of the retaining walls of Kettle Bridge and I always regarded Darnall as my 'home' shed after moving away and being near other more prestigious sheds.

I used to cycle from Totley to Darnall to go ‘unofficially ‘ round the sheds. 

Millhouses was my local but you got a different class of engine at Darnall and was always worth the trip.

Coincidentally my uncle worked as a driver at Grimesthorpe around the same time as your dad was there.

He worked LMS.

I used to spot mostly at Dore and Totley cutting and often he’d wave to me from an engine coming ‘ down London’

I had 5 minutes of fame on each occasion.

 

[darylslinn 10]

These are great memories, reading through this thread you can almost smell the steam and hear the thundering of the engines.

I wish sometimes I was older and were able to have witnessed these times.

My railway enthusiast days stem from my dad buying me a Combined Volume in 1977 and i've been hooked ever since being brought up on the demise of the Woodhead route for the DC electrics, Tinsley shed (RIP) and the plant at Donny.

No trip to Asda at Orgreave with my parents would be complete without going down to the bottom car park to see what 76's were stabled there.

School lunchtimes bunking out and on to the railway bridge on Archer Road to catch the 40 on the Earles Cement train.
A different era to what everyone else has mentioned but both eras loved for what was on the rails.

[terry457 10]

On 01/10/2009 at 20:20, closer 88 said:

i spent many a day at st james bridge doncaster with dave burgin and roy maskery, i lived near darnall station so i was brought up with the sound of trains. the master cutler, the south yorkshireman and the boat train veiwed from acres hill bridge,if you wanted to see the elete we had to go donny or if we wanted to go further afield york was a great day out. ive still got ian allens combined volume from 1957 it cost me a paper round price 10/6. 60162 st johnstoun was the only A1 not underlined in my book, i wonder how many of these books are about, ive seen one on display at york railway museum,we didnt get many streaks at darnall, sometimes very rareley we would see one in darnall sheds, i can still smell the age of the steamtrain.

 

Where in a Darnall did you live ? I loved going to Donny 1/10 apenny  return