Was Their Any Plans To Build An Underground Train Network In The Past?

[GabrielC 53]

I know over the years Sheffield Council have come up with various public transport ideas some never built or built later on  .  But was their any ideas to build an underground train network perhaps not on the same scale as London but in a similar vein to Manchester's planned Metro service. Manchester did build one uncompleted station before scrapping the idea . When I think of the demolished Hole in the road it might have been an good starting point for a underground network  with it been right in the city centre. 

[Longcol 596]

Somehow I think the hills in Sheffield would have made an underground virtually impossible - how far underground would lines and stations for eg Crookes, Manor Top, Wooseats etc need to be?

[HeHasRisen 3,373]

59 minutes ago, Longcol said:

Somehow I think the hills in Sheffield would have made an underground virtually impossible - how far underground would lines and stations for eg Crookes, Manor Top, Wooseats etc need to be?

^^^^^this.  A total non starter.

 

Paris has a couple of stations for locations high up but half the network in Sheffield would need to be like this, not cost effective in the slightest.

[GabrielC 53]

1 hour ago, Longcol said:

Somehow I think the hills in Sheffield would have made an underground virtually impossible - how far underground would lines and stations for eg Crookes, Manor Top, Wooseats etc need to be?

The  only way around to build an underground with Sheffield's terrain would be deep level shafts in some cases very deep not impossible but would be costly depending on the route but some parts of London's underground go Overground ( street level and street level stations) then back into underground track.  A route could start from Dore and end at Meadowhall or further this could an mix of underground and overground track with stops for example at top end of London Road, Moor, Castle Square , Midland station - would require a deep shaft level tunnel ,Attercliffe Common , Meadowhall - open track. Woodseats and Manor Top  could be reached by tunnels. The main station could have been Castle Square with routes going from their depends on what is required and costs.

Edited April 28, 2021 by GabrielC

[HeHasRisen 3,373]

1 hour ago, GabrielC said:

I know over the years Sheffield Council have come up with various public transport ideas some never built or built later on  .  But was their any ideas to build an underground train network perhaps not on the same scale as London but in a similar vein to Manchester's planned Metro service. Manchester did build one uncompleted station before scrapping the idea . When I think of the demolished Hole in the road it might have been an good starting point for a underground network  with it been right in the city centre. 

Coming back to this....the only known plan in Manchester was the 1971 Picc-Vic tunnel proposal, by the old transport authority (SelNec), to link the main two train stations in Manchester by underground tunnel. There was never a plan for a surburban underground network as far as I know, can you provide a link?

 

In which case Sheffield did not need to copy this, as Sheffield didnt have two major railway stations in the city centre, Sheffield Victoria closed in the first few days of 1970.

Edited April 28, 2021 by HeHasRisen

[Annie Bynnol 612]

Britains' most successful Civil Engineer by any measure was Sheffields' Sir John Fowler.

Amongst the structures he designed, built and still being used is the first underground railway in the world-the London Metropolitan Railway designed to link three of London’s main line termini with the City.

 

[Jim Hardie 523]

5 hours ago, Longcol said:

Somehow I think the hills in Sheffield would have made an underground virtually impossible - how far underground would lines and stations for eg Crookes, Manor Top, Wooseats etc need to be?

That’s true, but there are other ways.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/3179062.stm

[Mr Bloke 1,445]

7 minutes ago, Jim Hardie said:

That’s true, but there are other ways.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/3179062.stm

Hmmm...

Quote

"A city council spokesman said any plan aimed at improving the transport system would be considered."

 

That article is dated October 2003...

 

... I think we should be getting a response from the council any day now!

[Jim Hardie 523]

4 minutes ago, Mr Bloke said:

Hmmm...

That article is dated October 2003...

 

... I think we should be getting a response from the council any day now!

Councillor Alf Meade - a man ahead of his time.

[athy 10]

1 hour ago, Annie Bynnol said:

Britains' most successful Civil Engineer by any measure was Sheffields' Sir John Fowler.

Amongst the structures he designed, built and still being used is the first underground railway in the world-the London Metropolitan Railway designed to link three of London’s main line termini with the City.

 

Yes, but the Met is shallow when it's underground (it's a cut-and-cover, not a tube) and the majority of it is above ground anyway. That wouldn't work in Sheffield. London's deepest tube station, Hampstead, is about 200 feet down; I should think that a Sheffield tube would need several stations of about that depth - difficult and expensive to build.

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by athy

[Lemmy117 15]

There was a plan to build some sort of railway in the late 19th century, the City and Suburban railway with a grand station in Fitzalan Square with a line out to Stannington with stations at Bramall Lane, Endcliffe, Fulwood, Stannington, returning via Malin Bridge/Walkley and Neepsend. There is an article on another Sheffield history site.

In the 1970's along with the Minitram proposal there was the idea for a loop line from Sheffield Midland to a station under the Town Hall.

 

Nigel L

 

[hillsbro 28]

1 hour ago, Lemmy117 said:

There was a plan to build some sort of railway in the late 19th century, the City and Suburban railway with a grand station in Fitzalan Square with a line out to Stannington with stations at Bramall Lane, Endcliffe, Fulwood, Stannington, returning via Malin Bridge/Walkley and Neepsend....

Yes, this was in 1899 - an article appeared in the "Sheffield and Rotherham Independent" of 3 June 1899. It's a long article but here is a link to a scan of the heading, a plan of the proposed route etc. More recently, I remember "The Star" publishing an article in the 1960s about a proposal for an underground "circle line" servng the central part of the city. It included an artist's impression of the entrance to "Fargate Station" etc., but nothing more was heard of it. https://ibb.co/8m94RYN

Edited April 28, 2021 by hillsbro
Speling... :-(