Did Anyone Travel From Sheffield Victoria Station ?

[Voldy]

Yes hillsbro, it was quite a journey when I travelled from Sheffield Victoria to Southampton Central in 1952 on the train you describe.

 

As I recall there was a change of loco at Banbury where we passed the 'Down' SR green coach set. Can't remember the journey time though I thought it was about the same as routing via London on the fastest available expresses; but without the fag of crossing the City. Typical Sheffield - London (St Pancras) time was 4 hours then.

 

Last time I used Sheffield Victoria was in June 1962 on the speedy electric service to Manchester - happy days!

[hillsbro]

Hi Voldy - yes, happy days indeed! And it was a sad day on 4 January 1970 when the last electric train left Sheffield Victoria for Manchester. I was there on Platform 3 with a hundred or so other people to see it off. Sixteen years earlier, I can just remember the last steam-hauled trains that went via the Woodhead line in 1954, and I made many journeys to Manchester in the 1960s, so I suppose I remember the whole "lifetime" of the 1500v DC electric passenger service (it was really designed for the Transpennine coal traffic, and freight services continued until 1981).

[flightliner]

Used the anglers express from the late fifties till the mid sixties , some very happy journies outbound and always sad coming home to face work on monday mornings.

Sometimes the older guys used to have maggot races in the condensation groove on the window cill, starting in the centre the first to drop down the weephole at either end was the winner:loopy:.

Beeching had a lot to answer for.

[hillsbro]

Hi flightliner - the list of station on this handbill might bring back some memories..

[PeterR]

Hi flightliner - the list of station on this handbill might bring back some memories..

 

Hi Hillsbro,

 

Your post has brought some memories back, albeit recent ones.

 

My wife and I lived at Gateford Toll Bar near Shireoaks Station for 12 years up to moving to North Yorkshire/Richmondshire on the border with County Durham 4 years ago, where we still are.

We sometimes walked the ten minutes to Shireoaks Station and took the train to Sheffield for a change. We would alight at Midland Station then of course after passing through the stations on your handbill pic. Nice to see a different world pass by. Wish it was by steam though.

 

Peter.

Edited September 24, 2015 by PeterR

[hillsbro]

Hi PeteR - yes, Shireoaks station survived Beeching, perhaps against the odds, and still has an hourly daytime service to Sheffield and Lincoln, and the occasional through train to Hull and Scunthorpe. Here is a 1950s view of the station. We had relatives in Lincoln and I well remember in the 1950s travelling from Sheffield Victoria, often being pulled by a B1 4-6-0 and taking the direct route between Retford and Lincoln via Torksey. This was before the Lincoln trains began to go via Gainsborough. The direct line closed in 1959 but Torksey Bridge over the Trent is apparently still intact. .

[PeterR]

Hi PeteR - yes, Shireoaks station survived Beeching, perhaps against the odds, and still has an hourly daytime service to Sheffield and Lincoln, and the occasional through train to Hull and Scunthorpe. Here is a 1950s view of the station. We had relatives in Lincoln and I well remember in the 1950s travelling from Sheffield Victoria, often being pulled by a B1 4-6-0 and taking the direct route between Retford and Lincoln via Torksey. This was before the Lincoln trains began to go via Gainsborough. The direct line closed in 1959 but Torksey Bridge over the Trent is apparently still intact. .

 

Thanks for that Hillsbro.

 

The Shireoaks pic faces Sheffield as I'm sure you are aware. The footbridge from where the photo was taken has gone. Behind the photographer still exists the old small waiting shelter. What was the old Station Hotel is around the corner. Then the signal box right of track, then the level crossing. Beyond that is what my wife, who was brought up in the area, tells me is what was the Stationmasters house.

The building on the right of pic still exists, along with beautiful wooden facia, except for the tall block on the far end, and there is new housing just beyond and set back to the right of it.

The prefabs on left of pic and the other two buildings left off track are gone.

 

Peter.

Edited September 24, 2015 by PeterR

[gomgeg]

Do you remember the Victoria Hotel, I presume it's gone now, ( I don't get down that way ) I'm sure it was there that I went to pick someone up from a do one night. I wandered round looking for the room they were supposed to be in, opened a door and the room was full of blokes making and throwing paper planes. Next day at work nobody would believe me until somebody else said such clubs did exist.

[PeterR]

Do you remember the Victoria Hotel, I presume it's gone now, ( I don't get down that way ) I'm sure it was there that I went to pick someone up from a do one night. I wandered round looking for the room they were supposed to be in, opened a door and the room was full of blokes making and throwing paper planes. Next day at work nobody would believe me until somebody else said such clubs did exist.

 

I don't recall another hotel in Shireoaks, but am not very familiar with the village. Could the station you are thinking about be a couple of minutes further along at Worksop? I think there is a Victoria Hotel 5 mins walk from there.

Edited September 25, 2015 by PeterR

[1789a]

Do you remember the Victoria Hotel, I presume it's gone now, ( I don't get down that way ) I'm sure it was there that I went to pick someone up from a do one night. I wandered round looking for the room they were supposed to be in, opened a door and the room was full of blokes making and throwing paper planes. Next day at work nobody would believe me until somebody else said such clubs did exist.

 

I presume you mean the Royal Victoria in Sheffield?

 

In the late 70's or early 80's when living away from Sheffield I was sent on a management training course held at the Royal Victoria. I was most surprised to still find it full of railway references e.g. the wallpaper on the ground floor had as a motif the Great Central Railway coat of arms and the function rooms were named after stations on, I believe the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway e.g. Grimsby. I may be wrong and they could just as well have been Great Central stations.

Edited September 25, 2015 by 1789a
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