Trains at: Sheffield, MML, 15/10/22
269A very enjoyable and very cold afternoons session spent at Sheffield on the Midland Mainline where we see plenty of services from Northern, Transpennine Express, Cross Country, East Midlands Railway and freight from Freightliner.
Sheffield station was opened in 1870 by the Midland Railway, the design of the station was put down to the architect John Holloway Sanders. This particular station was the fifth to be built in the city and subsequently the last one at that.
The station wasn't given an easy birth as it was built on what was known as the 'new line'. The reason it was called the new line was because this route would run in between Grimesthorpe Junction and Tapton Junction, the former being on the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway and the latter junction located north of Chesterfield. This route replaced what was called the 'old road' which worked its way from Sheffield Wicker to Rotherham which would ultimately connect to London.
Now the controversy came from the Duke of Norfolk who was the land owner where the line would try and pass through. He didn't want the line to be seen as he thought it would be a blight on the landscape, so he insisted that if the line was to go ahead then the designers would need to construct a tunnel which they eventually had to do if they wanted to complete the railway on time. This only remained in place for a number of years as eventually the tunnel was cut out to create a cutting which is now the current approach to the station. But once again this also brought with it another issue, a group known as the Sheffield Corporation put their hat into the ring by raising concerns that the eastern side of the city would be cut off from the centre of the town. So to sort out this issue they then had to install a footbridge leading over the station so that both halfs of the town were connected. That bring still stands to this day and oddly enough it was the bridge I was standing under whilst filming.
The station has gone through so many upgrades during its life with the introduction of newer trains, when the class 45 and 46 diesel locomotives were brought in a new engine shed was built to store them. However this was demolished when these engines were eventually retired. Of course more platforms were built, bay platforms were added to increase capacity. And again when East Midlands Trains started operating services the station was redesigned again to meet the capacity that was inevitably going to come, in turn this also brought the Sheffield Tram System up to modern standards with a tram station adjacent to the main station.
My next station will be Market Harborough.
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