Tram/Train ride, Tinsley Meadowhall to Parkgate - 114506

* A 115Mby MP4 phone video lasting 7m 22secs.
* NB: As this is longer than the fixed 3 minute viewing in the Flickr interface, the Video must be downloaded to the desktop to see the full length.
* Right-click on the down-arrow option, the last of the three options to the lower right of the video frame. Select 'Save-As' and view..

** It has come to my notice (10/12/23) that the Download option below and to the right of the media _does not_ allow you to download the full version, only the 3 minutes available here. So, this is the link to obtain the full version shown here-
www.flickr.tightfitz.com/Video/TTV-conv.mp4

A day out, as it unfolded, with a trip from one end of the Sheffield Tram Network, to the other, via a change at Sheffield Cathedral from the Yellow route Supertram from Middlewood, to the Tram/Train stop at Parkgate. Its a shame there isn't an hourly service, say, running from the northern end of the network at Middlewood, to Parkgate, I'm sure folk would find this useful as there's a bus service from the Fox Valley retail area at Stocksbridge, to Middlewood; shopping nirvana eh...
The 1st video was taken on October 25th, 2018, almost 6 years ago, during the inaugural run of the very first public service, though sadly, that was only from the Parkgate Tram stop to around the Magna area... see-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/43734103310/

Today this run was more in the way of an exploratory run, noting the features and particularly the new signals on the route, all signals now under control of the York R.O.C., though the signal prefixes remain as they were at the beginning with 'S' for the Sheffield P.S.B., even though that mean the 'Sheffield Panel', at York. The 'W' prefix at 5 of the signals, once under control from Woodburn Junction, has now followed suit with control transferring to York on a separate 'Panel' after the Lincoln Line box and infra-structure remodelling a few years ago. The signals are a mix of the old dual back-panel format but now with only a single head, whilst the newer ones are single head with both types being 3-aspect, R, Y & Green, variety. This is a list of the signals passed, outward-
* MS04 Tinsley Meadowhall and theatre indication for line ahead onto the National Rail Network
* W210 Tinsley Meadowhall 'starter'
* W204 At bridge under Blackburn Meadows Way
* W202 West of Magna with O2 pipe along left
* Bessemer Road bridge
* Pass under Midland's 'Old Road, with GBRf 66780 passing over top
* S748 Booths Scrapyard and Ickles signal near canal
Holmes Chord connection
* S746 Rotherham Cental exit
* S744 Parkgate, signal just before Rotherham Road bridge
and return-
* S743 exit signal at Parkgate Tram stop
* S751 signal just bore Magna near River Don bridge
* W203 this signal, not in use, has a 'X' over front, is for the exit from the old Down
Sidings at Magna. The back of it is visible in the video(at 2m28s in). It may well see
action once more when the new Tram/Train stop at Magna is built...
* W201 last signal on double-track section back onto Supertram, metals at Tinsel Meadowhall

Of note on the journey, after exit from the Supertram network at the Tinsley Meadow hall Junction-
* The line makes a tight 'S' curve around so that it can meet up with the old Tinsley South Junction to East Junction single line which now runs to the south side of Blackburn Meadows Way and joins the south to east G.C.R. curve, just before the tracks pass under the new road bridge, with signal W204 just in front of it. The short journey, taking around 15 mins from Cathedral to Tinsley Meadowhall and a further 15 mins to arrive at Parkgate Retail Tram stop. Rotherham Central is the only, request, stop en-route but this will change in the next year as the go-ahead has been given for an additional stop at the 'Magna Science Adventure Centre', though it's fairly clear this ought to have been part of the original plan... The Down Sidings, seen in this video, with the back of the W203 exit signal towards Meadowhall, will presumably provide the space for the addition Tram stop.
* After passing under Blackburn Meadows Way, the set immediately crosses the River Don on a very old G.C.R. substantially built double-track bridge, now long singled, and then runs along through the back of what was once a most heavily industrialised section of line at the side of the River, the Templeborough Steelworks once held sway here, and now, although the space has been taken over by modern industrial buildings, there are still vestiges of the 'Old World' left working in the area. The Tinsley Biomass Works, producing 30MW of power, is also just off to the left of the receding Tram, EMU class 399, 399201, with the Blackburn Meadows Sewage Works still dominating the area, next to the power station.
* Once passed the Magna centre, the line curves gently along, with the remnant of the old Ickles Sidings, just a single line now, running along beside the Magna Science Park. The Tram then passes signal W202 just in front of the bridge which crosses over the River Don with the area's recognisable O2 pipe at left, this supplied Oxygen to all the steelworks along here and is a long-standing feature in these parts.. Once over the river, the river course now to the right and opposite this is the green palisade fence alongside the Blackburn Meadow Nature Reserve.
* Passing the Nature Reserve on the left and the Templeborough 1MW Biomass Works on the right, in the distance is the Bessemer Way road road bridge and beyond that, the distinctive, and 'Old', rail bridge carrying the North Midland's 'Old Road'. Quite by good chance, although it is about the right time of day for this, there is a freight working passing over the Tram/Train lines, a container working in fact, from the 'Newell & Wright Container Depot' at the old Masbrough Freight depot, about 1km off south, to the right. This is a G.B.R.f working with class 66, 66780, 'The Cemex Express', on the 4L11, Masbrough Newell & Wright Depot to Felixstowe North working; Rotherham's Clifton Lane flats, built in the early 1970s, features prominently in the background.
* One passed the 'Old Road', the Tram/Train heads towards Rotherham and the newly installed Ickles signal, S748, a single head, KED unit, in contrast to the older type, used here before the Tram/Tran system was installed, see lower left picture here-
www.flickr.com/photos/imarch2/49587274322/
taken at midday, on 29th October, 2017, during the installation of the Tram/Train system in the Ickles area and in the right-hand picture here-
www.flickr.com/photos/imarch2/49578303931/
taken 21st March of the same year.. a times of changes during this period on the old G.C.R. line from Woodburn Junction to Mexborough...
Passing Booths Scrapyard on the left the Tram/Train speeds along under Centenary Way and then passes the prominent football ground, then the location of the Holmes Chord before slowing for a station stop, by request, no-one got on, at Rotherham Central.
* After a minute or so, 399201, set off for the last bit of the journey to Parkgate, just two minutes away along the line. Sheffield's (York R.O.C.) S746 signal is showing the first 'yellow' signal, a warning for a restricted speed as the next signal will also be at 'yellow' and with the 'feather' lit for the turnout into the Tram stop. The glassworks of 'Beatson Clark Ltd.' is passed on the left and then the line passes under the Greasbrough Road bridge and then heads alongside the Canal 'turning hole' off to the right as it slows for the next signal. As the service comes around the corner, two bridge arches can be seen, the one on the left is the abutment of the old Rotherham Road bridge, which was bypassed a log while ago, in the early 1970s, a new span being constructed just beyond it. The vacant arch carried traffic over the branch line up the side of the Greasbrough Canal to the Stubbin Lane Colliery, the signal box, Rotherham Road was just off to the right controlling the junction, but now, apart from a short stub, around 700m, of the canal, all else has long gone. A video about the Colliery can be seen here-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/31163484126/
and some still shots and maps, here-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/30377081664/
The next signal then comes into view, S744, also showing a 'yellow' restricted aspect with the feather lit for the turnout into the Tram stop, the Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigation is just over on the right, 30m away and 50m beyond that, the River Don; in the past it has, of course, been subject to flooding, and here's the reason why! The old G.C.R. lattice footbridge had been 'upgraded' with tall walls to keep folk away from the overhead 750VDC electric overhead and now the Tram/Train slowly, 25mph speed limit on the turnout, comes into the Tram stop for its 1-2minute pause before it returns back to Sheffield Cathedral.

The announcement right at the end, informs passengers about the return service, 2A37, and so it goes on like this all day, every half hour a Tram comes and goes. There are two EMU's on the services today, this one, 399201 and one which will be heading this way now from Sheffield, 399205, to arrive at 12:25 as 2A40, then leave 2 minutes later as the return service, 2A41. Time for a mooch around and take some photographs, sadly the 4 freights through here were all earlier in the morning, the last just a few minutes after I arrived, from Tinsley YArd, back to Felixstowe.. have to try and arrange things better the next time... that's it for today, planned to catch the next run of 399205, leaving Cathedral at 13:00 as 2A46, arriving at 13:27 then returning, with us on it, as 2A47, arriving back in Sheffield at 13:57...

Taken on: November 30, -0001

Tags:

Parkgate Retail Shopping Centre

Sheffield Supertram

Class 399 EMU

Electric Multiple Unit

399201

2A36

Sheffield Cathedral via Tinsley Meadowhall to Parkgate

399205

2A47

Parkgate to Sheffield Cathedral

Northern Rail

Class 150

150006

Leeds to Sheffield

G.B.R.f.

Great Britain Rail freight

Class 66

66780

The Cemex Express

4L11

Masbrough Newell & Wright Depot to Felixstowe North

M.S.L.R.

Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway

Rotherham Central

Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigation

Liberty Speciality Steels Ltd.

Parkgate Iron & Steel Co. Ltd.

T.k.Maxx

Magna Science Adventure Centre

Main St. Bridge

Centenary Way

Midland Old Road Bridge

Bessemer Way Bridge

Sheffield PSB

Signal MS04

Signal W210

Signal W204

Signal W202

Signal W203

Signal W201

Signal S748

Signal S746

Signal S744

Signal S743

Signal S751

Templeborough Biomass Works

Woodburn Junction

Beatson Clark Ltd.

Greasbrough Canal

Stubbin Lane Colliery

Rotherham Road Signalbox « less

Sets appears in: • Sheffield • Rotherham

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