* The ninth in a series of 'look-back' mosaics using pictures recently made available to me from Adrian Wynn's archive.
Regarding Adrian Wynn's picture collection.
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Note: See earlier pieces in this series for details about the use of Adrian's photographic collection, both negative and digital.
* Preamble
Proceeding through Adrian's purchased negatives, another small set of pictures turned up, this time, as the title indicates, these were taken in the Masbrough area, this time over-looking the junction, just to the south of the station area. This was, of course, once a very busy area with a large North Midland Signalbox, in control of the layout at the front and rear of the box. The two double-track formations passing in front of the box go off south into what I recall was always a somewhat 'misty' distance, from the far left are the up and down goods, slow, lines whilst to their right, and in front of the box are the up and down Chesterfield/Barrow Hill, fast, lines. The lines crossing the formation and passing behind the south side of the box heading off to the right, are the up and down slow lines for the Sheffield direction; a similar pair of lines comes off the up and down Chesterfield lines gain heading for Sheffield, this time passing the box on this side, just out of shot in this view. The line coming off the Chesterfield up line and crossing the down line in the foreground, was to allow passenger stock moves from platform 2 in the station to access the south-bound Chesterfield line. A similar arrangement existed for the platform 1 line which allowed moves from the down line in front of the box, to access the station on the passenger side. All this and more, out of view, allowed for a very flexible operation of the two pairs of Station lines, both sets being able to access the Chesterfield lines seen here and, off to the right, the Midland Main lines to and from Sheffield.
I did my first 'trainspotting' here in the late 1950s when things were far more interesting than they are now, this lasted for a number of year, taki8ng place early every Saturday morning until early afternoon. Sitting on a low wall next to the Holmes West Sidings, it was easy to see everything, the sidings, including all the land on which a small housing estate is now built, used to be to the right of the rear coaches of the H.S.T. set, shown in the centre right picture. 'Pegs are up for Canklow' was the refrain I often used to hear, now quite knowing what it meant other than the fact the signals were clearly showing something fast was approaching when they were both off on the same post! It was during this period I also managed to get, as birthday and Xmas presents, the Ian Allen 'ABC' books, 'Locomotives Part 3, the L.M.S' book,
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186012984219
the 'Loco-shed' book, Summer 1960,
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394393989367
and a 'Combined Volume', which contained all the pertinent information on all 4 of the B.R.'s regions, L.M.S., L.N.E.R.,
G.W.R, & Southern Region-
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/235173525132
. A copy of the 'Combined Volume' is currently on sale on eBay, see-
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393726209149
for £319!!! It was 10s/6d, ten shillings and sixpence when it was bought for me, that's around 52p in today's money.
In this 'Then & Now' type presentation, with the pictures from Adrian's negatives at left, and my own at right, mine taken over the last few years sees, at upper left, L.N.E.R. Thompson Class B1, 61017, 'BushBuck' approaching the station on the down slow line. The goods, slow lines at Masbrough were nearest the main station buildings, so in the picture, the platform one line is at left and, at right, in front of the box, this is the platform 4 passenger line. As 61017 heads off through the station, on platform 2 next to the central island platform, in the box, the signaller can just be seen either pulling or pushing levers back into the frame, now that the goods train has passed the signal showing a clear run through to the north. Underneath the main arm signal, No.60, is the distant arm controlled by the Masbrough North Junction box, outside the north end of the station, on the west side of the formation; it too showing clear.. Unfortunately, the picture doesn't include the large bracketed semaphore signals, No.3 & No.7, for the up slow line, out-of-shot at far left, if No.3 and its distant beneath were off, this meant a fast goods train was approaching from the north... The other post on the bracket carrying signal No.7 was for down moves onto the Sheffield lines which cross just in front of 61017 and pass behind the Masbrough South Junction signalbox..Some information about the steam loco on the empty 'flats', with brake-van at rear, just visible in the mist..
'...61017 was the L.N.E.R.'s equivalent to the highly successful G.W.R. 'Hall' class and the L.M.S. Stanier 'Black Five', two-cylinder mixed traffic 4-6-0s. However, it had the additional requirement of having to be cheap because, due to wartime and post-war economies, the L.N.E.R., never the richest of railway company, had to make savings. Introduced in 1942, the first example, No. 8301, was named 'Springbok' in honour of a visit by Jan Smuts. The first 40 of the class were named after breeds of antelopes and the like, and they became known as 'bongos' after 8306 'Bongo'. 274 were built by the L.N.E.R., 136 being built by British Railways after nationalisation in 1948. The total number in stock at any one time however was only 409, 61057 being involved in an accident in 1950 and was afterwards scrapped...'
Of other note in this picture is the goods shed, at far left, occupying ground which later became the Millmoor football ground, wagons in the yard can be seen stretching along the sidings beyond the goods shed. There's a fogman's hut and fireplace, just in front of Signal No.60, it and the distant both on for passage of 'BushBuck', the job of the fogman being to place detonators on the rail-head, 'during fog or falling snow', as the 'Rule Book' stated, if the signal close by was at danger'; in the 1940s to 1960s period, this would have been a regular occurrence during winter months. Just beyond the signal, an item which was common all over the railways during the steam era, a 'Water Crane' stands ready to provide thirsty freight locos with a fill of water, though in this case it looks like the light load and full coal tender don't indicate any need for a top-up. The roof of the local North-Midland Control Office can be seen beyond the signalbox, the chimneys of the building visible at top far left and the large Masbrough Sorting Sidings are a short distance away, to the right of the curve in the tracks formation around the corner.
At upper right, the 'matching' shot taken on the 5th August, 2019, I here quote that narrative accompanying the shot up-loaded to Flickr at that time-
'...The return of LMS Jubilee 45596, 'BAHAMAS'.. Having stopped at Barrow Hill for around 30 minutes for water but looking at the tender, maybe a load of coal as well as its pretty full, the colours of the loco are now washed out by the strong over-head light, not the favoured location to take shots at this time of day. Today as the set approaches Coronation Bridge, there's only a thin wisp of blue smoke, no steam but with the same soft beats as seen earlier in the year, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/46093161735/
and here-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/46093164415/
the working there to the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway with cooler and damper conditions providing an atmosphere for more of the 'white stuff'. Plenty of 'tooting' taking place here as well, and now regret not having the phone mounted and doing a video as on other occasions. The long graffiti'd concrete section of wall at the back, with the 'BloodAxe' and 'Buster'? tags, something completely unknown in the times this loco used to run on regular passenger traffic. A section of red-brick wall beyond is a vestige of the side of the coal depot which existed along the side of the tracks here, the whole of it can be seen in the picture at left, partly hidden by the steam of the approaching 'BushBuck'. 45596, 'Bahamas', is on the ECS move, 5Z45, from Tyseley Loco Works near Birmingham to York, National Railway Museum with W.C.R.C. coach M14060 in tow; presumably there will be charter tours or an open day, lined up for the loco this coming week.. As can be clearly seen, not much is left of the old railway layout, the 2 double track formations, 'goods' on the left and passenger on the right, have long since been reduced to a single formation with all the cross-overs to the Midland passenger lines, the points, sidings, ancillary lineside equipment, semaphores of course being replaced by M.A.S., though there is only one of these, along the line in the background, for moves into the Masbrough Freight Depot area around the corner, have all gone. The Millmoor Football Ground now occupies the space one c used by the goods shed, coal drops and associated sidings, the Midland Control Office has gone though the building which was behind it and just visible in the shot on the left, is still in-situ. The concrete wall of this building can be seen to the right of the back of the coach, one of the old yard lamp-standards, similar to the ones shown in the left-hand shot, to the left of the prominent semaphore, can also be seen to the in front of the concrete wall section.. they just must have got left, when the whole site was cleared in the late 70s and early 80s when the large M.A.S. signalling programme took place, replacing all the semaphore signalling in the area and the Sheffield Power Signalbox took control.. The change in the background is also now obvious, with the recent addition of the Templeborough 1MW biomass facility now dominating the scene, in stark contrast to that of the early 1960s when the are was dominated by large semaphore signal gantries and all the other paraphernalia, associated in that area with another large North-Midland box, at Masbrough South Junction with its own large signal gantry, spanning all the lines meeting there, which were the ones seen here and the double-track section which ran over the large Masbrough South Curve bridge over the River Don and Tinsley Canal, the formation coming over from the Holmes Junction passenger lines..
At centre left, the camera, located once more on Coronation Bridge, looks towards the view along the Midland passenger lines towards Holmes Junction and on to Sheffield. At this time both the 'Red Bull Public House', open at this time, and the West Holmes Sidings beyond the pub, are still in-situ, though rather devoid of any traffic. This must be the early 1980s as all the semaphore signalling has gone, and there was a lot of it in this section around to Holmes Junction, in addition, the Midland Main Lines here have been disconnected from the goods line and Chesterfield lines, shown in the picture at upper left; the tracks have also been 'plain-lined'. Visible above the roof of the 'Red Bull' pub on the right, the two cooling towers of the Blackburn Meadows Power Station at Tinsley can be seen and over on the left, the British Steel Corporation's, just recently at this time the privately owned, 'Steel Peach & Tozer', extensive works at Templeborough. Just in front of the works, the also extensive rail formation of the G.C.R which ran/runs from Woodburn Junction via Rotherham central to Mexborough. Its formation of yards and extensive sidings once covered most of the area seen in this shot but by this stage the railways were in decline and much of it was in the process of being 'rationalised, along with the main lines seen here. The Holmes West Junction shunter's cabin remains, though at this stage, the shunter wouldn't have been all that busy. Of prime interest, a B.R. Mark II 4-coach passenger train passes on the north-bound line from Holmes Junction with at the front, a B.R. liveried class 45, 45134; the picture, unfortunately a little out-of-focus. A fragment of the tracks of the 'Old Road', as the lines up from Derby to Leeds are known, and are shown in the upper two pictures, can be seen in the lower left corner of the picture, the two track formations now only being connected at the north end of Masbrough Station, at Masbrough North Junction. The other buildings in the background around the curve behind the coaches, have all been demolished, and would have stood alongside of the Masbrough South Curve from Holmes Junction, on the right, to MAsbrough South Junction on the far right; the trackbed of these lines can just be made out in front of the vertical column of steam rising from the G.C.R.s yard at Ickles. Part of this line formation is of course no in use, since 1987, as it forms the section of line known as the Holmes Chord, taking local passenger trains to and from the Midland Main Lines here and over to the 'new' Rotherham Central Station; moved a little further north at this time and then re-opened. If that is the shunter's brick-built toilet to the right of his cabin, I guess this picture must have been taken in the Summer as the rear window is wide open!!!
At centre right, my view of this are from the same location, but now on 8th June, 2019. The track now looks even more denuded of lineside interest though though the connecting line and its signal, S0415, are still present, S0415 being lit red for access onto the back line behind the station; no defunct... The background is covered in vegetation growth and the buildings which once comprised Steel Peach & Tozer/British Steel Corporation, is now the 'Magna Science Adventure Centre'. The 'Red Bull Public House' has now been closed almost 10 years and the Holmes West Siding, still extant but unused in the left picture here, had recently been cleared and all debris, the latter chiefly consisting of refuse thrown over the bridge and d over the palisade fence alongside the tracks. Passing along the Up fast towards Sheffield, is a 'Cross Country Trains' class 43, H.S.T., 'High Speed Train, this one 43304, on the regular 1V52, Glasgow Central to Paignton, service; it appears 7 coaches are the 'order of the day', now over around 409 years as the H.S.T set also has '7-on for Paignton' as it heads toward the Holmes Junction level crossing. The 'easy to sit on' low stone wall bordering the formation along Holmes Lane has not been topped with the grey ubiquitous palisade fencing, preventing me, as I once used to, to sit cross-legged atop the wall watching the action unfold in terms of semaphore aspect and the traction which was signalled through...
Moving on to the lower two pictures, the camera once more situated on Coronation Bridge in what, at left, is a very wintry looking scene; its a shame there is no date on Adrian's bought negative, for this icy view, although an almost exact same B/W view I have to this, not one of Adrian's negatives, was taken in 1976. This is a wonderfully clear, open shot, not of the very best quality but still... Standing prominent in the background, now fully visible compared with the photograph above this one, is the MIdland Control Centre between the two pairs of running lines, the NOrth Midland's 'Old Road' on the left and their Main Lines to Sheffield, on the right. At this time the cross-over connections were still in place, as was the semaphore signalling, but the local passenger services are now in the control of the recently introduced, DMUs, 'Diesel Multiple Units'. The one seen approaching here is en-route for Hull ad is a B.R. 3-car class 104 DMU, see for example, a better version of this type of traction, here-
www.flickr.com/photos/johndedman/44776068290/
class 104, E56185, at Peterborough on the 9th May, 1981. All appears still in-tact in this picture, the box, Masbrough Station South Junction, looks in good order, the semaphores all look complete and I have undertaken a little localised sharpening of the image. Approaching on the 'Old Road' at left, what looks like a class 47 on a down goods, now at a stand at the No.27 signal, both the main and distant arms are showing 'On', arm horizontal, so equivalent to a red aspect on a M.A.S. signal. It must be waiting for the passenger service to clear out of the way, before proceeding through the station, though goods and passenger trains could be accommodated at the station along two different platforms, 3 for the goods and 1 for the passenger train. At far right, the human aspect, as what looks possibly like the local shunter (the person) is heading towards the cabin seen in the shot above this one. He is wearing a cap, of course, but no overcoat, maybe the fire's lit in the cabin, and he looks to be slightly bow-legged; I wonder what he was up too...so long ago now. The class 47 and its freight are partly stood on the Westgate Branch line bridge, now truncated in Booths Scrapyard, and to the right of the Control Office, above the Westgate Branch line there is a long straight structure from left to right, this being part of one of the many scrapyards in this area, this structure being the crane gantry.
At right, the 'contemporary view', this taken again on the 8th June, 2019, the same day as the H.S.T. move shown above.. The contrast between the left and right shots in this 3rd set, could not be more stark, although the two pairs of running lines still exist and both are used frequently, the connection between them in this are has been long severed, The only signal to be seen, the back of S0415, although lit red, has been long out-of-use, it once controlled moves off the down fast line, next to the T.P.T. units, the junction between it and the goods line at the back of the station, also being just around the corner. Hurtling along the up fast line, the T.P.T. set is approaching the only other signal in this area, which is just out-of-shot here around the corner, S0218, controlling moves across the Holmes Junction level crossing, the T.P.T. set being en-route into Sheffield. This is a class 185 set, 185144, in 'Arriva' livery, and it is running on the hourly Cleethorpes to Manchester Airport" service, this one 1B73; in the main T.P.T no longer run all the way to the Airport so a change of train has to be at Manchester Piccadilly, progress? The land between the Midland Main Lines in the foreground and their 'Old Road' in the background, is filling up once more with young Birch Tree saplings, it having all been completely cleared away, just 3 years agon in 2016. The old lamp-standard in the Yard next to Masbrough Station South box, can be seen poking out of the top of the rear power car and beyond that, much more interesting traction approaches from the south. The double-headed charter train approaching is hauled by a couple of D.R.S., 'Direct Rail Services' class 37s, at the front, 37059, ex-D6759 and behind that, 37038, ex-D6738, named 'Riley & Son (E) Ltd.'. They are on the 'Pathfinder Rail Tours', 'The Yorkshire Explorer' heading up from the south-west on the long haul, 1Z72, Taunton to Leeds working. They will be heading back later that day on the 1Z74, back from Leeds to Taunton in Somerset. The weather on that day looked threatening, can't remember now as its 4 years ago, but the conditions made for a fine sight of the two D.R.S. class 37s in a somewhat unusual configuration, 2 at the front rather than 'top-and-tail' fashion and were hauling a colourful set of old B.R. 'crimson & cream' and 'maroon & cream coaching stock, the set departed Taunton at 05:25 that morning and arrived in Leeds at 13:24, so 8 hours and having spent just over 2 hours in Leeds, the set departed back south at 15:36 and arrived back in Somerset at 23:42, 18 hours on the train in total! It was a good day to be out this day as two other charters also ran, 1Z45 from Manchester Victoria to Scarborough, with 45690, 'Leander'. The other was 1Z30, 'The NOrthern Belle' with W.C.R.C. 57313 & 57601, on the Newcastle to Chesterfield run, presumably to visit Chatsworth House, close to Chesterfield in Derbyshire.
So, this ends the 'Window on the Past' views of Masbrough Station South Junction, a location, like many others, which has seen big changes in the railway infra-structure in around 40 years, the earliest shot at top left being around 1976 and the lower right one being in June 2019. I can't help but wonder what the place will look like in mid-summer, 2063, another 40 years hence...
