The Flickr Bonnymary Image Generatr

I guess the operator of this charter, WCRC, the West Coast Railway Company, planned this outing from the East coast to Stratford using as much in the way of local lineside interest as possible. This this working came off the Midland Main Line at Aldwarke Junction and took the GC's line coming past here and on through Rotherham Central only to rejoin the main line at Holmes Junction; just a small detour to see the once glorious industrialised area just north of Rotherham! The five, now redundant, chimney stacks standing tall in the background are located on the site of the TATA, formerly Corus, owned Aldwarke Steelworks, where there was a serious fire in early June. TATA have been trying to sell the plant for a few months, from Wikipedia-
'...In early July 2016 Tata paused the sale procedure in part to assess the effect of the vote to leave the EU (Brexit) in the UK EU membership referendum of 2016; on 8 July it announced it was in discussion with other steelmakers, specifically ThyssenKrupp on the formation of a joint venture between their respective European steel businesses.[61] JSW Steel and Hebei Iron & Steel were also reported as potential joint venture partners. In addition to the talks on a joint venture the company was also stated to be in talks to sell the pipe (Hartlepool) and EAF/specialty steel (South Yorkshire) businesses separately...'
It still remains to be seen how this turns out... Coming along the curve from Aldwarke Junction to the closes the line comes to the canal cut, is a WCRC private charter service being hauled by class 57, 57313 with six, smart looking Pullman Coached in tow and at the rear, fellow class 57, 57316.
The leading loco is passing the site of what is to become the new Tram/Train terminating station on a siding off the down line, some of the sleepers and a few rails having already been laid. The station site isn't near the only access way into the Retail area, the only one currently available being some 500m ahead of the approaching train; so shoppers will have a bit of a walk either to that access or heading off left behind the train to approach the shops along the road.. wonder if anybody has thought of this...WCRC's class 57313 is hauling the 1Z13, Scarborough to Stratford-on-Avon charter and is here running right-time and is here 3 hours away from its destination.

Another session back at rear of 'Parkgate Retail World' where things have been and are happening. The first is a sad report of the death of a youngster, apparently engaged in 'Tombstoning', I had never heard of this till informed by two local cyclists crossing over the old GC footbridge over the railway. It appears the 'pastime' revolves around jumping off a bridge into a river or canal without knowing anything about 'what lies beneath', in this case, it turned out to be not all that much water, as the 11 year old jumped off the newly installed pedestrian footbridge over the local cut of the Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigation, into the canal below; this happened about 3 weeks ago, on July 22nd. As far as I can make out there hasn't been any report of the outcome of the inquiry into what happened, i.e. the exact cause of death, the local and national press all had a piece in their papers about the incident; What a tragic waste of a young life in this stupid way... The pictures here reflect the scene on the 16th August whilst waiting for the passage of a rail charter, unusually coming this way through the area. At top left, under the shadow the metal bridge with a Swan investigating the scene as it quietly glides by, a floral tribute to the boy at the side of the water where he plunged to his death. Top right, looking towards Rother along the canal to the old Waddingtons canal-side depot in the centre background, a local passes by with head bowed possibly upset by the site of something which happened only 3 weeks earlier at 7pm on a very warm Summer's evening; maybe the enticement for the 11 year old to jump in the water was just too great. At lower left, a view of the bridge from further along the canal towards the Eastwood lock showing the height of the bridge deck above the water; can't help but think this may well have contributed to the result as the height of this and the depth of water here, possibly only 4-6 feet, would have been insufficient to guarantee a safe landing; that and the potential presence of anything, not visible, submerged in the water. The GC's lattice footbridge over the railway can just be seen to the right in this picture. And on that bridge, at lower right, a local passenger DMU, consisting of just one coach, ageing Northern Rail class 153, 153324 comes by, tooting to the 3 lineside NR workers, busy with the foundations of the new tram-stop work; the DMU on the 2P61, Scunthorpe to Sheffield service.
R.I.P.

The corner of the pedestrian footbridge, from which the 11-year old jumped into the canal to his death, is visible in the lower left corner, the proximity of the canal, and its old towpath, to the railway line is also clear and there is a small difference in level between the two formations; the unnavigable River Don, for which this cut was made, isn't that far away over to the left of the picture. With six smart Pullman Coaches in the set, 'Derwent Water', 'Windermere', 'Sapphire' and 'Emerald', with two unidentifiable coaches, particularly the one next to 57316, on the jaunt down to Stratford on the 1Z13 outing from Scarborough. The return service set off back at 16:09, just 3 hours after arrival on the 1Z14 service back to Scarborough and arrived at destination, right-time, at 22:23, so 10 hours on the train for 3 hours sight-seeing in Stratford. A lot of folk appeared to be tucking into '2nd breakfast' or 'elevenses' as the Pullman 1st class set passed by, illuminated on this side by bright over-head sun. Local businesses are spreading around, here 'TkMaXX' and ... Macdonalds but behind this is the now the large vacant building, with coloured strip livery, of B&Q hardware/DIT retail... odd they should move from here as they only arrived at this new location, 2 or 3 years ago from a site closer to the centre Rotherham.

This next pair of pictures was prompted by an image I have seen in the late Peter Bartle's beautiful fine art book on all things related to the local landscape, much to do with his days working for the railways, on the footplate as a fireman and latterly as a signalman. He moved to Filey from Rotherham in the 1970s and began painting the scenes he remembered during his working life from the 1950s and before Sadly he died in 2006 and subsequent to this, his brother discovered a large collection of material he had painted during his life, the painting forming the contents of a beautiful book 'Discovering the Art of Peter Bartle', published by ASAP Digital; his work was also available on-line at-
www.peterbartle.co.uk/
but the site has now seemingly expired.
On the left, another local passenger DMU comes under the old lattice footbridge and crossing are the pair of cyclists with whom I had a good long natter and from which I learned about some of the details about the 11-year old's tragic death. A Northern Rail class 142, 142060 passes northwards heading to York from Sheffield on the 2Y80 service; I wonder if the bridge will survive the new work being undertaken here by Network Rail, to install a siding into what will be the Tram/Train terminus just a few hundred meters along the line, see next picture.
The picture on the right is taken from Peter Bartle's book but the elevation of the image suggests some artistic licence as at this time the canal cut was crossed by a swing bridge at its narrowest section, not the high foot-bridge seen in the earlier picture, where the 11-year old plunged to his death. The picture does however show an accurate scene in what looks to be around the 1950s and to the left and behind the approaching L.N.E.R class 04, the scene is remarkably different to the present time where shops now rule the roost. In the 1950s, this area was awash with the works of Parkgate Gate Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. with their rail sidings and slag heaps as can be seen here; though in this picture, the view has a sylvan quality about it!
As was mentioned in one of the handful of pictures I have taken here over recent years, the East Europeans were photographed 1st, up on their way to the the 'car-washing facility' over the bridge, now gone. Maybe the loco which is approaching the lattice footbridge in Peter Bartle's picture is the type of working which passed underneath as I walked over it, so many years ago.. though I have it in my mind's eye that it was travelling north with a full load of coal; this one appears to be partially empty.

No barges available at the present time, including seemingly, the blue Oil BArge carrying its cargo of heavy oil to the Rotherham Oil Terminal, so a lone cyclist will have to do instead! With the weather hot and bright, even at 10am, the scene is awash with too much stark light, the canal looks calm and inviting and the temperature is high, alluring for an 11 year-old I guess unfamiliar with this type of 'water feature'. The access way mentioned in the last picture is to the left of 57313 and to the left of the 'Superdrug' shop at far left; the rear of the train, with 57316 tailing the working, is just passing the site of the new 'Tram/Train' passenger stop where the service will reverse to go back to Sheffield. The signalling and control of all this is apparently being handled by a panel in Woodburn Junction signal cabin, the panel having been removed from the Sheffield P.S.B. when its function was transferred to the York R.O.C. 57313 is hauling the WCRC private charter on the 1Z13, Scarborough to Stratford-on-Avon jaunt, taking five hours all in from the east coast to the home of the 'Bard'. There has been much tidying up of rubbish and vegetation control here since the arrival of the NR engineers to install the infra-structure for the Tram/Train network; the rubbish is however beginning to re-appear again along the canal side around the bridge and is not visible in these pictures.

This next pair of pictures was prompted by an image I have seen in the late Peter Bartle's beautiful fine art book on all things related to the local landscape, much to do with his days working for the railways, on the footplate as a fireman and latterly as a signalman. He moved to Filey from Rotherham in the 1970s and began painting the scenes he remembered during his working life from the 1950s and before Sadly he died in 2006 and subsequent to this, his brother discovered a large collection of material he had painted during his life, the painting forming the contents of a beautiful book 'Discovering the Art of Peter Bartle', published by ASAP Digital; his work was also available on-line at-
www.peterbartle.co.uk/
but the site has now seemingly expired.
On the left, another local passenger DMU comes under the old lattice footbridge and crossing are the pair of cyclists with whom I had a good long natter and from which I learned about some of the details about the 11-year old's tragic death. A Northern Rail class 142, 142060 passes northwards heading to York from Sheffield on the 2Y80 service; I wonder if the bridge will survive the new work being undertaken here by Network Rail, to install a siding into what will be the Tram/Train terminus just a few hundred meters along the line, see next picture.
The picture on the right is taken from Peter Bartle's book but the elevation of the image suggests some artistic licence as at this time the canal cut was crossed by a swing bridge at its narrowest section, not the high foot-bridge seen in the earlier picture, where the 11-year old plunged to his death. The picture does however show an accurate scene in what looks to be around the 1950s and to the left and behind the approaching L.N.E.R class 04, the scene is remarkably different to the present time where shops now rule the roost. In the 1950s, this area was awash with the works of Parkgate Gate Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. with their rail sidings and slag heaps as can be seen here; though in this picture, the view has a sylvan quality about it!
As was mentioned in one of the handful of pictures I have taken here over recent years, the East Europeans were photographed 1st, up on their way to the the 'car-washing facility' over the bridge, now gone, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/6396270347/
and
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/7461017982/
there are others...
Maybe the loco which is approaching the lattice footbridge in Peter Bartle's picture is the type of working which passed underneath as I walked over it, so many years ago.. though I have it in my mind's eye that it was travelling north with a full load of coal; this one appears to be partially empty.

No barges available at the present time, including seemingly, the blue Oil BArge carrying its cargo of heavy oil to the Rotherham Oil Terminal, so a lone cyclist will have to do instead! With the weather hot and bright, even at 10am, the scene is awash with too much stark light, the canal looks calm and inviting and the temperature is high, alluring for an 11 year-old I guess unfamiliar with this type of 'water feature'. The access way mentioned in the last picture is to the left of 57313 and to the left of the 'Superdrug' shop at far left; the rear of the train, with 57316 tailing the working, is just passing the site of the new 'Tram/Train' passenger stop where the service will reverse to go back to Sheffield. The signalling and control of all this is apparently being handled by a panel in Woodburn Junction signal cabin, the panel having been removed from the Sheffield P.S.B. when its function was transferred to the York R.O.C. 57313 is hauling the WCRC private charter on the 1Z13, Scarborough to Stratford-on-Avon jaunt, taking five hours all in from the east coast to the home of the 'Bard'. There has been much tidying up of rubbish and vegetation control here since the arrival of the NR engineers to install the infra-structure for the Tram/Train network; the rubbish is however beginning to re-appear again along the canal side around the bridge and is not visible in these pictures.