BR in the 1980s Sheffield Station on 25th September 1987

[@cedarcam]

Sheffield was a great place for lots of smokey DMU's and a good variety of loco hauled stock. Happy memories of how it used to be

[@spompey]

You are most welcome and many thanks for watching and for commenting....best regards...MARK

[@kevinfowkes2327]

Pompey has captured well the last year or so before the Sprinters and Pacers really took over Sheffield, not just the loco hauled services to Manchester, Nottingham, Harwich but the locals to Leeds and Doncaster as well. By 87 the local old DMUs were in a terrible condition, noisy and smoky, after 30 years of being worked to death...especially the class 110 Calder Valley sets which appear particularly decrepit on the video and were scrapped soon after.

[@cedarcam]

@@kevinfowkes2327 Yes it is great to see video of the less glamorous trains. The beginning of the video telling of a mechanical fault with a DMU becoming a more common announcement. The Calder Valley unit arriving first is led by a car which lost its headcode box, I think in a fire. Those units were some of the last built and although run down by now were still better than some earlier Birmingham RCW units that rattled along. By now the centre cars were being removed and I set out to get video of the last 3 car set running.

[@spompey]

@@kevinfowkes2327 Many thanks kevin for your interesting comment, much appreciated....Mark

[@diswalker30]

Just how I remember 'Midland' trainspotting with my Dad, used to buy me a Mars Bar and a hot chocolate from the vending machine, happy days 😊

[@spompey]

A proper Mars Bar as well....Many thanks for the memory and for watching....mark

[@BibTheBoulderTheOriginalOne]

Absolutely cracking video of a station I have driven trains into many thousands of times. Fabulous to rekindle memories when the Peak rolled in.....Happy days....

[@spompey]

You're very welcome and now I am jealous that you drove "Peaks" one class of loco I never even rode in....Many thanks and best wishes....Mark

[@kevinfowkes2327]

Note the empty newspaper vans arriving into platform 1 at around 15:00. September 1987 was very close to the end of all newspaper services on BR so a lucky capture here. The Murdoch newspapers famously stopped using rail at the start of 1986 from the start of the Wapping dispute and after that the remaining papers shifted onto road quite rapidly, leaving very little traffic on rail. I think the last services just about lasted into 1988 but by this point there was already very little left.

[@spompey]

Many thanks again Kevin.....Mark

[@TheDaf95xf]

Happy memories for me as it was always a good trip out from Manchester 😊 I can remember going round Darnall sheds at the stroke of midnight collecting DMU numbers from the scrap line lol 😆 I was also fortunate enough to travel the Woodhead route to Victoria before it closed 😢

[@spompey]

Many thanks for watching and for your comment best wishes...Mark

[@BibtheBoulder]

Yet more great footage. I recall the announcers voice so well.

[@spompey]

Many Many thanks for the comment and best regards....Mark

[@kevinfowkes2327]

Me too. There were two lady announcers who were the mainstay of Sheffield station in the 80s. This one, who sounded like she had a constantly blocked nose, while the other sounded a bit like Barbara Windsor with a Yorkshire accent. I'm sorry the second one wasn't on duty the day you were there as she was much better....her tones do fleetingly appear on a couple of Sheffield YT videos from the period. EDIT - you can hear the other main announcer on this video, about 1 minute 20 seconds in kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZnK9mpV4gd-qrbc

[@BibTheBoulderTheOriginalOne]

@@kevinfowkes2327 Many thanks. I followed the link and do indeed remember that voice too. I also agree about the voice of the lady in this video: DIRE.

[@daveyboy19761]

Remember using Sheffield to change trains to visit my nan in Cleethorpes as a kid.

[@AlexMitchell-sj4sb]

Even though I know nothing about trains back then or now, this is still great to see. Brings back lots of memories and nostalgia. I used to love seeing trains, hearing them, the noises and smells. Something abit magical about it all when I was a kid. My son loves seeing trains too. We know sod all about them but have learnt a bit through playing Train Sim World 3.

[@spompey]

That is true and many thanks for your interest always appreciated....Mark

[@AlexMitchell-sj4sb]

@@spompey hey I just noticed your user name, are you from Pompey? I lived there for 5 and half years. I am back in Sheffield now and lived here as a kid.

[@spompey]

@@AlexMitchell-sj4sb Around the Pompey area to the north.....best wishes to you....Mark

[@AlexMitchell-sj4sb]

@@spompey ah OK, I know the area well, lived in Gosport too.

[@davidsnapebrcrosslane8782]

Thanks for sharing, brings back many happy memories of my teens, Sheffield was a place I passed through en route to Worksop in order to see the coal workings - 20s/56s and 58s in the early 80s.

[@spompey]

Many Many thanks for the comment and best regards....Mark

[@ianjones4116]

Nice catch of the Route Learner 👍👍😎

[@spompey]

Better than sitting and watching a video as the training school at Waterloo did then.....Many Many thanks for the comment and best regards....Mark

[@alanyearsley9731]

Hearing the distinctive sounding woman announcer who was at Sheffield in the 1980s brings back memories for me, and BR's standard three-note chime that preceded the announcements at a lot of stations back then.

[@spompey]

Sadly all automated now.....Many thanks Alan and best regards...Mark

[@alanyearsley9731]

@@spompey Yes, very true, public address system technology has come a long way since then. They still do occasionally make manual announcements, though.

[@Kev5565]

Things seemed more interesting back then, what's more interesting these days to me are some of the wagons with the complex mechanisms such as those used by network rail. Interesting to see how messy we were back then with all the litter on the track also the air looks dirty and poluted.

[@spompey]

All those hydro carbons I expect....many thanks Kev and best regards...Mark

[@ianpark1906]

What an amazing selection of fist generation DMUs . I wonder when the new stock is "life expired" they will be remembered so fondly?

[@spompey]

Many thanks for watching and for your comment best wishes...Mark

[@kevinfowkes2327]

From my memories of the 80s I don't recall normal passengers being at all fond of the old DMUs, except perhaps if they liked to sit in the front and see where they were going. But even then, many drivers pulled the blind down. When life expired they were noisy, dirty, smoky, smelly, slow and hideously unreliable. The new Sprinter units increased passenger numbers substantially (ironically beginning the overcrowding that still haunts the urban north to this day). Completely different for enthusiasts of course.

[@grahamsmith7054]

I was at Sheffield that Day Waiting for 45115 On the Newcastle-Poole-And Did the Peak to Birmingham.

[@spompey]

Good old days eh Graham....Many thanks and my sincere regards to you...Mark

[@Sarahbryson321]

Peaks with intercity stock? Never seen that.

[@megamanmuppet]

Looks like a Cross Country working what with Western Region stock.

[@dieseldave3879]

12:36 Peak on the move! 🚂👍

[@spompey]

Yes I would say, not going for scrap just yet.....many thanks....Mark

[@duncancurtis5108]

Harwich PK! Wow.

[@spompey]

....many thanks....Mark

[@richardhairsine]

that must be one of the last ever peak workings on the railway

[@spompey]

Not sure if I captured any more on film.....Many thanks and best wishes.....Mark

[@paulwinterbourne1865]

Was the Peak on a Cross Country or Harwich? Shame I couldn't see the stock from the 47s running around ?!

[@spompey]

The peak was on the Harwich, normally booked for a 45.....Many thanks for your comment and for watching...best wishes...Mark

[@BenDover-ln6ns]

@@spompeySurely the duff was on the North West Dane, I’m sure that train was booked a 31 at the time.

[@BenDover-ln6ns]

The North West Dane comes from Blackpool hence the engine change, not sure what worked it forward cause 449 worked the afternoon Rhinelander to Harwich, and 45115 is on the 7:45 Newcastle-Poole 1O05. Surprised to see a 47 on the North West Dane as it was a fairly solid EH 31.

[@spompey]

@@BenDover-ln6ns Yes it may well have been....many thanks for watching and for the comment...best wishes....Mark

[@spompey]

@@BenDover-ln6ns Again fantastic info to have now.....much appreciated...Mark

[@roberthillman5057]

Could not understand the train station announcements

[@spompey]

Not many could.......many thanks....Mark

[@sullivanrachael]

I couldn’t understand what she said back in 1987 when I was there either!!!

[@billmilligan1705]

What no 1500v DC?

[@spompey]

All gone by then....big shame...Many thanks for the comment and also for watching...much appreciated....Mark

[@kevinfowkes2327]

There never was electrification of any description at Sheffield Midland...scandalously there still isn't except for the trams running next to the station. If you're referring to the Woodhead system elsewhere in the city it sadly closed a few years before decent affordable video cameras became available....there is a bit of silent cine film of it on YT and also some TV documentary footage but unfortunately nothing of this sort.

[@RaggyAl1971]

Only on the former Woodhead line from Sheffield Victoria to Manchester which closed in 1981.

[@supersprinter1564]

Mansfield and Alfreton parkway now just simple Alfreton

[@spompey]

..many thanks for watching and for the comment...best wishes....Mark

[@kevinfowkes2327]

My local station as a child. Reopening Mansfield station in the 90s meant the old name had to change. But it's also lost its old status as well, it was marketed as a major InterCity railhead in the 70s and 80s mostly for long distance travel (served by 2 hourly Sheffield-St Pancras, 3x Nottingham-Glasgow services per day and The European to Harwich)...local traffic was small and discouraged. Today it's merely another stop for the all stations Leeds and Liverpool sprinters, few long distance passengers and indeed the final weekday peak hour St Pancras express routed that way was recently removed from the timetable.

[@djtrainspotter]

Nice one. I see 45115 there, just been given the APOLLO painted name, as i'd photed her at York 6 weeks earlier without said name. One of the very few snaps i got of a peak, despite me being a regular to St.Pancras in the 80's uh!

[@spompey]

What a great name that is........many thanks....Mark.