On the route of ‘The South Yorkshireman’
At our meeting on 1st May Richard Crane, a well-known local rail campaigner and former Chairman of the Bedford-Bletchley Rail Users Association gave us a talk entitled “On the Route of The South Yorkshireman.
Starting our pictorial journey at Bradford Exchange Station Richard took us southbound through the urban conurbations of Halifax and Huddersfield to Sheffield, Nottingham and Leicester, then through the rural landscapes of Warwickshire, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire to ‘metro- land’, the London suburbs, before finishing our journey at Marylebone. As well as seeing some of the stations, railway structures and the differing physical landscapes of the route, we saw a variety of steam and diesel traction with its various traffic, ranging from first class coaching stock on our named train, to fish wagons on a Grimsby to Banbury train! We also saw First Generation DMUs used in the closing stages of services on parts of the Great Central Route.
The ”then and now” aspects of Richard’s pictures, particularly at places such as Penistone and the two different Great Central Railway preservation sites were fascinating. Perhaps the most poignant parts of our journey were when we saw pictures of Sheffield Victoria, Nottingham Victoria and Leicester Central at their busiest in their heyday, which contrasted with views of these stations in their dying days before closure and what remains (or doesn’t!) of the sites today.
Richard’s immense knowledge of the subject, particularly his own recollections of his visits to the various places along the route of “The South Yorkshireman” made this a most enjoyable evening.