td97
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Dore Station Junction to Earles Sidings SB
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Hope Valley Capacity Scheme updates
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Elecman
Established Member
Earle’s Sidings
Must be getting moved then, as the LNW(N)/LNE route boundary is currently at 154mi20ch - 88 yards west of Dore West Jn.
Elecman
Established Member
It is getting moved in line with the controlling signalling location so Dore to Earle’s goes to York ROC and the Regional boundary moves with it.
Killingworth
Established Member
Earles sidings remains LNW(N) with the Bamford loop in LNE.
Elecman
Established Member
Yes correct
Killingworth
Established Member
And there's no immediate plan to resignal further west although it will happen one day.
Work was still going on as night fell tonight. Waterproof 'carpet' had been laid for the second track through Dore & Totley station and ballast was being laid on top. The track bed needs to be canted in opposite directions for the curves at each end of the platforms so it's not as easy as may be imagined to get the track laid on top. The rails are already on site for when this work is complete. 66100 'Armistice 100' was in charge of the train.
GRALISTAIR
Established Member
Fantastic action shot
Killingworth
Established Member
When stumps were drawn last night a few sleepers and a very short section of track was left below Twentywell Lane road bridge. At long last rail users at Dore & Totley can see real progress.
Next will come in May with work on foundations for the footbridge towers, new platform and extension to the current platform.
Next will come in May with work on foundations for the footbridge towers, new platform and extension to the current platform.
GardenRail
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At last! The exciting part begins!
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For anyone interested, this is how it will look on the Signalling Workstation, eventually. Though now, it will not form part of the existing Sheffield Workstation, as originally intended. But you get the idea.
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bluelagoon8951
Member
got some more shots of the progress here - there's from just before the station down to further than you can see from the MML - will make an edit if i can see how far down when my train comes back down to get to hope valley - and the sleepers reach most of the way up the platform.
edit: both the sleepers and the knew track end just south of the bridge over the track, a bit south of dore station junction.
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Killingworth
Established Member
It's only a token 100m length so far, just from the station to the bridge in background of my picture.
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Work has started on foundations for the second platform at Dore & Totley - and the cherry blossom by the car park is good to see.
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Killingworth
Established Member
6 weeks since last post and not a lot to report. 17 piles have been driven in for the new footbridge with a further 17 to go in on the car park side.
Work on the Dore loop/chord at West View Lane is halted as the hill side below Poynton Wood has proved unsuitable for further soil nailing. Work on a different solution is understood to be starting soon.
Work at Bamford is more extensive but harder to picture. It appears to be coming on well. There's a great deal of signalling work stretching well down the Sheaf Valley towards Sheffield, south to Unstone on the MML and along to Hope.
Apparently it's still on track for completion by the contract end date of 31st March.
Work on the Dore loop/chord at West View Lane is halted as the hill side below Poynton Wood has proved unsuitable for further soil nailing. Work on a different solution is understood to be starting soon.
Work at Bamford is more extensive but harder to picture. It appears to be coming on well. There's a great deal of signalling work stretching well down the Sheaf Valley towards Sheffield, south to Unstone on the MML and along to Hope.
Apparently it's still on track for completion by the contract end date of 31st March.
Class 170101
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Apologies if I am being dense here but surely that should have been known in the first place? Wasn't it @Bald Rick that said you pay for your ground conditions / groundwork whether you do them or not?
Killingworth
Established Member
I dont know who pays for what as that must depend on the terms of the contract. This all started about 1995 so there have been many plans and surveys of all sorts.aa the project got bigger, changed, delayed, restarted and finally got under way.
In war they say all plans need to be reviwed after first contact with the enemy. My observations and knowledge of local history suggest that the Midland Railway left some booby traps for their modern successors. They made changes to the course of the River Sheaf and seem to have altered the hillside alongsde and above in a way that has been fine for 130 years.
When excavated it's moved more than expected. The local grapevine suggests that at least part of the hillside is not natural but may have been filled with materials left over from brick buildings. After 130 years it was all covered by now mature trees, bushes and gorse. Whatever, the original plan is going to be revised to comply with current safety regulations.
I can confirm that there are a lot of old building remains hidden in those trees. At one time there was a brick works at the top of the slope but I remember a lot of smaller building debris and foundations scattered all over the hilside.
Nice pictures - it must be pretty exciting for anyone regularly using Dore & Totley station to see substantial improvements being built literally right in front of them. I'm a bit jealous - although I shouldn't be really as my local station already has three platforms!
Killingworth
Established Member
Until 1985 Dore & Totley had 4, but only 2 operational since the 1960s. Here's how it was in the 1920s.
Extended Platform 1 and new Platform 2 should be in place by the end of October but not operational before the end of March 2024. A full blockade is due over the Christmas and New Year period and another in March to connect everything up and ensure it all works.
The 1985 brick shelter will be demolished next month. The platforms are to be 6 car length, roughly to the signal in this picture, although it will move about 15 metres towards Sheffield. It seems a small open bus shelter will appear towards that end of the platform, beyond the footbridge.
It would be nice to think there'll be more and better timetabled services from May 2024. I suspect retaining what we have but working more reliably may be a victory in this cash strapped age. Running TPE's full hourly service of 5 or 6 coach trains on time would be a major win. Once practical experience is gained in operating the loops I'd hope more major changes might come by May 2025.
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Pictured is root plate of large fallen tree 200 yards south of the area being excavated, in an area very near the railway. Probably about 100 years old. Note the bricks.
However Twentywell brick works was some way from here, very near Bradway Tunnel .
e
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Yes - The brick works was on the site of what is now a small housing estate, located behind the Castle Inn.
I Spent most of my Childhood playing in those woods so I knew every inch of them by the time I was a teenager. There are many signs that the woods are relatively modern - probably younger than the railway.
I Spent most of my Childhood playing in those woods so I knew every inch of them by the time I was a teenager. There are many signs that the woods are relatively modern - probably younger than the railway.
zwk500
Veteran Member
I have relatives in the Totley, Coal Aston and Eckington areas and they have mentioned before that there is a belief that a lot of local woods were planted around the time of WW1 as a result of large-scale deforestation for wood to be used in the construction of trenches and pit-props for the mines which were rapidly expanding to meet the wartime demand for coal. Not sure how accurate it is, or if it's only specific woods.
td97
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Ground investigation was carried out in 2021, but despite this the ground conditions were unforeseen. The GI concluded the slope was clay, but it also contains a counterfort drain (loose rock and brick). Also the ground water level is higher than expected, possibly exasperated by the wet winter (see Nuneham viaduct).
Whether the 2021 investigation was sufficient is the question that should be asked.
Killingworth
Established Member
This map must have been surveyed about the same time as the one above. Traces of the leat running from Totley Brook to the south into Brinkburn Grange's fish pond can still be seen if you know where to look.
This map follows the Old Hay Brook (parallel with today's Totley Brook Road, a misnomer that continues to confuse) and the course of the railway to Totley Tunnel. The brook's course was altered and is now carried across the line by a substantial brick aqueduct. Totley Tunnel must have needed many hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of bricks. Where to dispose of sub-standard, damaged and unused bricks? Fill in Brinkburn Grange's pond and generally reshape the landscape and spread some soil over it with some seeds. Totley Brook flowing from the south joins the Old Hay Brook to form thee River Sheaf beside the mill pond and Rolling Mill.
Incidentally I've seen a Norton parish map from 1815 that shows a Walk mill pond on the site of what is now known as the railway triangle. That's made up of spoil dug from Twentywell Sick cutting and Bradway tunnel but I've digressed far enough into the history. That said it might help if surveyors for projects like this took as much time looking and comparing old maps as counting plant species and bats.
This map follows the Old Hay Brook (parallel with today's Totley Brook Road, a misnomer that continues to confuse) and the course of the railway to Totley Tunnel. The brook's course was altered and is now carried across the line by a substantial brick aqueduct. Totley Tunnel must have needed many hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of bricks. Where to dispose of sub-standard, damaged and unused bricks? Fill in Brinkburn Grange's pond and generally reshape the landscape and spread some soil over it with some seeds. Totley Brook flowing from the south joins the Old Hay Brook to form thee River Sheaf beside the mill pond and Rolling Mill.
Incidentally I've seen a Norton parish map from 1815 that shows a Walk mill pond on the site of what is now known as the railway triangle. That's made up of spoil dug from Twentywell Sick cutting and Bradway tunnel but I've digressed far enough into the history. That said it might help if surveyors for projects like this took as much time looking and comparing old maps as counting plant species and bats.
WesternBiker
Member
Gosh, that's an evocative photograph. It shows what we've lost through rationalisation.
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Killingworth
Established Member
Work is progressing slowly but surely, probably most markedly by little increments of signalling work stretching south to Unstone on the MML and well down the Sheaf Valley into Sheffield, as well as along the Hope Valley to where the LNE/LNW border will be between Hope and Earles.
Work on the Bamford and Dore loops continue.
Activity is now in evidence at Dore & Totley station. The piles are in for the east side footbridge foundations and are to go in on the west side (by the car park) starting this week.All being well there should be two 6 car platforms in place by the end of October. They probably won't be fully useable until March as all the track and signalling will need to be connected first.
Sadly, the small brick shelter built in 1985 to replace all the original waiting rooms is about to be demolished. It may be replaced bu a sideless bus shelter.
A new signalling power supply and control building is being constructed on the railway triangle - that site originally owned by the Midland Railway, LMS and British Railways before being passed to Sheffield City Council in the 1950s - who've just sold a small piece back to Network Rail.
Work on the Bamford and Dore loops continue.
Activity is now in evidence at Dore & Totley station. The piles are in for the east side footbridge foundations and are to go in on the west side (by the car park) starting this week.All being well there should be two 6 car platforms in place by the end of October. They probably won't be fully useable until March as all the track and signalling will need to be connected first.
Sadly, the small brick shelter built in 1985 to replace all the original waiting rooms is about to be demolished. It may be replaced bu a sideless bus shelter.
A new signalling power supply and control building is being constructed on the railway triangle - that site originally owned by the Midland Railway, LMS and British Railways before being passed to Sheffield City Council in the 1950s - who've just sold a small piece back to Network Rail.
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pokemonsuper9
Established Member
Ended up at Dore & Totley today so got some photos
Track looks to be in starting to enter their place to the South of the station.
Not a whole lot seems to have changed this week, this looks quite similar to Monday's images.
Track looks to be in starting to enter their place to the South of the station.
Not a whole lot seems to have changed this week, this looks quite similar to Monday's images.
Killingworth
Established Member
Only minor preparatory work done during the week. Platform segments are now on site ready to be installed.
All being well the new platform and footbridge should be in place by end of October. Warch the north end of the present platform. Half the piles for the footbridge foundations are now in and the second set are about to go in. The small brick shelter will be going next month.
Signalling is critical. The current platform is being extended to roughly where the current signals are sited. They will have to move towards Sheffield, possibly not until a December blockade?
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
Interesting to note what actually has occurred in the five years that this thread has been running.
Killingworth
Established Member
It illustrates how long anything takes from first thoughts to delivery for service.
The old 4 platform station was reduced to one in 1985 as part of the bigger plan to speed services between Sheffield and Bradway Tunnel including removal of the stations at Heeley; Millhouses and Beauchief and slewing of two tracks to make better use of the then cleared trackbed that had carried 4 tracks. That must have been in planning from the early 1970s based on falling passenger and freight volumes.
By 1990 singling tbrough Dore and Totley station waa realised to have been a mistake and soon after 1995 the first plans to redouble were observed on the wall at Railtrack's Manchester offices. They were discussed with Sheffield councillors in 2000 and by late 2001 appeared in their published plans for delivery in 2003-4. 20 years later they will be.
Stockton and Darlington Railway opened 1825, Liverpool and Manchester 1830 and by 1850 you could travel from London to Edinburgh by train!
I digress but this saga gets worse. The Hope Valley scheme is now bigger than just redoubling at Dore. It grew by 2013 into a plan to provide 2 extra hourly fast paths between Sheffield and Manchester.
By 2015 it was realised that couldn't happen due to congestion into both Manchester and Sheffield and the scope was reduced to only one extra fast path. Delivery is imminent and it has dawned that even one extra hourly path is problematic. Why? Partly removal of those two tracks from Dore into Sheffield. Can they be restored? No. Parts of the old track bed have been sold off and built on, bridges have been removed and various items of lineside eqipment would need resiting.
Congestion on the Midland Mainline down the Sheaf valley impacts on multiple long distance passenger services stretching from Aberdeen to Penzance, Reading, London, Norwich, Cleethorpes and Liverpool. Freight too. For electrification (by 31st December 2030?) a third track is supposedly to be added but on paat form can anyone have confidence that it will happen?
I'm sure this has been discussed before - maybe in this very thread!
I'm sure that the general view was that they could. If HS2 can be built from scratch - needing to address all your reasons why the southern approach to Sheffield can't be widened - how can the restoration of some sorely-needed infrastructure not be do-able? Cheap/lightweigh retail sheds will be easy to take over and clear, and most of the other encroachments can be dealt with by a Compulsory Purchase Order if the owners really aren't prepared to cooperate with the improvement of our public transport infrastructure.
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