|
Notes: Rotherham Masborough railway station was Rotherham's
main railway station from the 1840's, until most of its trains
were rerouted via Rotherham Central in 1986. In its final form it had had four platform faces. two side platforms and an island,
with a large sandstone station building on the eastern Platform
One, large iron and glass platform canopies, a fully-enclosed |
footbridge and wooden waiting rooms on the other platforms.
It closed in 1988, except for a few football specials.
The station, designed by Francis Thompson, was originally opened by the North Midland Railway
between Derby's Tri Junction Station and Leeds, known then as,
simply, 'Masbrough', without the 'o', since Rotherham had not
yet grown to surround the village. It became part of the main
line to London St. Pancras and to Birmingham and the South West,
a line |
|
which avoided a direct routing through the region's main settlement of Sheffield altogether, due to difficult terrain
on the prospective route south of Sheffield, by routing down
the Rother Valley. At Rotherham the line passed over the Sheffield
& Rotherham Railway's Sheffield Wicker to Rotherham Westgate
line and a large triangle junction was built allowing trains
from the north and North Midland trains to travel into Sheffield
from the northeast along the Don Valley. Immediately to the
north of this junction stood Rotherham Masborough station.
As built, the station had two short staggered platforms with the main station buildings on the up side; the down platform was an island. A goods shed and sidings stood at the north end of the up platform. By the early 20th century both platforms had been extended and were now facing and spanned by a footbridge. The goods shed had been demolished and replaced with a single livestock siding and pens replacing earlier livestock pens a short distance to the north. By the 1920s the station had been further expanded with another side platform on the down side.
The name was changed to Masborough & Rotherham on 1 May 1896 and again to Rotherham (Masborough) on 1 April 1908.
|
In the late 1850's, Sheffield was finally linked with
Chesterfield, allowing Midland Main Line trains to call
at the newly-opened Sheffield Midland station on their
way north, passing back on to North Midland metals via
the Sheffield & Rotherham.. As late as the 1940's
some long distance passenger trains still used to original
Chesterfield - Rotherham 'old road', avoiding Sheffield
and calling at Rotherham. Other ex-London expresses would
slip a coach at Rotherham until this practice was discontinued
nationally from the 1930's onwards. The corresponding
up working would involve the coaches being worked to Sheffield
Midland by a local train and the attached to a London
express there. Up until the 1980's the odd London-Leeds
express train would call at Masborough.
During the 1960's rationalisation of railways, Rotherham
Masborough became Rotherham's only station and eventually
lost its 'Masborough' suffix.
|
Shortsighted track and signaling rationalisation in the early
1980's meant that platforms 1 and 2 could not be used by Sheffield-bound
trains without reversing which made them effectively useless
and removed much operational flexibility on the line as express
trains could no longer pass local trains at Rotherham without
reversing.
|
By the 1980's railways in South Yorkshire were in a sorry state
having lost most of their passengers. Rotherham in particular
suffered from its remaining station being over a mile from the
town centre. As a result, a link was built from the former Sheffield
& Rotherham Line to the Great Central Line, allowing local
trains to use a re-opened Rotherham Central |
station, at the
same time recreating the flexibility to pass expresses that
had been removed a few years earlier. Rotherham Masborough regained
its suffix in the timetables (although the station signboards
were not modified) and soldiered on for a few years with Sheffield-York
trains stopping until eventual closure in 1988. Most of the
station buildings were demolished in the early 1990's but the
platforms still remain, and the line through the station is
still used by express and freight services.
In later years both Masbrough and Masborough are used. The last Bradshaw shows the spelling as Masborough while the current Ordnance survey map shows Masbrough.
Ticket from Michael Stewart
|