14th March – A South Yorkshire Day

 14^th March – A South Yorkshire Day

This trip came about when I booked up the Premier Inn hotel in Doncaster for a couple nights due to a BLS tour which was going to be announced for the Saturday.  When the tour got announced it didn’t really appeal, yes it featured some small bits of required track but it didn’t get my pulse racing so I decided to save my money and not do the tour, instead have a day in South Yorkshire to revisit stations for photographs.

The Friday was spent heading up to Doncaster via Grand Central (cheapest & fastest way), with some unit hunting in London scoring my last South Eastern 377 for mileage needs, plus giving some networkers some mileage boosts.  I do like the Grand Central 180s for the non-stop run (although after Doncaster it is a bit of a crawl towards Bradford!)  I located the hotel, checked myself in and relaxed for the evening, unusual for me to use the same hotel for two nights but it made a nice chance not having to repack my bag with clothes.

180102 (One of Julian's favourite units) at Doncaster ;)

Anyhow back to the Saturday, and a walk to Doncaster station for the 06:00 service for Lincoln, noting a 150 was working a Leeds stopper from platform 7, and a 158 was working a Sheffield stopper from platform 5.  Winner 195003 rolled in around 5 minutes late (good start for my experience with the new DOR run Northern!), this service unusually runs non-stop to Sheffield, doesn’t even call at Meadowhall, it even did the Kilnhurst chord (bypassing Swinton, although looking at RTT this wasn’t a booked move).  It was back on time after Sheffield when the train reversed to take me to the island platform of Darnall.

A 195 departing Darnall

The next train was running a couple minutes late, as 158867 rolled in from Retford to take me to Sheffield where it terminated (was meant to carry on to Nottingham), where my original plan had its first set-back as the next Sheffield – Leeds via Moorthorpe was cancelled (my original idea was to take this one to Bolton on Dearne for a 10 minute wait for the Sheffield – York service).  Before I could rethink my plan I headed to Superdrug to pick up something to eat for breakfast, and jumped on winner 195019 for the short hop to Meadowhall.  Crossing over to platform 2 to await the York service, this was formed of 144021 (running around as a 2 coach unit as the centre coach has been removed) for some classical pacer based bounce for the run to Thurnscoe where I popped to a nearby shop for some supplies (mainly as a time wasting move).

I returned to the platforms, and after playing with Google Maps, it suggested a couple bus moves which would not only allow me to get Bolton on Dearne, it would also put me slightly ahead of my plan.  158908 was up next to take me the couple stops to Bolton on Dearne, returning to Goldthorpe on 150273, didn’t need this station for a photograph (but I still took a couple extra), but it had a bus stop served by a couple buses towards Barnsley.  I turned down the first bus as it was a stopper as the X19 (Doncaster – Barnsley) service was behind it.  Stagecoach bus 27188 took me towards Barnsley Bus station, allowing me to explore a part of South Yorkshire I had previously not seen.  Barnsley looks a bit strange with the level crossing to the south being closed, and I made use of some spare time to grab lunch from a nearby Greggs before boarding a route 21 service (bus 26087) which took me to the village of Dodworth, alighting from the bus at the stop closest to the station and a fast walk to Dodworth station not to get caught out by the level crossing.

Level crossing and old signal box at Dodworth

Although I shouldn’t have rushed as I had time to spare before 153317 & 153358 rolled in from Sheffield on the next Huddersfield service, which took me over the border to Denby Dale (this line has some wonderful views).  153363 & 153324 were up next to take me to Silkstone Common where I noticed on RTT the next Huddersfield service was still at Meadowhall, another check saw it still stuck there (it had broken down), so a quick search on Google Maps highlighted a “get out of jail” bus move, so it was a short walk to the bus stop next to the station for a route 21 route (bus 26085) to take me to the Market Place in Penistone.  A short walk from the village centre took me to Penistone station which allowed me to clear this station for a photograph (and to escape the line as the next northbound service was also cancelled).  153358 & 153317 returned from Huddersfield to take me to Elsecar where I had a short wait for the next Leeds stopper.

Nice views at Penistone

This was running a couple minutes late, as a busy 158797 rolled in to take me back one stop to Wombwell where thankfully the next Sheffield stopper was also running a couple minutes late, but this was a double edged sword as the connection at the next station wasn’t the best, I was worried that I fired up Google Maps to look up bus moves, but in the end 158782 recovered some time to Chapeltown with the next Huddersfield service being a couple minutes late, which allowed me to connect to 153317 & 153358 for the run to Barnsley, crossing over to join a busy crowd awaiting the next fast Sheffield service, formed of dud 195019 to take me to Meadowhall (but now over ten miles), I was lucky enough to get a seat on this busy service.  At Meadowhall I crossed over to await the next Doncaster stopper, formed of 150133 to take me to Conisbrough.

Not a lot around this station which I could see, but my time was short before 144019 rolled in with the next stopper to take me one stop to Mexborough, for a short wait (extended due to a late running TPE service) before 144018 rolled in.  Thankfully it had some recovery time and the delay was reduced to a minute after Doncaster as it bounced to Bentley, just giving me enough time to get across the tracks with the level crossing starting to flash as I had just cleared, certainly not a station to do with a tight connection.  This was my bonus station (due to being ahead of plan) as I returned to Doncaster with winner 331110, remaining on board for the turnaround (nice plug sockets coming in handy).

144018 departing Bentley

After a late running Azuma for Leeds departed, 331110 departed back towards Leeds, being cleared for ten miles with the run over the border to South Elmsall, returning to South Yorkshire with winner 331108 which took me to Adwick (which I guess at one point had more buses serving the station, considering it was shown as Adwick Interchange).  A nice heated waiting room (with comfy seats) was at this station which passed the time before low mileage 158909 returned from the freight line towards Hatfield to take me back to Doncaster, a nice little bonus.  This is where things went a bit wrong as the unit which was working the Scunthorpe services had broken down so the unit which would head to Adwick was being ‘stolen’ for the next Scunthorpe service, however this meant my connection at Thorne South was in doubt, especially when 144014 departed Doncaster it was 12 minutes late, the connection already gone by the time it rolled into Thorne South.

Although I was already making an alternative plan, the first plan of walking to Thorne North went into the bin due to the rain, but there was a Doncaster bound bus due, so it was a fast walk to a bus stop to await a double decker 37236, on a route 87A service to take me towards Stainforth village, and I alighted at the bus stop for the station.  A short walk took me to Hatfield & Stainforth station where I had a short wait before 144001 rolled in to take me to Althorpe for an hour fester (started to get chilly once the sun set).  144014 was up next which took me to Scunthorpe for a 25 minute fester before the same unit took me back to Doncaster, I was toying with the idea of heading to Sheffield & back but decided to call it a night, swinging via McDonalds for a Big Mac meal and heading to the hotel to relax for the remainder of the evening.

Reflecting on the day, I did everything I set out to do today for station revisits, even managing to get ahead of my plan and recovering from some cancelled/delayed trains by using buses.  My list of stations I need to revisit in South Yorkshire has been reduced to only a couple (Dore & Darton), both are slightly easier to do on other trips, whenever those will be.

144014 at Scunthorpe