The Sheffield and Rotherham Railway was a railway line in England, between the named places. The North Midland Railway was being promoted but its route was planned to go through Rotherham and by-pass Sheffield, so the S&RR was built as a connecting line. It opened in 1838. In Sheffield it opened a terminal station at Wicker, and in Rotherham at Westgate. When the NMR opened in 1840 a connecting curve was made between the two routes.
The opening of the S&RR encouraged heavy industry to be located along its route in Sheffield. The S&RR was absorbed by the much larger Midland Railway in 1845. The Wicker passenger terminal was cramped and restrictive and in 1870 the Midland Railway opened a new access route to Sheffield from the south, via Bradway Tunnel, and a new main station in Sheffield. Trains proceeding north from the new station joined the S&RR route, which continued in use. Over the years a number of branch lines were constructed diverging from the S&RR line, and in 1987 a connection was made into another line at Rotherham, giving access to a more central passenger station there. Nearly the whole extent of the original S&RR line continues in main line use in 2023.
Background
Steel making had developed as a prime industry in Sheffield well before the end of the eighteenth century. A wooden wagonway was in existence before 1729, bringing coal into the town, but it was out of use by the 1770s. In 1774 a new wagonway was opened bringing coal into the centre, and bringing about a remarkable reduction in the cost of coal. However the coal owner, the Duke of Norfolk, seems to have been reluctant to continue his business on that basis, and he stopped the supply, provoking a considerable riot in Sheffield.David Joy, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: volume VIII: South and West Yorkshire, David St John Thomas, Newton Abbot, 1975 reprinted 1984, , pages 155 and 156
A proper railway was the answer, but the difficult topography made the idea challenging. A Sheffield and Manchester Railway was proposed in 1830, engineered by George Stephenson; Four counterbalanced inclined planes would be needed. The scheme involved passenger trains being hauled up by heavier limestone wagons descending; there would be a passing loop inside a tunnel. The scheme was not taken further.Stephen R. Batty, Railway Centres: Sheffield, Ian Allan, Shepperton, 1984, , pages 10 and 11
Parliamentary bills for a railway between Rotherham and Sheffield were submitted in 1834 and 1835 without success, but a project for the North Midland Railway from Derby to Leeds was submitted to Parliament for the 1836 session. Sheffield is located in a marked topographical depression, and the engineer for the North Midland Railway, George Stephenson, was against steep railway gradients because of the low tractive power of contemporary locomotives. Accordingly his planned line by-passed Sheffield, passing instead through Masbrough, in Rotherham. This was not a popular arrangement in Sheffield, and opposition was expressed to Stephenson, but in the event local interests acquiesced in his recommended main line, and that a revived Sheffield and Rotherham scheme was appropriate.
Sheffield and Rotherham Railway Design and authorisation A project design was quickly prepared: much work had already been done in surveying the land between Rotherham and Sheffield, in connection with earlier schemes for a canal. The railway was aligned approximately north-northeast so that it also followed a gentle gradient, except for a short section of 1 in 68 at the Rotherham terminus. The route was designed to make use of an alignment similar to that which was planned for the canal. The line was planned to run from the Wicker in Sheffield to Westgate in Rotherham, a distance of .The Sheffield terminal is described by Joy as "central". It was located immediately north of the later Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway station site, and nowadays would be considered to be to the north of central Sheffield.
When the details of the proposed line were published, a hundred and twenty inhabitants of Rotherham headed by their vicar petitioned against the bill, because they thought the canal and the turnpike furnished sufficient accommodation between the two towns, and because they dreaded an incursion of the idle, drunken, and dissolute portion of the Sheffield people as a consequence of increasing the facilities of transit.Report in the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent (newspaper), quoted in Frederick S. Williams, The Midland Railway: its Rise and Progress, Strahan & Co, London, 1878, page 446
The Sheffield & Rotherham Railway was incorporated by the (6 & 7 Will. 4. c. cix) on 4 July 1836. The North Midland Railway received its authorisation on the same day, Frederick Swanwick was the engineer of the S&RR.Donald J. Grant, Directory of the Railway Companies of Great Britain, Matador, Kibworth Beauchamp, 2017, , page 498 The line was of standard gauge, using fish-bellied cast iron rails mostly on stone blocks, with some untreated larch sleepers.Francis Whishaw, The Railways of Great Britain and Ireland Practically Described and Illustrated, published by John Weale, London, second edition, 1842, pages 395 to 400
Stations were at Sheffield, Grimesthorpe Bridge, Brightside, Blackburn Forge, Holmes, and Rotherham, but only the two end termini were open on the first days.Batty, pages 13 to 15
Opening and early operation A ceremonial opening of the single-track main line of the S&RR took place on 31 October 1838, although earthworks were unfinished and the second track had not been laid. The first train on that day conveyed Earl Fitzwilliam and other guests to Rotherham; a breakfast followed by celebratory speeches took place at the Court House. The guests were later returned by train to Sheffield. The initial journey was described as a 'very elegant' train of yellow-painted carriages leaving the 'handsome and spacious shed' at Wicker. The line opened to the general public on the following day, 1 November 1838. The first train that day was pulled by the locomotive Victory, and consisted of six yellow and black carriages, holding 300 passengers. The line's trackside, trees and bridges were filled with crowds who had attended for the event. Victory travelled to Rotherham in 17 minutes. The second outward train left two minutes later, hauled by the locomotive London.M. E. Quick, Railway Passenger Stations in England, Wales and Scotland: A Chronology, version 5.03, September 2021, Railway and Canal Historical Society, electronic download, page 503T. Booth, Sheffield and its Railways, in the Railway Magazine, October 1899, pages 345 to 354
Industrial activity in Sheffield created a considerable demand for coal and other minerals, and a branch line from the Greasbrough Canal to Holmes, serving local collieries, was opened on 7 August 1839. It was built by the North Midland Railway (which had not yet reached the area) and leased to the S&RR. It made an end-on connection with the Earl of Fitzwilliam's private railways. The end of the branch was at Park Gate, and the site developed as a coking works and chemical plant, lasting at least into the 1960s.John Gough, The Midland Railway: A Chronology, self published, J V Gough, Leicester, 1986, , page 53
On 11 May 1840 the North Midland Railway opened its line from Derby to its own Rotherham station, named Masbrough.The district is known as Masbrough and the station name was spelt this on opening. From 1896 the station was called “Masborough and Rotherham” and the misspelling remained in future renamings". The Greasbrough Canal line now served additionally as a west-to-north connection between the S&RR and the NMR, as the Greasbrough line had been laid out to run alongside the planned NMR alignment. The NMR opened its continuation northwards to Leeds on 1 July 1840.Gough, page 43Clement E. Stretton, The History of the Midland Railway, Methuen & Co, London, 1901, pages 52 and 53
The portion from Masbrough to Derby had been specially expedited in order to form a junction with the Sheffield and Rotherham Company's system, giving Sheffield a direct railway connection. The decision had been taken in April 1840 by the Sheffield and Rotherham board to allow through working of trains off the North Midland line into Sheffield, and the S&RR timetable was adjusted to facilitate that. Trains from Derby reversed at the Masborough station.Batty, paged 15 and 17
An early attempt at marketing tourism was made: "An omnibus would run from Sheffield Station on the arrival of each train (fare 4d)... through the heart of the town... to within a few minutes' walk of the beautiful Botanic Gardens."Advertisement quoted in Booth
The opening meant that through journeys to London were now possible, and a remarkable publicity stunt was undertaken. Mr W Vickers, the S&RR Chairman, sent the belt-driven locomotive Sheffield and a single coach on the entire journey from Sheffield to London. The excursion started on Monday 11 May and arrival was expected on Wednesday 13. Mr and Mrs Vickers were the only passengers as far as Derby, where they were joined by George Stephenson and Michael Longridge, a producer of wrought iron rails. The journey was apparently successful, but the London and Birmingham Railway demanded the sum of £10 as a penalty for running over their line without giving the necessary 14 days' notice.Batty, page 17
Whishaw, writing in 1842, said that the passenger train service consisted of fourteen trains each way daily, Monday to Saturday, of which five ran to the NMR Masbrough station. There were nine trains each way on Sundays. He reported that in the first six months of 1840, the line ran at a loss of £290 on turnover of £1,560 (19%).
Connecting to the SA&MR The S&RR had been the first railway in the area, but as a short line it had limited potential, and the directors saw that expansion was essential. The Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway was then under construction, and was to have a Sheffield station very close to the Wicker station of the S&RR. In the summer of 1843, the directors of the S&RR approached the SA&MR, suggesting that a short junction line between them should be made, and the S&RR Wicker station used by both companies. The facilities at Wicker were limited: it had only a single passenger platform. It seemed improbable that Wicker could handle all the Manchester traffic of the SA&MR as well as all the northward and southward traffic of the Midland Railway. Moreover, at the time the SA&MR were supporting a Chesterfield line competing with the NMR, and the S&RR proposition was declined.George Dow, The First Railway between Manchester and Sheffield, published by the London & North Eastern Railway, 1945, pages 14 and 16
In fact the SA&MR opened its line in Sheffield on 14 July 1845; the Sheffield station was Bridgehouses, a short distance west of the later (1851) Sheffield Victoria station.George Dow, Great Central: volume I: the Progenitors, 1813 to 1863, The Locomotive Publishing Company, London, 1959, page 51 Although use of the S&RR Wicker station had been turned down, the construction of a connection was sensible enough, and this opened on 1 January 1847 from Bridgehouses to Wicker. It was steeply graded at 1 in 36 and ran through Spital Hill Tunnel; it was only ever used for limited exchange of goods traffic.
Worked, and later absorbed, by the Midland Railway The S&RR line was worked by the Midland Railway from 10 October 1844: the Midland Railway was formed on 10 May 1844 by the amalgamation of the North Midland Railway and certain other companies.Joy, page 161