Between Dore & Totley And Bamford Stations – 1st April 2025
I wanted to see the newly-built passing loop between Heathersage and Bamford stations, so the easiest way was to go to Bamford station and return from Bamford station to Sheffield station.
I took these pictures along the outward route.
Note.
- Hathersage seems a tidy and attractive village.
- All the stations I visited, seem to be long on information.
- The last three pictures show the passing loop from the bridge at Bamford station.
- eathersage and Bamford stations are not step-free.
- The piling is of a similar quality to a larger scale of a surgeon sewing up a patient after a serious operation.
This OpenRailwayMap shows the loop.
Note.
- The three tracks of the passing loop appear almost straight.
- Are they level I wonder?
- The loop looks level from my pictures.
- Bamford station is 83.9 miles from Cleethorpes according to Real Time Trains.
- Dore & Totley station is 75 miles from Cleethorpes according to Real Time Trains.
- Dore & Totley and Bamford stations are 8.9 miles apart and TransPennine Express Class 195 trains take eight minutes to go between the two stations.
I’ll take an average speed of just under 70 mph on a straight and level track.
What speed would a battery-electric Class 802 train, be able to achieve?
This track seems to have been built for battery-electric InterCity Trains and their drivers to have fun.
If the engineers had wanted to make it better they could have used concrete slab track, but to my camera and my eyes, it looks to be extremely level.
I took these pictures along the return route.
Only by looking at all pictures and the map in detail in this post, can you get a feeling for what has been done.
The Wikipedia entry for the Hope Valley Line says this.
The work includes creating a 3,600 feet (1,100 m) passing loop between Bamford and Hathersage.
But this is no passing loop, as it’s much more of a passing straight!
It will be very interesting to see how many minutes can be saved between Dore & Totley And Bamford stations.
My Only Worry
This OpenRailwayMap shows the Eastern section of the Hope Valley Line.
Note.
- The triangular junction at Dore is at the East of the map.
- The blue arrow indicates Bamford station.
- The straight and level passing loop to the East of Bamford station.
- Click the map to show it to a larger scale.
Will this section of track, with trains going through at seventy mph, every few minutes be too dangerous for some people on the four stations on the route?
Dore & Totley Station – 1st April 2025
It seems like only yesterday, when I visisited Dore and Totley station and wrote Dore And Totley Station – 13th July 2020, when I took these pictures.
But it was yesterday, when I visited the station again and look at the station now.
Note.
- The footbridge is in keeping with the original station building.
- The only changes to the original station building, is a small amount of tasteful restoration.
- The footbridge is high enough for future electrification.
- There are one shelter on the entry/car park and two on the far side.
- As I watched several Class 158, Class 195 and Class 222 trains pass through, it appears that the curve has been profiled for speed.
- I am pretty sure, that the station has been designed so that if required, at least one extra platform can be added to the Chesterfield Lines.
- The Rajdhani Restaurant in the original station building is rated 4.2 on Trip Advisor, which says they do gluten-free options.
- The maximum speed through the station appears to be 50 mph, with 70 mph on the Chesterfield Lines.
From my brief visit, it appears to be another station, that has been superbly updates.
Let’s bring on a few more.
The Train Trip Where I Arrived Before My Train
Yesterday, I went to Sheffield on Grand Central Trains. But owing to a small mix-up at Peterborough station, I ended up getting to Doncaster on an LNER train, before my Grand Central Train arrived.
This was the sequence of events.
- I bought a ticket from a machine at King’s Cross for Doncaster for the keen single price of £25.70 with my Senior Railcard.
- I had managed to assign myself a forward facing window seat.
- The aisle seat was occupied by a large man before I took my seat.
- But I was able to squeeze past.
- I did tell my travelling companion that I was going to Doncaster., as I have been known to fall asleep on trains and didn’t want to end up in Bradford.
- My train left for Doncaster at 10:52.
- I then found thyself waking up, with the train stopped in a station, which I didn’t recognise.
- So I asked my companion, where we were and he said. “Doncaster!”
- I then squeezed past him again and left the train, only to find, that I had got out at Peterborough.
- Luckily, by the time I realised I was at the wrong station, an LNER train had arrived that was also going to Doncaster.
- So a helpful member of LNER’s station staff told me to get on the LNER train.
- Another helpful member of LNER’s train staff approved my ticket, so I didn’t have to buy another.
- As my new train, passed Retford, we passed the Grand Central Train at rest in Retford station.
- I arrived in Doncaster at 12:45.
Looking at Real Time Trains, I find this is said.
This service was cancelled between Retford and Bradford Interchange due to the train striking a bird (V8)
As it was a V8 bird, I assume it was a large one.
The Anonymous Widower 