The Sheffield & Rotherham was short railway with a short life. It opened in 1838 and was taken over by the Midland Railway in 1845. It was promoted by the Sheffield iron masters, keen to see their products dispatched around the country. The success of the line, built across open fields, was such that it was soon lined with new iron and steel works. Much of the early history of the line is based on the unpublished journal of Thomas Pearson, secretary of the railway, but the story is taken beyond the Midland take over and how that company developed the railway further.
The history of the Sheffield & Rotherham Railway is detailed from its inception and its further development by the Midland Railway in this incredibly well researched volume. Hard back, with 240 A4 pages copious illustrated with both colour and black & white photographs and plans.
Non Member price is £25.
To find out more read
Chapter 1 – The Introduction
by clicking the cover image below.
Chapter List
1 Introduction
2 Origins
3 Building the Line
4 Running the Railway
5 Enter the North Midland
6 Stations
7 Midland takes over
8 Wicker Goods Station
9 Junction Line
10 Locomotives
11 Carriages & Wagons
12 Engine Houses
13 Conclusions
A native of Liverpool but a longtime resident of Sheffield, Ian Howard attended the prestigious Liverpool Institute High School for Boys and quickly became noted as an outstanding mathematics student. He then went to Manchester University in 1961 where he gained a BSc in mathematics in 1964 and was appointed as an assistant maths lecturer in 1966 while he worked for a PhD in material studies that he was awarded in 1968. In 1969 he gained a position at the University of Sheffield as a lecturer in materials and remained at that institution for the remainder of his working life, culminating is his taking the Chair of Mechanical Engineering in 1999. Following his retirement in December 2005 Ian was then appointed Emeritus Professor of Mechanical Engineering on January 1st 2006.
Ian joined the Midland Railway Society shortly after its foundation in 1981, and was a regular attendee at meetings and outings. When the Society expanded its membership he took on the post of Journal Editor, in which he continued for many years, and brought it to the forefront of railway historical publications. In recognition of his work for the Society he was elected as President on two occasions, 2012-13 and 2018-19, his first Presidential addresses being on Liverpool and the Midland Railway, followed by the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway.
Following the delivery of that Address to the Society’s Annual General Meeting in 2019, he continued to research deeper and deeper, uncovering facts that simply hadn’t seen the light of day before. He worked assiduously on this project until the week before his death – at which time he had reached the letter ‘S’ in the index as almost the final touch.
His abiding interest in both the place of his birth and his adopted home led to the subjects of his presidential addresses and the book that will stand as a testament to his research.
Launched in 2023, a magazine devoted to the modelling of all aspects of the MR, its predecessors, successors, and joint lines, in any scale or gauge. It complements the Journal and is available free to Members.
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