Sheffield district rail rationalisation plan of the 1960s

The Sheffield District Rail Rationalisation Plan was a series of linked railway civil engineering projects, station and line closures and train route changes that took place in and around Sheffield, South Yorkshire. The majority of these changes took place in the 1960s and early 1970s, however the plan, by now much modified in the face of rapidly dwindling freight traffic, was not fully realised until the 1980s.

In the 1960s, the Sheffield area was one of the busiest areas in the country for rail traffic, in particular for freight traffic: a BRB report showed that 10% of the country's rail freight emanated from the Sheffield area. The facilities that existed, however, were built by competing railway companies in the 19th century and were cramped and outmoded. In an era of central government economic planning this was seen as constraint on Britain's economic growth; government money was made available to relieve these bottlenecks. At the same time, passenger facilities in Sheffield were to be made more convenient, representing the need for faster and more frequent trains on fewer routes stopping at fewer intermediate stations, but allowing more convenient changing between trains for the remaining local and long-distance express trains.

The major part of the rationalisation plan involved:

In 1965, Sheffield Midland station's exterior was cleaned for the first time 95 years. At the same time, Sheaf House, new home of British Rail Sheffield Division headquarters were opened. Sheaf House stood on the site of the former Pond Street Goods station closed in 1963. Midland Main Line services South were improved with hourly workings (alternatively via Nottingham or Derby) from 1966 with departure times scheduled just past the hour. Cross-country passenger services from the North-East to the South-West were transformed with services running via Sheffield Victoria station rerouted to Sheffield Midland. Services via Retford and the ECML to London King's Cross were stopped and all London trains routed via the Midland Main Line to London St Pancras. The Master Cutler was transferred to the Midland line and lost its Pullman cars.

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