Tinsley Marshalling Yard

Tinsley Marshalling Yard was a railway marshalling yard, used to separate railway wagons, located near Tinsley in Sheffield, England. It was opened in 1965 as a part of a major plan to rationalise all aspects of the rail services in the Sheffield area, and closed in stages from 1985 with the run-down of rail freight in Britain. It was also the site of Tinsley Traction Maintenance Depot (TMD), which was closed in 1998. At its peak, 200 locomotives were allocated to this depot.

As of 2011 an intermodal (road-rail) freight terminal Sheffield International Rail Freight Terminal (SIRFT) is located on part of the site (built late 2000s). A set of sidings is operated by DB Schenker Rail (UK) serving the nearby Outokumpu steel works.

In 1961, a tenth of the rail-borne freight in Britain originated in the Sheffield district. However, as with many areas, the provision of freight facilities had grown through cramped, piecemeal developments associated with the various operating companies that built Britain's rail system. With the region being one of the main heavy industry heartlands of Britain, government money was made available to remedy this situation. Central economic planning and economic self-sufficiency were government policy; the situation was seen as a major limit on Britain's economic growth.

The Sheffield district rail rationalisation plan of the 1960s called for the replacement of the majority of the marshalling yards in the Sheffield area with one large yard. A location on the Sheffield District line was chosen and work started in 1963 with new connections being built at Treeton, Broughton Lane and Tinsley South.The 80 yard Tinsley Wood Tunnel and approach cuttings were filled with some of the material excavated from the new yard, the remaining material being transported to a tip at Oregreaves. The location allowed easy access to the brand new central Sheffield Freight Terminal at Grimesthorpe, and the new Freightliner terminal on the site of the Masborough Sorting Sidings in Rotherham, one of the many yards that Tinsley replaced.

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