Sheffield and Rotherham Railway

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.<ref name = reghist155>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</ref>