Scene’ in Sheffield Part 2 on. ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

Part 1 was published on the 20th. July 2016.

 

The last time I was in Sheffield, I concentrated on the transport activity at Meadowhall.

 

On this latest return to the City of My birth, I concentrated on the City Centre and  the Interchange in Pond Street.

 

1 word of caution. 

 

The Transport Interchange is private property and the authorities there, whilst they have no objection to photographers insist that they get a permit to take pictures and sign in and out on every visit. 

 

If in doubt go to the city end of Platform 1 and enquire.

 

 

The most successful double deck body currently being built, the ADL Enviro 400 appears in a variety of liveries.

 

YN64 AOB ‘Stagecoach Yorkshire’ 15191 Scania N230UD / ADL Enviro 400

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

Although allocated to ‘Stagecoach Yorkshire’, this bus is based in Chesterfield in Derbyshire and is seen on the ‘Gold’ branded service which operates between Sheffield and Matlock via Chesterfield.

 

MX09 KSE ‘Stagecoach Yorkshire’ 19511 Dennis Trident 2 / ADL Enviro 400

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

YN62 BYU ‘Stagecoach Yorkshire’ 12176 Dennis Trident 2 / ADL Enviro 400 Hybrid

on ‘Dennis Basfords railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

(That is what ‘Stagecoach’s fleetlist says).

 

SL14 DFF  ‘First South Yorkshire’ 33860 Dennis Trident 2 / ADL Enviro 400.

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

YN58 ESY ‘First South Yorkshire’ 37515 Volvo B9TL / Wright Eclipse Gemini.

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

LT52 WUB ‘First South Yorkshire’ 32218 Volvo B7TL / Plaxton President.

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

YU52 VYE ‘First South Yorkshire’ 31129 Volvo B7TL / Alexander ALX 400

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

SK63 KHB ‘First South Yorkshire’ 63025 Wright Streetlite D/F

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

MV02 VCJ ‘First South Yorkshire’ 60728 Volvo B7L / Wright Eclipse

on ‘Dennis Basfords railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

YN07 KPZ ‘Stagecoach Yorkshire’ 22430 MAN 18.220LF / Alexander ALX 300

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

 

 

Sheffield’s current tramway network opened in 1994/5. 

 

It was operated by South Yorkshire Supertram Limited. A wholly owned subsidiary company of South Yorkshire Transport Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE). 

 

In December 1997, the company was sold to Stagecoach group for £1.15 million.

 

Stagecoach gained the concession to maintain and operate the Supertram trams until 2024.

 

‘Stagecoach’ Supertram 110

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

Is seen wearing the current fleet livery which very closely follows the livery of ‘Southwest Trains’ a ‘Stagecoach’ group company.

 

‘Stagecoach’ Supertram 116

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

Is seen wearing an overall livery promoting ‘East Midland Trains’ another ‘Stagecoach’ group company.

‘Scene’ in Sheffield Part 3 'Stagecoach'.

‘Stagecoach Yorkshire’ (SY) in Sheffield is a relative newcomer compared to ‘First’ who inherited the ‘South Yorkshire PTE’ (SYPTE) operation.

 

‘SY’ was formed in 2005 when ‘Stagecoach’ took over the ‘Traction Group’ which in turn owned Yorkshire Traction, ‘Yorkshire Terrier’ and others. 

 

SYPTE had in turn inherited the previous operations of the Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster municipalities plus other small independents and so have a history dating back over a hundred years.

 

None of that prevented ‘SY’ from diving in at the deep end and giving ‘First’ a good run for their money. 

 

YN07 KRZ

A MAN 18.220LF with Alexander ALX 300 bodywork. Big number branding certainly catches the eye.

 

The 83 is a cross city route serving Ecclesfield in the North and Millhouses in the South.

 

YN07 KPY

One more MAN/Alexander combination.

On the 87, another cross city route linking High Green in the North with Low Edges in the South.

 

YN12 GYP

A Scania 230UD with Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 400 bodywork.

This is a ‘Stagecoach in Chesterfield’ allocated bus and is seen on the 43 which links Chesterfield to Sheffield via Dronfield.

 

YN58 CEO 

A MAN 18.240LF with ‘ADL’ Enviro 300 bodywork.Part of ‘Stagecoach in Chesterfield’s allocation and looking naked after what has gone before.

YN04 YXW 

A Dennis Dart SLF with Plaxton Pointer 2 bodywork this time from ‘Stagecoach in Mansfield’.

 

The ‘Mansfield Move’ branding refers to the replacement of Mansfield’s old bus station with the much better new one. A event that is now over a year ago. Time for re-branding perhaps ?

 

YN54 VKF

An Scania 94UD with East Lancs Omnidekka bodywork.

 

It was ordered by and delivered to ‘Yorkshire Traction’ and appeared in their yellow and purple livery before the company joined ‘Stagecoach’.

YN61 BFV

A Dennis Trident 2 Alexander Enviro 400 Hybrid. (That is how ‘Stagecoach’s fleet list describes it).

It looks well in the green variation of the standard livery.

 

 

Tram No.107

When considering ‘Stagecoach’ operations in Sheffield, the tramway has to be included.

 

Built in the early 1990’s and fully opened in 1995. The infrastructure is owned by South Yorkshire PTE whilst the system is operated by ‘Stagecoach’.

 

The system was originally operated by a subsidiary of the PTE but due to its perceived lack of popularity was sold to ‘Stagecoach’ in 1997.

 

‘Stagecoach’ instituted changes which have improved the system and at the time of writing, approximately 15 million passengers per year are carried.

 

The trams built by Siemans Duewag are three car, double articulated units and are currently painted in a livery derived from ‘Stagecoach’s  railway livery used in and around the South of England.

 

 

'Scene' at Crystal Peaks

Crystal Peaks (CP) is an out of town shopping complex located on the South Eastern fringes of the City of Sheffield and within a few miles of the M1 motorway.

 

It has its own bus station with eight stands and is a stop on the ‘Stagecoach Supertram’ (SS) route linking Sheffield with a large park and ride complex at Halfway.

 

Bus services are provided by First, Stagecoach and TM Travel. Sheffield Community Transport minibuses are regular visitors also. The bus station is seen with the shopping centre on the right.

‘SS’ No. 113 is seen approaching the  ‘CP’ tram stop. I do not know if it is the foreshortening effect of the zoom lens but there does seem to be a ‘forest’ of metal posts supporting the tramway catenary.

 

 

YX63 LGL

An Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) Dart SLF 4 with an Enviro 200 body working one a number of routes that link ‘CP’ with a variety of Sheffield’s suburbs.

YJ55 BLK 

An Optare Solo working one of the ‘SUPERTRAMLINK’ services to the township of Killamarsh.

 

 YN61 BGZ which ‘Stagecoach’s’ fleet list shows as being a 'Dennis Trident 2 Alexander Enviro 400 Hybrid' wearing the green variation of ‘Stagecoach’ standard livery to underline its ‘green’ credentials. Seen operating on service 120 that it shares with 'First'

CN09 CKJ

Sheffield Community Transport’s contribution was this smartly turned out Mercedes- Benz Sprinter.

 

YK07 AYV

A ‘First South Yorkshire’ (FSY) Volvo B9TL with Wright Gemini bodywork on the jointly operated with Stagecoach (SC) route 120.

 

Earlier in its career it had worked for ‘First’ in Leeds.

 

T831 MAK

Another of ‘FSY’ Volvo. This time a B10BLE model again with Wright bodywork.

 

YN58 NDV

The first of ‘Wellglade’ group company ‘TM Travel’s (TMT) contribution is this Optare Solo which came new.

Further ‘TMT’ vehicles were,

R32 LHK

A Volvo Olympian bodied by Alexander which came from ‘Dublin Bus’. In fact it entered service with ‘TMT’ in full Dublin livery.

YG52 DHC

 

Another Optare Solo this time working in the livery of ‘Travel South Yorkshire’ together with additional ‘TMT’ titles in blue.

W289 EYG

 

An Optare Solo in ‘proper’ ‘TMT’ livery (well almost). One of a number of similar that came to ‘TMT’ via ‘Dawson Rentals’ having originally been with ‘HAD Coaches’ of Shotts in Scotland.

 

From Halfway to Middlewood

Not exactly  ‘24 hours from Tulsa’ but to anyone who knows, Halfway and Middlewood are two of the termini on Sheffield’s Supertram or as ‘Stagecoach’ would put it,

 

 

Built in the early 1990’s and fully opened in 1995. The infrastructure is owned by South Yorkshire PTE whilst the system is operated by ‘Stagecoach’.

 

The system was originally operated by a subsidiary of the PTE but due to its perceived lack of popularity was sold to ‘Stagecoach’ in 1997.

 

‘Stagecoach’ instituted changes which have improved the system and at the time of writing, approximately 15 million passengers per year are carried.

 

The trams built by Siemans Duewag are three car, double articulated units and are currently painted in a livery derived from ‘Stagecoach’s  railway livery used in and around the South of England.

 

As the tram stop says, Halfway serves a large car park which is also served by buses of ‘Stagecoach Yorkshire’ (SY).

 

 One of its Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) hybrid double deckers  painted in the green livery of the normal ‘Stagecoach’ livery starting to move off.

 

The trams themselves are warm and comfortable and have both a driver and a conductor. These days I find the provision of conductors to be unusual but being of a generation that grew up knowing the value of conductors to the traveling public, I applaud the move. 

 

I feel that they would be a worthwhile introduction on some very busy bus routes where fare collection by the driver can slow down the boarding process with obvious knock on effects on running time.

 

The driver is presented with a large airy ‘cabin’ with excellent all round vision.

 

 

Four stops towards the city from Halfway, the large shopping complex at Crystal Peaks (CP) is served. In this image tram No.122 is approaching the CP stop. The shops can be seen behind the tram.

 

Also behind the tram and the trees to the left is a small bus station of 8 stands from which services connect into Sheffield and also into many smaller communities locally.

YJ55 BKZ

An Optare Solo of ‘Stagecoach’ providing one such service to Killamarsh as route SL3.

 

In Sheffield city centre, tram No.110 is seen coming off the bridge that crosses Park Square. 

 

At the other side of the bridge is a ‘T’ junction. Turn left for Meadowhall and right for the railway station and eventually Halfway or to the other terminus on this side of Sheffield at Herdings Park.

 

Middlewood is one of two termini on this side of the city. The other one being at Malin Bridge.

 

 

Tram 110 again. This time standing at Middlewood terminus awaiting departure time on its next trip to Meadowhall.

YN61 FXV

An ADL Enviro 200 on the dedicated ‘SUPERTRAMLINK’ service that serves Stocksbridge further up the Don valley.

The position of the pantograph above the bus implies that the bus is mains powered. Fret not, it’s just that the bus is parked in front of the tram !

 

 

This image appeared in ‘Buses’ magazine for March 2014 on page 58.