Dore & Totley railway station

4+3⁄4 miles (7.6 km) south of Sheffield. The station is served by the Northern service between Sheffield and Manchester, East Midlands Railway service from Liverpool to Norwich and the TransPennine Express service between Manchester and Cleethorpes, all three running via the Hope Valley Line.

History

The station in 1960

Station remains in 1998

The station was opened by the Midland Railway, for passengers only, as Dore and Totley on 1 February 1872 ^[1] (at a building cost of £1,517 and £450 for 2 acres (8,100 m²) of land) on the then two-year-old Midland Main Line extension from Chesterfield to Sheffield, and was initially served by the local services on this line. The station was then served by six or seven weekday trains and three on Sundays.

In 1894, the station became the junction for the new Dore and Chinley line (now the Hope Valley Line). Dore & Totley Station Junction was at the south end of the station and the signal box stood in the angle between the Chesterfield and Chinley lines. ^[2]

Between 1901 and 1902, the line between Sheffield station and Dore was widened; the original twin tracks continued to be used by traffic for the Dore and Chinley line and two new tracks were built to the east of this for traffic on the main line to Chesterfield. ^[3] The original southbound platform was converted to an island platform and a new platform for trains to Chesterfield built to the east. The line from Chesterfield was slewed into its present course to serve the new platforms. A new Dore Station Junction was made to the north of the station.

On 9 October 1907, a Sheffield to Birmingham and Bristol express train ran foul of the points at the station. One of the locomotives hit the platform and overturned. The driver and the second man were thrown from the cab but survived, and the passenger coaches fortunately stayed upright with no passengers injured.

Dore and Totley became south Sheffield's only remaining station after the Beeching cuts in the 1960s saw Beauchief, Millhouses and Heeley stations all close. The station was closed to main line traffic and became an unstaffed halt in 1969. It was renamed Dore on 18 March 1971. ^[1] Subsequently, the island and eastern platforms were demolished in the mid-1980s. Mainline services from the South therefore can no longer stop at the station. In March 1985, the section of the Hope Valley Line through the station was converted to single-track, with trains in both directions stopping at the one remaining platform.

The single-track section through the station has become a significant bottleneck, as noted in Network Rail's Yorkshire and Humber Route Utilisation Strategy of 2009. ^[4] The strategy included proposals to address the problem by re-doubling the track and building a second platform (subject to funding being obtained). South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive has also been lobbying for this problem to be addressed (as noted in its 2006 Rail Strategy document ^[5] ).

The station site had previously been occupied by the Walk Mill; a water-powered mill in operation from the 1280s onwards was used by the monks of Beauchief Abbey to cleanse and thicken cloth.

The name Dore & Totley was restored in April 2008 when the station received new Northern Rail-branded running in boards. Plans to double the size of the station by 2014 have been delayed. An additional platform and new Disability Discrimination Act 1995-compliant footbridge are to be provided. ^[6] Construction work began in December 2012 on a new 129-space car-park, which was completed in April 2013.

Network Rail's Hope Valley Capacity Scheme includes plans to restore the second platform at Dore & Totley. Plans include a new bridge with passenger lifts and a shelter on the single sided island platform for Manchester bound trains. ^[7] This plan is spun out of the original Manchester Hub scheme, now renamed the Northern Hub, incorporating two freight passing loops to be constructed east of Bamford and at Dore South. Once completed an hourly stopping service is hoped to be provided (as stated in the new 2016 Northern franchise agreement), ^[8] and platforms should be long enough to accommodate 6 car trains, now running on TPE fast services.

The Secretary of State for Transport approved the Capacity Scheme in February 2018 ^[9] and Network Rail received tenders for a Design and Build contract that they hope to have confirmed by the Department for Transport before the end of 2020 when the contract can be let. A joint venture of Story and VolkerRail were awarded this contract in February 2021. ^[10] Construction started in early 2022 with an intention to have it complete by autumn 2023. ^[11] In January 2023 Network Rail announced that completion was now expected to be by spring 2024 and the cost had risen to £145 million. ^[12]

In May 2019, a canopy was added to the 1872 station building. ^[13]

On 8 April 2024 a new platform was opened at the station. ^[14]

Station masters

At the Eckington Petty Session on 25 November 1878, Francis Wood, stationmaster, was charged with embezzling money belonging to the Midland Railway company amounting to 1s. 1/2d. The railway company had auditors who travelled beyond the validity of their ticket and then paid the station master an excess fare. He appeared at the Derby Quarter Sessions on 2 January 1879. The jury found him not guilty and he was discharged. ^[15]

Facilities

The station is unstaffed, but has a self-service ticket machine available. The old station buildings are now in private commercial use as a restaurant. ^[16] A small brick waiting shelter is provided at the northern end of the platform, along with passenger information displays, automatic announcements and timetable poster boards to offer train running information. Step-free access is available from the adjacent car park to one of the platforms. ^[17]

Services

The station has an hourly Northern Trains stopping service in each direction on the Hope Valley line between Sheffield and Manchester Piccadilly, augmented by a number of peak-hour stops (designed primarily for Manchester bound commuters) by faster trains on the South Trans-Pennine and Liverpool–Norwich routes. ^[18] During the rest of the day those hourly TransPennine Express services and East Midlands Railway non-stopping trains pass through.

Dore & Totley
Dore & Totley railway station in 2019
General information
Location	Abbeydale, City of Sheffield England
Coordinates	53°19′39″N1°30′56″W / 53.327570°N 1.515440°W / 53.327570; -1.515440
Grid reference	SK323812
Managed by	Northern Trains
Transit authority	Travel South Yorkshire
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	DOR
Fare zone	Sheffield
Classification	DfT category F2
History
Original company	Midland Railway
Pre-grouping	Midland Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
1 February 1872	Opened as Dore and Totley
18 March 1971	Renamed Dore
1 April 2008	Renamed Dore & Totley
Passengers
2018/19	0.199 million

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Sheffield		Northern Trains Hope Valley Line		Grindleford
		East Midlands Railway Liverpool-Norwich Limited service
		TransPennine Express South TransPennine Limited services		Stockport
	Historical railways
Beauchief Line open, station closed		Midland Railway Midland Main Line		Dronfield Line and station open

Notes

1. Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 81. ISBN   978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC   60251199. OL   11956311M.
2. OS 1:2500 Second Series Derbyshire sheet XI-12 dated 1898
3. Batty, Stephen (2005). Rail Centres: Sheffield. Nottingham: Booklaw Publications. p. 53. ISBN   1-901945-21-9.
4. "REB26 Yorkshire and Humber Route Utilisation Strategy 2009". rotherham.gov.uk (PDF). pp. 46–47.
5. SYPTE Rail Strategy 2006 p.38 SYPTE website; Retrieved 25 February 2009
6. Railway Herald issue 221 p. 3 Archived 15 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Railway Herald; Retrieved 10 May 2010
7. Hope Valley Capacity Scheme - June 2015 Network Rail website; Retrieved 27 July 2015
8. "Northern Franchise Improvements". DfT. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
9. "TRANSPORT AND WORKS ACT 1992 – APPLICATION FOR THE PROPOSED NETWORK RAIL (HOPE VALLEY CAPACITY) ORDER AND DEEMED PLANNING PERMISSION" (PDF). Fodats.net. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
10. "VolkerRailStory JV wins £80m Hope Valley project". The Construction Index. 15 March 2021. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
11. "£137m cash injection to upgrade Hope Valley Line". Rail Magazine. No. 927. Peterborough: Bauer Media. 24 March 2021. p. 14. ISSN   0953-4563.
12. "New completion date announced for £145m Sheffield-Manchester rail upgrade to add extra fast trains". Sheffield Star. 8 January 2023.
13. "New canopy at Dore & Totley". Rail Magazine. No. 884. Peterborough: Bauer Media. 31 July 2019. p. 17. ISSN   0953-4563.
14. "Minister opens Dore & Totley platform". Network News. Rail Magazine . No. 1007. 17 April 2024. p. 16.
15. "Derbyshire Quarter Sessions" . Sheffield Independent. England. 3 January 1879. Retrieved 5 April 2021– via British Newspaper Archive.
16. "Dore and Totley Station" (2011) Dace, Ashley Geograph.org.uk; Retrieved 30 June 2017
17. Dore & Totley station facilities National Rail Enquiries
18. Table 96 National Rail timetable, May 2023

References

• Peter Fox (1990). The Midland Line in Sheffield. Sheffield: Platform 5 Publishing Ltd. ISBN   1-872524-16-8
• Peter Harvey (1996). Abbeydale and Millhouses. Stround: The Charlford Publishing Company Limited. ISBN   0-7524-0732-5
• Ecclesall Woods Archaeology - Heritage Woods Online.