Sheffield Tunnel - Fiery Jack - Spital Tunnel - Disused Railway in Sheffield
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- Опубліковано 30 кві 2021
- Fiery Jack Tunnel Sheffield - Spital Tunnel - Disused Railway Tunnel
The old Spital Tunnel (known more commonly as the Fiery Jack) is located just outside Sheffield City Centre by the side of the ring road.
It open in 1846 to link between the Bridgehouses station & goods yard on the old Great Central Railway and the Wicker goods yard at the bottom on the former Sheffield and Rotherham Railway (later Midland Railway).
The tunnel was famous for it's steep gradient - 1 in 25 incline, which posed a real challenge for the steam engines that had to ascend and descend the tunnel.
The sight, sounds and smells of the engines powering up the hill, with firebox sparking and thick smoke belching into the tunnel roof and out of the tunnel entrances gave the tunnel it's Fiery Jack nickname.
The tunnel closed in 1947. Although a grade 2 listed structure on it's western portal, the grounds around the tunnel are rife for anti-social behaviour.
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We used to walk through the fiery Jack all the time as kids, and climb the bull rocks in the 70’s
Great stuff. I lived on Brunswick Rd in the 60's so marvellous to see my regular haunts from 60 years ago.
Nice one 👍😊.
I bet its changed beyond recognition around there?
i lived on Grimesthorpe rd at the same time near the Normanton Pub ,i went to All saints junior and infant school , next to all saints church ,i assume you went to Ellesmere school? we went around the same area ,used to go in Roe woods a lot catching frogs :}
The Cons to Old Railway Exploration.Glad you got out sharpish In tact.
🙂
A well dodgy area, very brave!
I dont think I'll be rushing back in a hurry 🙂
I walked through the tunnel in the late 70s, early 80s, when the GC line was still being used
Great stuff.
Would love to have been able to have a walk through it.
Very interesting video as a railway enthusiast I find this video fascinating thanks for sharing big thumbs up 👍
Cheers Stephen 👍
That is some gradient and in a tunnel as well with no ventilation shaft,the crews would certainly earn their money.
You're not wrong Tony. Some right stories I've read online about the guys who fired and drove the engines.
Wow this takes me back nearly 60 years, me and some friends went up this tunnel from the tesco end ,fortunately the track wasn`t being used or had been taken up,as i recall the area was what we called waste land or spare land , what is now known as brown field to developers, sad to see the state of it and the needle dangers, wasnt like that when i was a kid ,new subscriber btw ,great stuff its part of our industrial past after all.
Thanks Max. Welcome.
Yeah it's a massive shame. A great piece of history that's kind of forgotten about now and not a nice place to visit.
Well done for trying ... some nasty areas about... Very nice tunnel - Keep up the good content- WELL DONE
👍🙂
Another excellent video, a brave pill definitely needed!, thanks.
My late Dad used to be a shunter in Wicker Goods Yard and had tales about the tunnel. To get from the bottom to the top, with or without wagons, the loco, usually an 0-6-0 tank of some variety (he knew no further details regrettably), used to set back to somewhere around the steelworks and then set off forwards at full speed in order to get up the incline, sometimes, due to wet rails, dragging brakes, poor condition of the loco etc, not making it and having to set back for another go. The amazing thing, in these health and safety days, was that he used to ride sat on the front bufferbeam going up, the loco always being chimney first to keep water in the firebox crown when on the steep incline, as it was the most healthy/least unhealthy place to be due to the smoke being behind him, and coming back down in the cab for the same reason.
Thanks Mike. Fascinating to read. It must have been heroic work for those guys back then. I've heard stories of locomotives stalling and crew getting trapped before. Like you say, different world these days in terms of health and safety.
Cracking video. I know from reading online that that particular area is not great these days and it's a great shame. I seem to remember a Sheffield Star article about it during the pandemic. Driving on Derek Dooley Way these days you would never know what was once there. I'd often wondered about the difference in topography from Wicker Goods to the mainline. Fiery Jack - all 1 in 25 of it solves that particular mystery. Thank you for the video!
Cheers Jason.
Such a shame its now a drug den. What a great piece of Sheffield's history hidden away isn't it.
Before last March there was a monthly clean-up of the site by Council workers (accompanied by a security guard). I went with them a couple of times and they did a great job, but the site has now returned to what it used to look like unfortunately. Hopefully that work will resume soon. Very important and interesting site disgracefully neglected for too long.
Agree it's a massive shame. Such an important piece of local railway history.
Very interesting video, thanks for posting. Urban myths state that during the blitz munition trains were sheltered in the tunnel during raids.
I was 13 when the building was set alight, possibly arson.
In the 70/80/s I worked for Bentley Brothers, a large Vauxhall Dealer on Savile Street opposite the goods yard. By that time the remains had been flattened and the land used as a car park. The tunnel entrance was accessible and at some time was used as a shooting range. At t'other of the tunnel, Bridgehouses, a large car wash operated from a yard near where the portal you filmed was both visible and partly accessible.
Thanks Allan. I heard similar too. Someone did tell me also that the tunnel itself was used as an air raid shelter too.
I had a similar experience exploring Derby Friargate station. I could hear voices in the bushes so I got out quick.
Grim place.
The dangers of railway exploring 😄
I can remember seeing the bottom portal sealed up , pre Tesco many times from passing buses. Never seen any images at all of the top portal until now.
thank you for showing this and risking the possible wrath of the druggies.
Thanks Chris.
It's a shame the bottom portal is hidden behind a wall now.
Great video. Back in the seventies the tunnel was still open at both ends. We used to ride our bikes through it. When Tesco first proposed plans for their new supermarket they said they would make a feature of the tunnel, but they never did. Probably put off by the state of the place.
Thanks Paul.
Would have been good if tesco at least left the archway of the portal visible instead of hiding it behind a faux wall🙂
All the years I lived in Sheffield I never knew it was there, but then due to the area would have stayed away anyway, would have liked to have seen it when I was younger
Me neither. The amount of times I've driven down past there without knowing about it. Once you know it's there, you can even see it from the ring road.
@@WobblyRunner just watched your other video around rother valley, another area I should have explored more with only living in swallownest, but maybe when I'm ever back in sheffield I'll have a look around
@@johnboy4809 weirdly I've lived in Beighton for 15 years now and only really started taking an interest in the local railway history during the first lockdown.
Have fun exploring!!
Just as a bit of interest, just above the old motor cycle shop on Spital Hill, there is a bit of spare land and the top of the tunnel can be seen at the side of the footpath,
Cheers Bernard.Is that the top portal or the bottom?
@@WobblyRunner hi, it's just the curve of brickwork top of the tunnel, that's been exposed
@@WobblyRunner hi again, just looked on Google maps, just after the quick fix mot garage, they is now fencing, the top brickwork could be seen about where the women is passing,
Thanks for the video, this is something I studied many years ago. My understanding is that what you call the former "Wicker Goods Station" Was in fact opened as a passenger station, the first one to open in Sheffield. It initially only connected the Wicker and Rotherham, by the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway in 1838. The main purpose to connect at Rotherham to the North Midland Railway and the national network. In 1870 the Midland Station (Current Sheffield Station) was opened and became the main Midland Railway station. Wicker became just a goods station from 1870 to 1965 and was renamed "Wicker goods Station"
Thanks Steve. Great info.
I kept it simple as I don't believe that very much other than goods was actually sent through the tunnel. Apart from the rare passenger train?
It's hard to imagine Sheffield with so many stations.
@@WobblyRunner Actually I understand that no goods or passengers ever went through it, only empty goods carriages, far too steep and dangerous. Obviously I wasn't around at the time, but I read that the initial impetus for building the tunnel was that it took many many years to complete the Wicker Arches (Enough stone for 700 large churches!) and the Railway to Manchester and Penistone was open before and this made Bridgehouses station the terminus in 1845. Bridgehouses station also later became a goods station, but originally it was the temporary main station before Victoria opened.
Anyhow as Bridgehouses had a few sidings and was the railhead, they decided to build Spital Tunnel as it would make sense to exchange carriages between the SA&MR and the S&R. Spital is so named after Spital Hill, an area that once led to an old HoSPITAL.
I think I have some fujifilm photos I took of the portals in the 1990s with my SLR camera somewhere, there are hundreds of packets of photos it will take a while to find.
Great learning about stuff like this.
I didn't know about the origin of the name Spital 👍.
@@stevep7950 Spital in Chesterfield got it's name for the same reason.
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Nice to see that Malisha, amongst others made it up there.!🧐!. It's nice that people leave their names in spray paint on the walls of places like this when they visit.! It's important to keep a record of the visitors.!🤬!.
Even started to see the same on rocks in the Peak District too.
Stunning portal! Never new it was there...Shame its backfilled. Another well filmed and informative video 👍
Thank you very much 👍🙂.
It's such a shame it's in a really bad part of the city.
@@WobblyRunner definitely a hidden gem 👍 love these old railway tunnels
Shame the bottom portal is now hidden behind the tesco retaining wall
@@WobblyRunner it's a shame pal. It is a stunning piece of engineering especially for the time. There is still alot of history out there covered over by modern architecture.
I'm in Sheffield tomorrow competing at Woodburn Road Athletics Stadium so I might pop down to get a few photos, hopefully the crap weather that is forecast will keep the natives indoors!!
Be careful if going alone.
@@WobblyRunner I never got down there in the end, once I had finished competing I was soaked through because of the heavy rain!!! Hopefully next time I'm competing in Sheffield it will be a bit drier, then I'll go!!! Thanks for the advice though.
Those lovely arches of the delivery ramp into Wicker Goods have been lost, by the building of Tesco and PureGym.
Terrible.....
I did read that Tesco had agreed to preserve at least the tunnel portal, but hasnt happened. Shame as lots of old railway history lost around there.
good old sheff
Hi mate, I went down there today as I was back at Woodburn Road Stadium competing again, crikey there are some odd people that hang about in that vicinity. I got loads of questions about what I was doing and instructions to leave forthwith (or words to that effect!!). I got some good photos though, but safe to say that I won't be going back. Thanks for the heads-up.
Hi Seamus.
It must be like a magnet for the unsavoury types on a warm day. Shame you can't just have a look at a piece of history without being bothered. Like you say - good to go see, but never want to go back there.
@@WobblyRunner Absolutely.
I'm sure I've seen a photo of the eastern portal still accessible from within the basement of Pure Gym.
That would be great to see.
I assume the basement isn't accessible. I used to be a member of that gym but only ever remember the ground floor being at top street level. I know from the outside underneath in tesco car park, it's just a new wall covering where the portal would be.
Are you still welding ?
Definitely NOT a place to be wandering round alone. Or in a group for that matter.
Agreed. Even at 10am.
Be very aware, people only go there to buy afghan poppy resin. Recently a friend of mine fell near the fence & got a used syringe in his backside
That sounds horrific.
But yeah not a nice place to go. Shame really.
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You don't sound like you do on EastEnders Danny.!🤣!.
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I think you mean DAMP\WET RAGS, on their faces.!🤔!. They'll END UP being SMOKEY.!😂!.