Wicker railway station (later Wicker Goods railway station) was the first

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

to be built in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It was to the north of the city centre, at the northern end of the

Wicker Wicker is a method of weaving used to make products such as furniture and baskets, as well as a descriptor to classify such products. It is the oldest furniture making method known to history, dating as far back as . Wicker was first documented ...

, in the fork formed by Spital Hill and Savile Street. It was opened on 31 October 1838 as the southern terminus of the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway, which ran north to Rotherham Westgate railway station. In 1840, the line was connected to the

North Midland Railway The North Midland Railway was a railway line and Great Britain, British railway company, which opened a line from the city of Derby in Derbyshire to the city of Leeds in Yorkshire in 1840. At Derby, it connected with the Birmingham and Derby J ...

at Rotherham Masborough railway station. Carriages from Sheffield would be attached to North Midland trains for onward travel. A southbound curve was added in 1869. On 1 January 1847, a half-mile connecting line from the Wicker to the Bridgehouses station of the

Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) was formed in 1847 when the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway joined with authorised but unbuilt railway companies, forming a proposed network from Manchester to Grims ...

had been constructed in order to increase goods traffic and enable wagon transfers. This short steeply graded line, enclosed within a tunnel for almost its entire length was known locally as the ''Fiery Jack''. Wicker was replaced as a passenger station by

Sheffield Midland Station Sheffield station (formerly Pond Street and later Sheffield Midland) is a combined railway station and tram stop in Sheffield, England; it is the busiest station in South Yorkshire, and the second busiest in Yorkshire & the Humber, after Leed ...

on 1 February 1870 when the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...

opened a new direct route from Chesterfield to just north of Wicker, now part of the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line (MML), sometimes also spelt Midland Mainline, is a major Rail transport in Great Britain, railway line from London to Sheffield in Yorkshire via the East Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras railway ...

. Railway workers refer to this route as the "New Road", as opposed to the "Old Road" of the original North Midland line. It has gradients of 1 in 100, a

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide ...

and three

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

s, including

Bradway Tunnel Bradway Tunnel, long, was built in 1870 about north of Dronfield, Derbyshire, in South Yorkshire, England. It is at the summit of the Midland Main Line between Chesterfield and Sheffield, on what is known to railwaymen as the "New Road" buil ...

, long. Wicker remained open as a

goods station A goods station (also known as a goods yard or goods depot) or freight station is, in the widest sense, a railway station where, either exclusively or predominantly, goods (or freight), such as merchandise, parcels, and manufactured items, are lo ...

until 1965 and has now been demolished. The site is currently occupied by a

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

Extra supermarket, having previously contained car dealerships and was, until 2006 when the Spital Hill / Savile Street corner was remodelled as part of the

Sheffield Northern Relief Road Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its souther ...

, the home of Amanda King's
Made In Sheffield
' sculpture, now removed.

References and notes

Bibliography

*Fox, Peter, (1990) ''The Midland Line in Sheffield'', Sheffield: Platform 5 Publishing Ltd. *Pixton, B., (2000) ''North Midland: Portrait of a Famous Route,'' Cheltenham: Runpast Publishing {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheffield Wicker Railway Station Wicker Railway Station Former Midland Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1838 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1870

See also

References and notes

Bibliography