Sheffield retro: 20 photos showing lost Sheffield Victoria Railway Station which could reopen

The station had been serving the city since September 1851 – 19 years before Sheffield Midland Station, which is still in use, opened. But after the Sheffield-London Marylebone line was axed under the swingeing Beeching cuts, in 1966, and British Railways decided Sheffield was best served by one mainline station, its days were numbered. By the end of 1967, only Manchester trains used the station and the last passenger service departed on January 5, 1970.

Sheffield Victoria Railway Station had been at the cutting edge of public transport, with its impressive iron and glass roof, which, in an eco-friendly touch way ahead of its time, even collected rainwater for the toilets. The Wicker Arches were built to carry trains to the new station, with the Woodhead tunnels constructed to get them across the Pennines.

The Victoria Hotel was built next door at a cost of £15,000, a huge sum back then, and opened in 1862. It was renamed the Royal Victoria after 1875 when the Prince and Princess of Wales stopped at the station on their way to open Firth Park.

Today, Sheffield Victoria lies empty and derelict but there are hopes it could be revived as part of plans to reopen the Woodhead line, which closed in 1981, between Sheffield city centre and Stocksbridge.

This retro photo gallery is sure to bring memories flooding back for those who used the station. The nostalgic images from the archives show workers gathered at the station for a day trip to the seaside, evacuee mothers and children there during the Second World War, and abandoned plans to reopen Sheffield Victoria for the arrival of high speed rail services.