As is now becoming a regular event, the run up to this tour for me was marked by questions about the viability of pre- and post-journey arrangements! While sweltering in Europe, I had been keeping up to speed with the conditions back home on the 25 Jul and the disruption on the Midland mainline caused by the heat. I was glad not to be travelling until the weekend, hopefully it would all back to normal by then...

Arriving at St Pancras from Sittingbourne early on Saturday 27th gave as many options as possible, following the advice from East Midlands Trains the night before to not travel all weekend. There were long queues at the ticket office and no ticket machines wanting to sell tickets! Plan 'B' and over to King's Cross for Sheffield via Doncaster. This understandably seemed much busier than usual for a Saturday morning and I arrived just as a Leeds train was advertised for boarding so was swept up in the stampede. It was quite odd to find that I had the whole front coach to myself to Peterborough!

Having made it to Sheffield, and given that there were delays to mainline services in all directions, I decided to spend the day on Sheffield Supertram for a bargain price of £4.20. Plusbus[ was £3 then!] What better way to start than with a trip to Hillsborough for the crossover (in use due to engineering work and not on the tour - although quite a few participants did it on service trams afterwards). Well a better way may have been with slightly less rain but during the afternoon I managed to see the odd sight of a car arriving at the tram only Castle Square stop where, despite a tram being directly behind, the driver was attempting to park until advised otherwise by a member of staff on the platform. To compound matters she then drove off, continuing along the tracks to Fitzalan Square stop rather than accessing the road system. Here further progress was impeded by trams on both lines so, with much sounding of horns and a dubious reversal into a one-way street, she drove off to where cars should be.

As the day wore on and the rain eased off, I continued visiting various tram stops but noticed that my wait at Granville Road was much longer than expected to go to Halfway and there was very little tram movement in the area, so I walked towards Sheffield station to find something to eat. A Hillsborough bound tram which had passed me earlier seemed to be discharging all its passengers, so something was clearly amiss. Arriving at the station stop I discovered that it was turning back via the crossover there and returning to Halfway. While watching this manoeuvre, another tram arrived from the same direction and also terminated. The driver informed me that the line ahead was blocked by a person threatening to jump off the tram bridge so they could not progress any further then. A tram then arrived from the opposite direction with the destination 'Sheffield Station' and all passengers duly alighted and headed to the station. I assumed this meant trams were running normally but as the tram departed back via the crossover, the penny dropped that I should probably have been on it as the rear destination display was showing 'Meadowhall' so it would be covering the rare third side of the Delta!

I wasn't overly concerned as our tour next day would cover this both ways but, as always, subject to issues on the day. I therefore decided to wait in the area in case a further tram carried out this move, just in case a problem was to arise the next day. Patience paid off as, after a while, a tram arrived with Sheffield Station as its destination which then became 'Meadowhall' as hoped. A few radio messages later and manual operation of the points, it was off to Hyde Park via the Delta. A quick change of platform here allowed return to the station and the other track of the curve to be covered before seeking sustenance. Trams were now returning to normal, so I took the opportunity to cover the new Tram Train section to (Rotherham) Parkgate, again just in case!

Sunday morning of the tour saw most participants squeeze on to Cricket Inn Road platform, much to the surprise of a few 'normals', before a service tram arrived depositing the rest who were also surprised that they couldn't walk the short distance across from Nunnery Square (a large Park & Ride) as they had expected to do. The connecting bridge high above the main A57 is strictly 'trams only' and the walking route a long way round! Tour tram 108 quickly followed and all swiftly boarded for the run to Herdings Park and the all important single track overrun past the platform to the buffer stops.

After a pause for a service tram to arrive and depart from the platform, we returned via Gleadless Townend and its crossover, of course, to the outbound line. Now running to a new schedule that was slightly different to our booklet, it was off to Beighton/Drake House Lane (one of nine dual named stops) for the crossover there to return back to Birley Lane and cross again for a run to Crystal Peaks.

This was for a comfort stop at the nearby large shopping centre where refreshments could also be purchased as the sun came out. Meanwhile our tour tram went ECS to Halfway for service trams; busy with Sunday shoppers off to peek at the crystals, to continue to run normally.



Suitably refreshed, participants rejoined the tour to cover the Donetsk Way crossover and Halfway overrun (the whole way, of course) before returning to Sheffield Station. This concluded every piece of track that side of the station except the out of use (welded) Spring Lane crossover. Our tour then did Shalesmoor crossover before proceeding on to the first Nunnery Depot visit. The tram entered via the West Entrance line, ran through Road 5 then turned 180oround the sharp loop at the east end and back through Road 7 (the Carriage Wash line). Reversing before the west entrance, it was then out via the East Entrance line to Woodburn Road stop and on to Meadowhall non-preferred platform (which most DID prefer!) - left on arrival. We said goodbye to tram 108 and had a lunch stop.

The second part of the tour was on Tram Train 399202 (really a hybrid of 202 and 204, although much fun was had trying to confirm this from the interior numbers...). Our departure was again from the non-preferred platform (which was actually now true for several who wanted to do the other one!), the first point of call was Nunnery Depot Road 10 (to the shed door) via the East Entrance line. From here the tour returned to Meadowhall preferred platform on the right (also now the right one for some on the tour). After reversal, it was off to Arena/Olympic Legacy Park crossover which, running early, was covered a couple of times for service trams to pass. Another highlight for many followed the run to (Rotherham) Parkgate - right up to the Stop Board (further than service trams go) but not the overrun which is for emergency use only and requires Network Rail agreement to use. Of note Tram Trains have Realtime Trains etc schedules and actual running times are documented on the NR section.

The next juicy bit of track was at Nunnery Depot where the tour entered through the East end again, but then ran through the shed itself using Road 9 before exiting at the West end and running via the hard to do (unless there's disruption of course - see above!) side of the Delta to Sheffield Station/ Sheffield Hallam University stop. Here some participants left the tour while most remained on board to enjoy the crossover and rare Delta track back to Cricket Inn Road where the tour terminated. All in all a very enjoyable and comprehensive tour in Sheffield, Rotherham and a tiny bit of Derbyshire.

Huge thanks, as always, to all involved in the planning, execution, stewarding, track plan drawing and itinerary compiling etc which made this possible, ably and professionally led by Kev Adlam as always. We are pleased to report that nearly £6k was raised from the 86 participants, including the raffle and auctions, resulting in donations of £3,672.44 to Railway Benefit Fund & £2,316.00 to Railway Children.