Rotherham Westgate Railway Station - History

History

The original station building was a substantial stone affair on Westgate, from where passengers had to cross the tracks on a level pedestrian crossing to access the platform. At the end of the 19th century this situation was remedied by giving the station access to Main Street and building a temporary wooden station building there with direct access to the platform. This became became known by the townsfolk as the "Rabbit Hutch" and was subject of some local complaint as not being fit for a town as important as Rotherham. The old station building became the GPO and a Labour Exchange, and finally passed back into railway hands as a line control office.

The river was crossed by a 300-foot (91 m) wooden bridge with seven arches over which the station platform extended, and then the line passed over the River Don Navigation on a three-arched bridge, the centre arch of which was 36 feet (11 m) long and made of iron. This section of canal was owned by the South Yorkshire Railway Company, which became part of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway in 1864, and in order for its line from Mexborough to Sheffield to pass under the Westgate line, the canal below Ickles lock was diverted to join the river, and part of the Eastwood Cut below Rotherham lock was diverted to the east in the same year. The original canal bed was then filled in, and the tracks were laid along its course. It was in this section that, in 1871, the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway built Rotherham Central. The line ran immediately south of Millmoor,the former ground of Rotherham United, leading to its southern stand being named the 'Railway End'.

Following the opening of the North Midland Railway between Leeds and Derby the new through Masbrough and Rotherham station, later Rotherham Masborough, was opened about half a mile from the town centre. A junction was laid connecting this north–south line to the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway at Holmes, giving the North Midland access to the Wicker terminal of the S&R in Sheffield. The S&R eventually became part of the Midland Railway following amalgamations in 1844. The fact that the Midland also operated the much larger Masborough station could have relegated Westgate to being a backwater, but Westgate was much more central, and the standard service pattern on the Midland line after 1870, was for some Sheffield–Nottingham, Sheffield–Derby and Sheffield–Manchester local trains to start back from Westgate and run through Sheffield Midland calling at all stations: this kept Westgate a busy and important station right up to its closure.