It is the first week of December.
It is grey and chilly.
I'm in Sheffield.
I don't know why I'm being all melodramatic.
You already know what the video is,
because it's in the title of the video.
What you don't know is that I've got Phil,
that's your cue, Phil? (laughs)
Hello, YouTube.
(laughs) To help me.
I was also being melodramatic as well you see, Geoff.
Very good. Very Good. Just building the suspense.
Should we have rehearsed this?
I don't know.
Let's use this take.
(Phil laughs)
You know what we need, Phil is a map.
Yes.
Should I do a map?
Okay. Yeah, go ahead.
Here's the map.
So Sheffield is one of many cities in Britain,
which had an original tram network,
that was lost many years ago.
But trams returned to it's streets in 1994,
and grew from there, even as recently as 2018,
when the Tram Train extension to Rotherham opened up,
as we'll hear more about later.
As the map just showed us, there's how many colour lines?
There's three colour lines. But...
Go on. It's just there's the Tram Train route,
that recently opened in 2018.
Oh, we've got the whole Tram Train thing
to discuss. We have, absolutely.
Out of Rotherham, right?
Yes, that's right. Which I've never seen.
Right now, we've just got to tick off
stations as we go through- As much to the trams.
Here comes our tram.
(relaxed soul music) (train rumbles softly)
(bell chimes)
I've looked at the map, it's 48.
It's 48 tram stops- Plus.
Plus the two that account for the Tram Train,
one of which of course is a railway station.
So are we calling it 48,
or are we calling it 50?
Well, the Tram calls at 50 stops.
I think that's the way to serve it or count it.
Okay. All right.
(alert beeping) One of them is here.
Where are we?
Yes we're at Park Grange.
Press the button.
(tram rumbles)
Yeah.
So we're heading towards the highest point on the network.
We're headed up to Manor Top,
as we've said, it says, top of the hill.
So the tram starts at Meadowhall from Ponds Forge,
was the first to open.
And this, that we're on now, was the second section,
that was opened, in 94 95.
The next stop by request, will be...
Manor Top number seven.
Number seven, out of 50.
Phil's trying to convince me,
he's saying, rather than go to halfway,
knock out Herdings now,
and then come back,
and at Leighton Road, we can walk to White Lane,
That's right. and then go down to halfway.
Day rider please. Just tram?
Just tram. Do we need just tram?
Yeah. We can buy the train separate, later on,
if we do do that.
And then a separate train ticket.
For an Adult Day Rider, Yep.
Four pounds, 40. Yep.
All trams. Yep, yep.
And it'll cover the Tram Train, as well.
I've not got to buy a separate ticket
for the Tram Train later? No-no. The Tram Train...
I don't really understand what the Tram Train is later.
I'm going to find out, aren't I?
The Tram Train is valid on that ticket,
but the Northern Rail service isn't.
(carriage hums)
Gleadless Townend,
oh so we have to change here for the purple.
That's right, the purple line service leaves here,
and it's all on the destination board,
saying it's leaving soon.
(doors bleeping)
This is the Purple route service to
Herdings Park.
So the PA there, definitely said Purple train,
or Purple line.
I think it says Purple tram.
Oh, Purple tram.
So you're saying that in Sheffield, on the tram,
people refer to it by the colour.
So Blue, Purple, Yellow.
So whereas in Manchester, you might go,
I'm getting the airport tram-
Or the Bury tram. Or the Bury tram,
the Eccles tram.
Here they definitely refer to it by colour.
(Phil laughs)
(doors bleeping)
So you think that Herdings Park?
You say that's the one that always gets chopped,
if there's like a strike or an emergency, or-
Yeah.
But do you think this is the least used branch-
By far and away. By some distance.
What's the least used tram stop?
This one or the next one up, on this little purple...
I don't know.
And they certainly don't publish that information,
but if I had to make an educated guess-
Yes.
it would be that it's Leighton Road,
which is the intermediate stop
on this Herdings Park Purple branch.
So you're going to guess that Leighton Road
is the least used tram stop on the Sheffield Super Tram.
We're going to get off at Leighton road-
We are. and walk to...
To Birley Lane.
(door bleeping)
That's 11, at Leighton Road.
We think the tram's least used stop,
and we're going to walk to White Lane.
Lead on, Phil. Mind the tram.
Mind the tram. The tram's about to cross.
(tram rumbles and clacks softly)
White Lane is back there,
Phil just wanted to point out
an incredible boundary anomaly.
Phil, you're saying that for about 200 metres-
Yep.
there's a little bit of the Sheffield tram,
actually passes through-
Derbyshire. Derbyshire.
It goes into Northeast Derbyshire.
Which bit? Can you show us?
The road junction behind us,
those yellow signs that say tram only,
beyond that is in Derbyshire.
The vehicle that's stopped at the traffic lights, there,
that's pretty much on the boundary.
So when the trail crosses through the middle of the field,
that field on either side of the tramway,
is in Derbyshire.
The road goes around the edge of the field,
that is the boundary,
and on the far side of the field,
the tram meets up with that road,
and crosses back into Sheffield.
Just that little bit?
That 200, maybe 300 metres.
Derbyshire? Derbyshire.
(tram clanks and rumbles)
I did not sign up for running, Phil.
We're at White Lane, by the way.
And now we're just relax,
and let a few tram stops tick by,
until we get to the end of the line, like this.
See you later.
(relaxed soul music)
We are almost at Halfway-
Yep.
Which isn't actually halfway.
Phil. Yes.
Why is it called Halfway?
Nobody's quite sure.
(laughs) Halfway to what?
We think it could be halfway
between Sheffield and Dronfield-
Okay.
Or between Rotherham and somewhere else in Derbyshire.
There's all sorts of speculation online.
You don't know?
To the best of my knowledge. It isn't sure.
It's a fact that Phil doesn't know.
Yeah. Sorry about that.
I don't think anybody else knows, either.
You've let YouTube down Phil. (laughs)
Yeah, sorry about that.
My reputation is going to have to
go fall by the wayside now. Isn't it.
I was really hoping we'd be halfway like 25,
but we're only 22. 22. Yeah.
Oh, wouldn't it have been perfect,
if we were actually halfway. It would have been fantastic
and unfortunately,
we've got to go all the way back into Sheffield City,
before we get to 23 now. (groans) Okay.
(traffic buzzes)
(relaxed soul music)
Fitzalan Square, Ponds Forge.
What I've learned,
is that a lot of Sheffield tram stops have two names.
They've all, each got a sub name.
Like a name and a sub name. Yeah.
Also Phil, can you explain why there are these-
A little yellow line at the front of each tram platform.
So they're designed so the tram driver,
looks out the window and lines up-
A stopping board. Knows where to stop. Yeah.
(bell trills) (tram rumbles softly)
(doors bleep)
(bell trills)
This is the Blue Route service,
to Malin Bridge. The very back bay,
on this side.
(tram rumbles softly)
Where's the tunnel going, Phil?
It goes underneath Park Square, University square, sorry.
roundabout and then comes out on the other side,
and it goes down Netherthorpe Road,
the big dual carriageway.
That's the inner ring-road of Sheffield.
That is number 37.
Just about there.
What number Phil?
37, I do believe.
Give me a fact about Middlewood.
Oh, it's the end of the line.
It is the end of the line.
And if there wasn't the stagecoach buses
on strike at the moment,
there'd ordinarily be a Super Tram link,
which connects to Stocksbridge,
which is sort of like an outlying town of Sheffield,
about three miles north of here.
(bell trills)
(tram rumbles softly) (traffic buzzes)
The next stop by request will be
Hillsborough Park.
The tram is very much on the street here. Isn't it?
Can we cross?
Er, let's not walk in front of the tram.
Don't walk in front of the tram.
(tram bell trills) Tram's going first.
(doors beep)
Ooh. Ey, that's good innit?
You taking photos of the tram?
Of the tram, yeah.
What for? 'Cause they're cool.
Phil, I've noticed, that at every terminus,
there's like a section of track,
which it looks long enough to fit another tram into.
It is, yeah. Is that the,
well, in case there's like an overrun or?
Yeah. That's right,
so you can just store a tram here,
if something happens.
You know, obviously, if there's been a football match,
and you've got lots of fans walking back to Hillsborough.
I feel like doing a tick. Tick.
Haven't done a tick the whole video.
Tick. Tick. All right, okay.
(relaxed soul music)
(traffic buzzes)
Phil. Yes?
I think I've worked out
why it's called "Cathedral". (crossing bleeping)
(laughs) Well spotted.
Yeah. Powers of observation,
second to none.
So the Tram Train starts here.
Yep.
Let's see if I've got this right.
There used to be 48 stops on the tram network.
Yes.
And then it extended it up to Rotherham.
Yep.
They used a bit of an old freight line.
Yep.
They've got in some special trains by Stadler,
Class 399's, which are allowed to run on
regular heavy rails, as well as tram light rails.
That's right.
And it's a 20 minute service from here,
that follows the tram path,
but just after Meadowhall, it goes, "Nope.
I'm going to go to the new bit"-
That's right. up to Rotherham.
The cool thing is that Rotherham Central,
is both a National Rail station and a tram stop,
and they're integrated.
Yes. That's right. Yes.
Did I get it all right? Yes. Basically.
Yes! Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Do you want to point out the,
the wing mirror that's not a wing mirror.
Yeah, so it hasn't got a wing mirror,
instead it's got a video camera for one, instead,
which is a bit novel.
CCTV video camera for a wing mirror?
Yeah.
So first time on a 399 today,
they're much nicer aren't they?
They are. They're really nice. Okay.
These are much more train-like, it is as well.
So these are Stadlers. Yep.
So the other older tram is a-
Siemens. They're Siemens trains.
(doors beeping)
(tram engine winds down)
This is the Tram Train
service to Parkgate.
I gather there's some debate,
as to whether this is a tram stop,
or a National Rail train stop,
as it's on their infrastructure.
But it's part of the tram service,
rather than Parkgate is a tram stop,
and not a railway station.
(train roars)
This the Tram Train service to Cathedral.
(door beeps) (button clunks)
Here's the tram bit,
and then further up it's the train bit.
So this bit here, this bit here,
is all quite low down.
This is at tram height platform level.
Dot matrix platform number.
But over here is the National Rail station.
So Phil, what they did,
is that the National Rail station was there.
Yep.
And then they just built the additional...
Just built additional two platforms
at the end of platform three and platform four,
both for the Super Tram, Tram Train.
(station ambience echoes)
(doors beep)
So with the sun setting,
it's just before four o'clock.
We weren't really timing ourselves,
but we started around half nine.
We got the Northern train into Meadowhall.
We're on the tram platform.
There's one that says Not in Service,
so we're going to leave,
and we'll tick off our 50th tram stop,
by departing on a tram.
Tick. That's it.
Phil, thanks for making me tick off
all the Sheffield Super Tram tram stops.
All 50 tram stops ticked off.
Once we've departed on the next tram,
the closing shot will be us leaving on a tram.
See you next time.
Press subscribe.
Thanks Phil. Bye.
See you YouTube. Bye. Bye.
(relaxed soul music)