Group tours for up to 30 people
This day tour explores the powerhouse of Sheffield’s heavy steel industry, including a walking-tour and lunch-stop in Neepsend, followed by a journey with commentary using a heritage Sheffield Corporation double-deck bus to explore sites in the Lower Don Valley.
The sites visited depend on availability, and can include the Sheffield Industrial Museum, Magna and a range of other locations to illustrate Sheffield’s industrial past. Each tour is individually planned and budgeted.
The itinerary is ideally suited to out-of-town groups arriving by train, and makes use of Supertram.
Places are limited so that everyone can have a top-deck seat on the bus, yet people with mobility and other impairments are very welcome to use the lower deck.
The Sheffield’s Industrial Heritage Bus Ride offers a memorable exploration of the light and heavy steel industry in the City of Steel, featuring a tour of historic sites in Attercliffe and Templeborough in a 1950s Sheffield Corporation double-deck bus.
The morning walking-tour can include the Doncaster Street Furnace, the Globe Works, Green Lane Works and the Kelham Island Industrial Museum, according to the time available.
After lunch (which can be included in the tour-price if required), the Bus Ride travels down the Lower Don Valley to visit the “Big Melt” at Magna and the grave of Benjamin Huntsman, the inventor of crucible steel, and a rich variety of surviving industrial and transport sites showing how the area has been rejuvenated since the decline of the heavy steel industry in the 1980s.
From the upper deck there’s a grandstand view, on and off the main roads, of steelworks, schools, pubs, places of worship, railways and the Sheffield Canal. Riding in the sort of vehicle that replaced the trams in the 1950s is itself an experience because buses have changed so much in half a century.
Please be aware that the Bus Ride uses a vintage vehicle which has no seatbelts. The steps on to the back platform and upstairs are steeper than on modern buses. Please discuss any special mobility needs when booking.
Groups travelling to Sheffield by rail begin the tour at Sheffield Station. Groups arriving by coach are met at a pre-arranged Supertram stop. Supertram travel is free after 9.30am to holders of a National Senior Bus Pass, irrespective of whether they live in South Yorkshire.
To arrange a tour please discuss possible dates. Itineraries and prices with Mike Higginbottom by post, phone or e-mail:
63 Vivian Road
Sheffield
S5 6WJ
0114-242-0951 or 07946-650672