Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Train to Sheffield and Chapeltown

Early the next morning, we made our way to Oxford Road train station. We were going to visit our friends Trish and Tom in Sheffield. This was the only reason we were stopping in Manchester first before heading to Scotland. When trying to figure out how to get to Sheffield, I realised that Oxford Road is such a common name that I was scared of booking the wrong ticket! The only Oxford Road I knew then was the one in London. 

We got to the station early and managed to explore around the area. It was probably around later 7-ish in the morning, so there weren't many people around. It was nice and cold, and we manage to take some photos of old pubs at the small alley near the train station.

I wasn't planning on exploring Manchester much on this trip, so I can't stay I've done much researched on it. So it was nice to see whatever interesting sights that came my way. So seeing street arts or decorations on the wall like these were a plus for me. 

I also love wordings that looked like it came from old English books, as well as pictures. It's strange, I find there are a lot of art and beauty in advertisement and don't really mind wondering around looking at it. Some people find it boring. I don't really go to cities to shop, but more to look at the buildings and decorations there. And shop displays and shop fronts are pretty fun to look at for me.

I've also learned that there is such a thing call Cask Marque, a kind of a seal of approval for a pint in UK? I guess this is similar to a Michelin sign, or a Good Restaurant sign in Korea? Strange how 5mins walk in the alley and you can learn some new things :)

Since my husband was into cycling, I also took note of cycling related facilities at the station. They have a cycling hub where cyclist could stop by. Bicycles are allowed on the train, which I think it's nice. It does save on public transport if you could ride your bicycles anywhere. I would love to be able to, if only the streets in Singapore was safer for cycling on. I personally don't. I think I can only cycle on country roads, provided it's not a narrow one next to a ditch!

Finally we went into the station. It was easy enough using our QR code from our tickets. We bought all our train tickets via Trainpal app and find it reliable enough that I am doing the same thing on my trip in 2026! 

While waiting for the train, my next favourite activity was looking at trains! When booking, I have no ideas the type of trains that I would end up on. All I knew were the names of the train, which doesn't really tell me much. 

 

We boarded our EMR train, and we had to transfer at Sheffield's as we needed to go to Chapteltown, south of Yorkshine. Yes, there are more than one Chapeltown in UK too! So it's really confusing for me. And whenever there is a train transfer, there is always the risk of getting on the wrong train, or missing the train, or not getting off in time etc. The anxiety of it all! So as much as possible, I try to book a direct train, or one that has at least 30mins of transit time.

Inside the first leg of our train trip. The train was pretty modern. I mean, I wasn't expecting much from the exterior look for the train. But I was glad the inside looked like a modern train with seats and even tables. We didn't bring food on our short trip to Sheffield, but we sure gonna do so in longer trips! 

The view of the country side was really relaxing. It was probably common to the locals, but I love looking out the windows whenever I'm on train and just watching the world go by. It's such a different world than mine!

Looking at sheep or goats grazing on the field, it looked like something out of a story book for me. We were also fortunate to see such lovely blue skies on that day. I was prepared for gloomy weather and rain, but it was just lovely.

Seeing chalk dividers like these also reminded me of Discworld where Tiffany Aching lives. It's just  magical for me to visit places like these were it seems I can relive the stories I once read about. It's the same in almost every country that I visit. We always have some perception of a place, and when we are actually there, it's nice to see how our perception held up. 

Finally, about an hour in, we reached Sheffield and waited for our connecting train to Chapeltown where our friends would pick us up from. I wasn't really sure what to expect!