platforms 3 and 4 could not be used by Sheffield-bound trains without reversing, which made them effectively useless and removed much operational flexibility on the line as express trains could no longer easily pass/overtake local trains at Rotherham. By the 1980s railways in South Yorkshire were in a sorry state having lost most of their passengers. Rotherham in particular suffered from its remaining station being, at the time, just under half-a-mile from the town centre. As a result, a link was built from the former Sheffield & Rotherham Line nearby at Holmes, to the Great Central Railway line, allowing local trains to use a re-opened Rotherham Central station, at the same time reintroducing the flexibility for expresses to pass local trains that had been removed a few years earlier. Rotherham Masborough regained its suffix in the timetables (though not on the station signboards) and soldiered on for a few years with Sheffield-York trains stopping until eventual closure on 3 October 1988. Most of the station buildings, awnings and footbridge were demolished in the early 1990s but the platforms still remain, and the line through the station is still used by express and freight services. The main station building on the east side has been converted into an Indian restaurant. Stationmasters Mr. Thackrah ca. 1846 W. Harrison until 1859 P. Turner 1859 - 1869 H.J. Brown ca. 1871 - 1874 W.T. Sykes 1874 - 1876 Henry P. Jeffries 1876 - 1898 William Mee 1898 - 1913 John William Palmer 1914 - 1924 (afterwards station master at Bradford) T. Hudson until 1929 (afterwards station master at Leek) William Clements 1929 - 1939 (formerly station master at Apperley Bridge and Rawdon) Services References External links Selection of photographs Disused railway stations in Rotherham Former Midland Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1840 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1988 Francis Thompson railway stations