WOODHEAD LINE JULY 1981

Super 8mm sound film taken during the last week of operation of the Woodhead Line. Unfortunately the camera jammed and this is all there is.

[@daystatesniper01]

I walked through woodhead tunnel a month after closure ,only a plastic fence across the enterance ,what a experience

[@kangaroogroundboy]

No need to apologise, great to be able to see this at all, 👍

[@stanogden6254]

Was a second man at guide bridge at the time cant believe now that I drove these beauties (when allowed) great memories

[@metrocammell1]

Glad you were there to record this, very rare to see authentic footage of this route, thank you !

[@icdgyixifyinstereo]

Thanks for taking the trouble to post this film. I remember them keeping these locos at Reddish near Stockport along with some other unusual locos such as Metrovicks

[@geoffadams5537]

Here we have it folks. The legacy of the thatcher junta. The woodhead route was one of England's m on st scenic railway lines.on an equal footing with the Midland Line between Christchurch and the west coast here in new Zealand. In particular the bit from Springfield to Arthurs pass to otira through the long tunnel. This stretch of the line was electrified. I can't imagine if this line was shut because of a political whim.

[@willswheels283]

The line should have at least been retained for freight, even if passengers services were loss making, it would help a great deal with today’s congested lorry filled roads, especially on the Woodhead road over the Pennines.

[@mervynsands3501]

The very last scenes being played out and then to pass by into history. Short sighted to remove the woodhead trans pennine route in every way you can ponder it. Many would argue for it's reinstatement, alas they had the chance to mothball it for a while without wholesale removal. What a waste of a useful resource.

[@Scotsman60103]

Yep It was also the first one to be built in Britain. It was electrified in the 1950s.

[@cristobalito1966]

What a waste of money, having electrified the Transpennine route only to abandon it! I still hope that one day it re-opens.

[@Isochest]

+olive oil Less than that: 27 years. Industrial Capitalism is benign: Rentier Capitalism is Malignant and all devouring. We need a 21st Century Chartist Movement to bring it all back and get people to see and vote Pathocrats like Osborne and El Camaron out of Government

[@MannyAntipov]

It could be reopened much easier if the national grid hadn't planted their electricity in the tunnels

[@quattromatty5219]

@@MannyAntipov fill in the original tunnels with concrete get a tunnel boring machine and voila reopen the route (with replica EM1’s)

[@SteamboatWilley]

@@MannyAntipov If they had put the cables in the older, smaller tunnels and left the post-electrification tunnels for trains it would have been much easier.

[@None-zc5vg]

@@SteamboatWilley They've had to move the cables from the old tunnels to the 'new' tunnel because the old ones were becoming a problem.

[@Haymarket40]

Excellent film. Sadly I never visited the Woodhead route when it was still open.

[@G0IMB]

@ssnakula I agree wholeheartedly. This line complete with electric traction could have been kept going through the freight doldrums years of the 80s/90s in a number of ways. But it now needs reopening. The Manchester Hub is congested and that can be said for Yorkshire, too. Short haul rail freight is making a comeback due to road congestion, the ability of private rail freight companies & diesel costs

[@None-zc5vg]

The line would have to be completely rebuilt: the disused trackbed has been obstructed in places by new earthworks, reservoirs, a motorway slip-road and the non-availability of a major tunnel that now carries very-high-voltage wires for the electricity grid: a new line with new gantrywork and wires would cost many millions and there wouldn't be the traffic to justify such a spend. They've made sure that the route is as dead as that of the former G.C. London Extension.

[@Isochest]

@@None-zc5vg Infinite quantities of money are provided for road schemes on a daily basis my RHA associate:-) If enough people give up their cars thr won't be enough to subsidise HGVs. Dwell on it!

[@None-zc5vg]

That route has gone for good: even if it were rebuilt, I can't see the existing ('New') tunnel being of the right dimensions to cope with the passage of modern really-high-speed trains because of limited clearances and slipstream/air-pressure problems. Instead, money will continue to be laundered-away into London-area schemes like 'Crossrail' and, as ever, into "HS2" and its successors.

[@Isochest]

@E27006 Sad we've seen all this internal destruction. I'd love to see this route all working again with 25kv ac catenary:-)))

[@Isochest]

Shildon to Port Clarence (Middlesborough) was wired up in 1915 but sadly this electrification was never extended and only lasted 20 years at most.

[@JohnnyWaterbucket]

When Labour got to power in 1997 I thought there might be hope for this line to get going again. Maybe they would have been in power today, if they had got projects like this and others up and running and others like it. Instead, Transport Minister Rosie Winterton 11/03/08: “no Government or rail industry strategy or planning document has identified a need for additional rail capacity across the Pennines that would require the reopening of the Woodhead route.” Look on M62 and M1 Ms Winterton!!

[@Isochest]

We should be the Government. We are not. That is the problem. Government has been hijacked by elites. That is not Demos Kratis.

[@G0IMB]

People need to abandon Authoritarian politics and look at Libertarian politics. Like Switzerland the People should be the Government.

[@servicecrew6813]

The route was transporting coal from soon to close South Yorkshire pits to soon to close Fiddlers Ferry... passengers went via Hope Valley... I love railways but come on..

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

@@Isochest there have never been any truly democratic governments.

[@StaffsTransport]

Crowden. Great film!

[@skoot2u]

F$%*%*G DIABOLICAL ! Lovely bit of film though,many thanks.

[@RufusT9]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, from 0:11 looks like former site of Crowden Station looking east, and then looking west, before the land was built up at one end of the reservoir. Today you can still see the brickwork edge of what was the island platform on the down main line. I've never seen a photo of the main station buildings on the reservoir side.

[@Isochest]

I'd love the Great Central to be re-formed and to reopen this route under 25kv ac catenary:-)

[@JohnSmith-mx8jh]

Someone will see sense and reopen the line

[@G0IMB]

Someone who cares might. But Politicians care only for a bung. Right up their arsehole!

[@robinmoss5470]

Reopen the line to do what? The coal traffic has gone. Woodhead Tunnel has been sold.

[@Isochest]

Carry the traffic the M62 carries now!

[@Isochest]

@@robinmoss5470 All sorts. Intermodal from Hull. Think IKEA. They realised short haul trainload is viable from Immingham as short as 35 miles!

[@None-zc5vg]

I feel the line has gone for good: they've done the usual trick of blocking and/or removing the trackbed so as to make any future reinstatement plans too expensive to contemplate. There seems to be deliberate overpricing of railway capital works in any case.

[@G0IMB]

@ssnakula By all accounts, one must conclude the Derby based "Midland Mafia" influenced the Woodhead Closure. After all, why were passenger services withdrawn so swiftly in the late 1960s on the fast route to Sheffield? This was the last bit of the Great Central Route and one has to assume burying the GC was top on their "wish list".

[@Isochest]

Yeah it's Crowden. Sadly we have no railway (yet) complete with 25kv ac catenary.

[@kenrail100]

@baconsandwich2007 thanks for yor reply. how about the first electric line to reopen by a preservation group ie non steam or diesel!!

[@porno6361]

real shame your camera packed up,thanks for posting anyway

[@kenrail100]

Was this the first electrictrified inter-city line to close?

[@Isochest]

In the UK: Yes!

[@Isochest]

Chris Grayling the Rail Saboteur is up to his tricks though another Government Minister has approved the electrification of Kettering to Market Harborough but not to Leicester or north to Derby and Sheffield.

[@jackbarrowclough1739]

If they closed this, they should have electrified Hope Valley

[@Isochest]

We're still hoping on MML. When MML is done we have a chance

[@jackbarrowclough1739]

@@Isochest Yeah you're right and hopefully (pun not intended) electrification will go ahead

[@Isochest]

I think it was Government interference. They should have left the LB&SCR to wire up the South East using 6.7kv ac 25Hz.The Midland Railway may have wired up the ill fated Derby to Manchester line on this system.

[@emilyhirst3837]

Does anyone know who owns this footage? Would love to discuss using it for a BBC doc

[@roberthirst860]

Are you related to the Hirsts from Hade Edge?

[@Scotsman60103]

I always wondered why the EM2s were removed from passenger work. Mainly because the passenger services were doomed so they were shipped off to the Netherlands.

[@andy126128]

it cude be reopend as a perserved rail then maine line tyrains cude use it

[@cristobalito1966]

It appears that there was quite a bit of goods´ traffic. Why was this route closed?

[@Isochest]

+PhII RP Ask the Psychopaths.

[@Isochest]

+PhII RP Oh and ask the Apaths (Bystanders) too.

[@Isochest]

Because in English Law Freight Forwarders could not raise an objection to closure as they could before 1963. Crap.That was Ernest Marples for you. Crap.

[@tanyajackson3833]

Because the CEGB closed the destination power stations and the Woodhead Tunnel was expensive to maintain. Oh, and also the 1500 volt DC electrification system was well out of date...

[@None-zc5vg]

@@tanyajackson3833 Surely it would have been straightforward to convert the line to 25kv/6.25kv throughout as they did with the Hadfield-Manchester section: tunnel-clearances might have been a problem for the overhead, but who knows? I suspect that closure was on the cards way back, long before Beeching and before the locos were "life-expired": the line was only viable for moving heavy freight like the Yorkshire coal and even that could be sent, in the end, a roundabout way via Huddersfield, Heaton Norris, Cheadle and on to Fiddlers Ferry. It was regarded as a duplicate route, like the G.C. Extension.

[@Isochest]

Human weaknesses. That's the root reason why élites control and the majority suffer. Utopia would be where we all have to graft and look out for each other. I'd prefer that btw:-)))

[@TheFlatCapFromWN5]

Not to sound dumb or anything, but would it be possible to have a Class 76/77 converted for 25kv AC use? I'd absolutely love to see one in action

[@Isochest]

Just add a transformer and larger insulators on the pantographs

[@brushhead]

No it's impossible.

[@Isochest]

No. Just a bit expensive or perhaps more work than some could be bothered to do perhaps.

[@winco68]

I’m sure it could work on the Tyne + Wear Metro network as that is 1500v DC overhead. Problem would be finding a time when no other traffic was running. Early hours of the morning would be the only option.

[@robtyman4281]

Not sure. But were this line still open today, they'd probably be using the class 88 loco. This is probably the nearest modern day equivalent to class 76.

[@EM-yk1dw]

The line should have at least been mothballed

[@jasinere35]

it was but the steep gradient at both ends made it un-viable for passenger services & when all the pits closed the line was no longer needed

[@Isochest]

@@jasinere35 The steep gradients were on the Worsboro Incline which was freight only

[@G0IMB]

Sadly no.

[@jeffreyhodge5564]

Nightmare closure

[@Isochest]

@kenrail100 Yes, it was. But I can see it reopening once the reality of the end of cheap oil bites in. The denial will end soon.

[@MrJimbaloid]

Why do we let mp's run things they could'nt run a bath.

[@Isochest]

They are self interested Psychopathic parasites at worst and dont have a clue at best. Civilisation is a system to benefit Psychopaths who are protected by it's Police and Military. Without them to protect them we would instinctively get rid

[@None-zc5vg]

They run a very good laundry!

[@Isochest]

@@None-zc5vg Shitwash maybe

[@E27006]

As the decisions taken in the late 50s early 60s to close Sheffield Victoria, the line was more or less doomed, you only have to look at the delays to Huddersfield trains reversing into Sheffield Midland. It was the Midland Mafia alright and those that found themselves working in the Eastern Regions Sheffield Division. Look at Sheffield now, slow services to St Pancras, Reopening of Rotherham Central. NR are rumoured to be proposing rebuilding the Midland to Continental Guage!!!

[@johnpirie4804]

The madness continues with that idiot Grayling cancelling the half completed Midland electrification

[@johnchurch4705]

Wasn’t the OHL meant to be extended to the GC terminus in Manchester?