How priceless this line would be today! Very short sighted to close it.
@neiloflongbeck57052 жыл бұрын
And 40 years from now it might be useless again. Just how do you think they would be able to work out what is needed in 40 years if they can't predict if Sheffield will have a white Christmas this year?
@gainsbourg66 Жыл бұрын
All railway lines have tremendous value and potential. They just didn't realise that 40 years ago. They should have singled the line, and it would have resembled 100s of little used rural lines all over the country. In addition it would have made a great high speed, steam heritage railway - all set up and complete - the only one to connect two major cities, in fact ANY two cties.
@22pcirish3 ай бұрын
It’s about to be buried under the new A57 bypass.
@BibtheBoulder Жыл бұрын
I am utterly amazed. I never realised the Woodhead electrics lasted until 1981.
@craigoliphant43 жыл бұрын
14/7/81 40 years ago today. I was at Woodhead that day also, and saw a DMU pass with staff on a last jolly.
@beckycrawford38623 жыл бұрын
My Grandad, who was a train driver, was driving one of these trains on the last day. Apparently he was interviewed for the radio, would love to find that archive
@laszlofyre8452 жыл бұрын
Hi, who was he, where did he work?I worked this line too.
@MrJimbaloid Жыл бұрын
@@laszlofyre845 Hello mate did you know Brian Higginbottom? I worked with him on tipper trucks and man did he have some stories about the woodhead.
@BibtheBoulder Жыл бұрын
@@MrJimbaloid I once worked with a former Woodhead driver: Don Stockdale. Smashing guy.
@stevehutchinson53994 жыл бұрын
Cracking footage. Somehow no sound makes it all the more wistful and eerie. Wish I'd been there...
@tracya40874 жыл бұрын
me too
@TheDaf95xf2 жыл бұрын
Absolutely fantastic 👍🏻 But what a waste pulling it all up 😢 I’m lucky enough to have travelled through it and spent many days train spotting round Manchester where the class 76s worked. And I’ve walked through it when it closed 😊
@robertpagetfilms Жыл бұрын
It was the second week of our honeymoon, and being able to afford enough cine film to record this was vital.
@Isochest7 ай бұрын
@@robertpagetfilms Thanks for filming!
@roywatson8133 Жыл бұрын
fantastic railway hard to believe its gone forever
@robertpagetfilms Жыл бұрын
and the priority at the time was to retain the route which had most stations, and therefore most customers, with the opposite logic being applied to HS2. It could have had 25KV installed. Glad I was there to record it.
@clivebroadhead43819 ай бұрын
It's an interesting fact that if the DC overhead Line Equipment had been retained woodhead would be an excellent route into Manchester from the ECML at Dincaster and the MML at Sheffield with AC/DC compliant trains.
@markrich71713 жыл бұрын
40 years ago. Seams like only yesterday. Had several trips over the route during the preceding months , either railtours or Sunday diversions and had a two day trip in May '81 Sunday/Monday slept in my mates Austin Allegro in Penistone Station Car Park. Woken up Monday morning by the first DMU of the day and spent most of the day photting, 76's. Of all the places we visited that trip only Toton remains. Tinsley, Dinting, Reddish, Wath all closed. As well as the Woodhead line we also griced the Clayton West Branch was also down for closure and indeed closed in May '83 but has subsequently reopened as the Kirklees Light Railway and even the pub and the chippy at Penistone that we frequented on several visits have both now closed.
@gainsbourg66 Жыл бұрын
Truly amazing. Thank you for capturing that
@robertpagetfilms Жыл бұрын
Glad you enjoyed it
@train49059 ай бұрын
Awsome 😊
@robertpagetfilms9 ай бұрын
Thanks 🤗
@CarlSmith-bs4qx3 жыл бұрын
Even for diversion purposes it absolutely should have been retained for use with diesel traction. With a fairly simple new curve it would have been possible at the Sheffield end to have access to the Midland station without the need to reverse. For those that are proactive it is hard not to see the potential for a St Pancras - Man Pic service via Woodhead with a new curve at the Sheffield end.
@bfapple2 жыл бұрын
When did Sheffield Parkway get constructed? The grade difference between the Midland and Victoria lines would creat an incredibly difficult challenge.
@neiloflongbeck57052 жыл бұрын
Meanwhile in reality. In 1981 we were in a recession with traffic levels falling nationally both freight and passenger. The traffic on the Woodhead route could be accommodated elsewhere.
@Palestina.non.grata864 жыл бұрын
How we still long for it to come back, 40 years later.
@petesaunders59583 жыл бұрын
The only electrified line across the Pennines. And they go and close it!
@neiloflongbeck57052 жыл бұрын
@@petesaunders5958 worn out non-standard equipment and locomotives plus a recession causing fall in traffic volume and the need for each train to have 3 locomotives and crews making it more expensive to operate EQUALS a candidate for closure.
@easybeat Жыл бұрын
Could have formed basis for modern, high-speed trans-Pennine route? Not sure. But pity formation wasn't safeguarded.
@Andypandy13x4 ай бұрын
I’ve just rode my bike down here, very sad to see how it is now
@anthonymcdonnell66153 жыл бұрын
also closed in the same year Was the St Helens to Runcorn gap railway built in 1833
@Isochest7 ай бұрын
This route needs to be reopened with 25kv ac catenary
@dannycarter1966 Жыл бұрын
The closure was political. Mrs Thatcher saw 2 alternative routes and also wanted to smash the coal industry. She also wanted rid of the Settle and Carlisle as she saw 2 alternative routes. She didn't care, and we're still feeling the fallout now.
@EM-yk1dw4 жыл бұрын
Shortsighted this closure.
@leeosborne37934 жыл бұрын
Why? The line needed a fortune spent on it to replace life-expired non-standard equipment, and the traffic it carried disappeared.
@thomasoates30034 жыл бұрын
@@leeosborne3793 The reasoning given is that it would give extra capacity in the network (for instance, if the Hope Valley line is shut for repairs).
@jackbarrowclough17394 жыл бұрын
An example was the floods at the beginning of the year. Now that Woodhead is closed, TPE services were diverted via Huddersfield, Wakefield and Barnsley
@Picolinni2 жыл бұрын
@@leeosborne3793 everyone keeps citing that the equipment (locomotives) were life expired. They were only marginally older than the Class 77 which were sold to the Netherlands. The Dutch obviously didn’t think they were life expired. From everything I can find, and the people I have managed to speak to, that life expired line was just an excuse. Like a lot of what went on with the railroads.
@levelcrossing1502 жыл бұрын
@@Picolinni If they want to get rid of something then they will find an excuse. Class 37's still going strong.
@HarryElliott_20073 жыл бұрын
Is the woodhead line still in use like some of the areas
@AdamL3 жыл бұрын
Yes - from Manchester Piccadilly as far as Hadfield and branch line to Glossop, the Woodhead Line survives kind of... there's also a single track goods line still in use on the Sheffield side
@ekvedrek3 жыл бұрын
Yeah but it terminates at Hadfield
@rajappanpk95692 жыл бұрын
Was visible headed by great
@Isochest4 жыл бұрын
Capacity we need. It will be realised when truck subsidies end.
@baconsandwich20073 жыл бұрын
Yes, we need more capacity and yes, this line should have never closed but truck subsidies? I've been in road haulage for 30 years and I can assure you, we don't get any kind of subsidy.
@Isochest3 жыл бұрын
@@baconsandwich2007 It's indirect. VED does not reflect damage done to highways by the heaviest loads. An American muscle car pays more VED than a 44 tonner!!!
@neiloflongbeck57052 жыл бұрын
But in 1981 we had excessive capacity.
@Isochest7 ай бұрын
The Closure of the Woodhead Route was the First Step Backward in the Degeneration and Deindustrialisation of the UK. Elif Air Ab Tizak to the Co Conspirators is all I can say!!
@oliverbrelsford54724 жыл бұрын
Aaand... spotters were out in force.
@stanogden62544 жыл бұрын
Arthur Moores RIP
@laszlofyre8452 жыл бұрын
Good old Arthur. He was my instructor on my MP12 handling course.
@22pcirish3 ай бұрын
They are about to bury the line under the new A57 bypass. Write to The transport minister LouiseHaigh to get the railway line protected form development. This is your LAST CHANCE.