Woodhead Route

From Railways

The Woodhead Route was a railway route from Manchester to Sheffield.

The route was constructed by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway in the mid-19th century, including the original Woodhead Tunnel.

In the 1950's the line was modernied with new tunnels being provided. The line was also electrified at 1.5 kV DC in a project known as the Manchester-Sheffield-Wath electrification (predating the later network standard of 25 kV AC) using EM1/Class 76 and EM2/Class 77 locomotives. The locomotives were able to use regenerative braking on their descent.

[edit] Closure

The route was closed to passenger traffic in the early 1970s when it was clear that the alternative Hope Valley Line through Edale would be required to remain open for social and network reasons and could handle all Manchester–Sheffield passenger traffic. In the 1980s the reduction in trans-Pennine coal traffic brought about closure to freight, and mothballing of the line.

[edit] The Route Today

Much of the trackbed is currently part of the Trans-Pennine Trail.

[edit] Woodhead Tunnel

The Woodhead Tunnels are three trans-Pennine railway tunnels which formerly carried a major rail link (usually known as the Woodhead Route) from Manchester to Sheffield. The western portals are at Woodhead in Derbyshire and the eastern portals are at Dunford Bridge, near Penistone, South Yorkshire.

The earlier twin tunnels (Woodhead 1 & 2) were completed by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway in the mid-19th century, with significant loss of life. At the time of its completion in 1845, Woodhead 1 was one of the world's longest railway tunnels (3 miles 13 yards (4840 m)); it was the first of several trans-Pennine tunnels (Standedge, Totley), which are only slightly longer.

The twin tunnels saw heavy use by steam trains (250 trains a day each way) and had a reputation for having a poor working environment with high maintenance needs. They were replaced by Woodhead 3, a new double-track tunnel designed by Sir William Halcrow & Partners, in 1954.

Following the new tunnels, in the 1960s one of the earlier tunnels had a new lease of life, having been acquired and renovated by the CEGB to carry the trans-Pennine 400 kV electricity link below ground, rather than over the moors of the Peak District National Park.

[edit] Future plans

Alternative uses for the tunnel route have been suggested from time to time — see M67 motorway.

There have been periodic proposals to revive the Woodhead route, most recently in 2003 as part of the Central Railway route from Liverpool to the Channel Tunnel. There are also plans to restore the route from Deepcar to Sheffield city centre as a heritage line called the Don Valley Line.

[edit] Cult status

The Woodhead line has, unusually for an electric route, managed to achieve a cult status with collectors of railway memorabilia (perhaps because of a feeling that the closure of a modern electric railway was a mistake, given that the alternative routes were (are) not electrified). The original poster of the 'modern' route, published in 1955 by British Railways Board and entitled 'Britain's First All-Electric Main Line', fetches high prices at auction, and is still available in reproduction.

The association of Woodhead Tunnel with the S*******c R*****e has also added to the cult status of the route.

[edit] External link

This article is based on a similar article at Wikipedia and as available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), as are all other articles at the UK Railways Wiki