Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway

Introduction

This line ran from Sheffield to Manchester via the famous Woodhead tunnel; the line was known as the Woodhead Route. The company was one of the founder members of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincoln Railway which became the Great Central Railway upon its extension to London. The line was later electrified with DC to reduce costs. However, much of the route, including the tunnel, is now closed. Following Corus recent announcement (29/04/2003) of the (partial?) closure of Stocksbridge Steelworks the remaining Sheffield to Deepcar section must be under some degree of threat.






Dates

  /12/1845Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway
Line completely opened when single bore 3 mile 22 yard Woodhead Tunnel opened on a gradient of 1 in 201.
  /02/1847Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway
Contract for second Woodhead Tunnel let.
02/02/1852Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway
New 'up' Woodhead Tunnel opened.
  /  /1948Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway
Work on new double track Woodhead Tunnel begins.
14/06/1954Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway
New Woodhead Tunnel opens and electric services over line commence.
  /01/1970Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway
Passenger trains withdrawn. Use for freight trains and passenger train diversions continues.
  /07/1987Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway
Track lifting reaches Crowden.
  /  /2011Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway
National Grid to cease using the Victorian age Woodhead Tunnel bores.

Locations along the line

These locations are along the line.















At the east/south end of the closed portion of the Woodhead Route is the former Deepcar station. The station can be seen in the distance in this 2002 ...
Ewan Crawford //2002
Looking north towards Penistone from just north of Deepcar in 2002. Judging by the remaining ballast here it looks like the southbound track remained ...
Ewan Crawford 12/03/2002
2 of 2 images.










76010+76016 leaving Barnsley Junction, Penistone, probably for the last time and certainly with the very last 16.30 departure to Fiddler's Ferry, on ...
Bill Jamieson 17/07/1981
76010+76016 get underway with the very last 16.30 departure from Barnsley Junction, Penistone, to Fiddler's Ferry power station on 17 July 1981. ...
Bill Jamieson 17/07/1981
45 001 deposits another half load of power station coal in the sidings at Barnsley Junction, Penistone, in July 1981. There was one more train from ...
Bill Jamieson 17/07/1981
76 051 with a train of empties passing Penistone on 17 July 1981 heading for Rotherwod Sidings. In the background are Barnsley Junction sidings which ...
Bill Jamieson 17/07/1981
4 of 6 images. more


An unidentified pair of BR Gorton Works built Woodhead line Class EM1 Bo-Bo 1500V DC electric locos work west through Penistone Station with loaded ...
David Pesterfield 04/12/1976
Crewe built BR Sulzer Type 2 sisters 24082 and 24087 accelerate away from the Woodhead line eastbound platform at Penistone on 4 December 1976, whilst ...
David Pesterfield 04/12/1976
Crewe built BR Sulzer Type 2 24082 is standing in the Woodhead line eastbound platform at Penistone on 4 December 1976, whilst working with sister ...
David Pesterfield 04/12/1976
The former main entrance to the Woodhead line platforms at Penistone Station in November 2014, showing the supports and stonework cut-outs where a ...
David Pesterfield 28/11/2014
4 of 31 images. more




A display board sited near the former Hazelhead Bridge station detailing the Trans Pennine Trail now running along the trackbed of the Manchester to ...
David Pesterfield 01/06/2016
Looking west along the very wide section of former trackbed and sidings close to the site of Hazelhead Bridge Station, on the Manchester to Sheffield ...
David Pesterfield 01/06/2016
View south from the former trackbed of the Manchester to Sheffield and Wath 1500V DC electrified line, showing the former Hazelhead Station Masters ...
David Pesterfield 01/06/2016
3 of 3 images.




View, from the junction of the A628 Woodhead Pass and the road passing Dunford Bridge Station, towards Round Hill in October 2018. The distant ...
David Pesterfield 20/10/2018
1 of 1 images.




Ah the sun does shine up here then sometimes. Woodhead signal box and platforms in April 1977 ...
Roger Geach /04/1977
The commemorative hand-out for those partaking in the Woodhead Wanderer DMU farewell journey over the 1500V electrified route, 10 years after ...
David Pesterfield 05/01/1980
Looking south across Woodhead Reservoir, from the A6024 Woodhead Road running from Holmfirth to the A628, showing the trackbed of the former Woodhead ...
David Pesterfield 18/01/2017
Looking east along Woodhead Reservoir, from the A6024 Woodhead Road running from Holmfirth, showing the trackbed of the former Manchester to Sheffield ...
David Pesterfield 18/01/2017
4 of 14 images. more


76024 76006 hauls a Fiddlers Ferry to Wath empty mgr service near Crowden on a cold March day in 1981. It was often cold here, if not wet as well. Did ...
Roger Geach 04/03/1981.
Looking at a very well built, and still in use, underbridge running through the embankment of the former Woodhead line a short distance to the west of ...
David Pesterfield 18/01/2017
2 of 2 images.


The driver of 323238 can be seen making his way along the platform at Hadfield to the other end of the train, something he did a few minutes earlier ...
Mark Bartlett 16/06/2017
Northern 323238 approaches Hadfield on 16th June 2017 with a service that will quickly return to Piccadilly via Glossop. In the foreground a ...
Mark Bartlett 19/06/2017
Looking back towards Manchester from the platform at Hadfield. This was once of course the Woodhead main line but is now a single track from the ...
Mark Bartlett 01/09/2015
Class 323 25kv EMU 323228 at Hadfield on 1st September 2015 about to depart for Manchester. See image 21021 from 1983 at this location. ...
Mark Bartlett 01/09/2015
4 of 12 images. more




When first preserved, 6115 Scots Guardsman spent some time in the early 1970s at the preservation site at Dinting. Seen in May 1972 with the ...
John Thorn /05/1972
Another grab shot from a Hadfield bound train at Dinting on 16th June 2017. This view looks across to the Glossop branch platform, which the train had ...
Mark Bartlett 23/06/2017
6115 Scots Guardsman in the display shed at the former Dinting Railway Centre on 5 January 1980. Other locomotives on display that day included ...
David Pesterfield 05/01/1980
Lion in action at the Dinting Railway Centre in May 1982. 46115 can be seen in the background. ...
Peter Todd /05/1982
4 of 14 images. more




A rather impressive goods shed at Broadbottom still stands and is in use as an activity centre. The Class 323 EMU is on a Hadfield to Piccadilly ...
John McIntyre 06/04/2019
Northern EMU 323232 calls at Broadbottom whilst on a Piccadilly to Hadfield service on 06 April 2019. The grandiose station building appears out of ...
John McIntyre 06/04/2019
323223 heads east from Broadbottom towards Dinting on a Glossop and Hadfield service. The EMU is just about to pass the old goods shed, now in ...
Mark Bartlett 28/12/2012
The 1847 station building at Broadbottom is in near original external condition, despite a pub having been incorporated into part of the building. The ...
Mark Bartlett 28/12/2012
4 of 4 images.


Northern's 323233 arrives at Hattersley with a Hadfield to Manchester Piccadilly service on 11 October 2022. The station is a relatively recent ...
John McIntyre 11/10/2022
Hattersley station building was undergoing a major rebuild when visited on 11 October 2022. This sits above the island platform with a covered ramp ...
John McIntyre 11/10/2022
2 of 2 images.






A Manchester Piccadilly to Hadfield service with 323234 departs from Godley on 11 October 2022. This is actually the second station called Godley and ...
John McIntyre 11/10/2022
1 of 1 images.


A Class 323 EMU calls at Newton for Hyde with a service from Hadfield to Manchester Piccadilly on 11 October 2022. To the right of the EMU is part of ...
John McIntyre 11/10/2022
The view west of the platforms at Newton for Hyde on 11 October 2022. The main station building is below to the left approximately halfway to the ...
John McIntyre 11/10/2022
A rather attractive station building at Newton for Hyde. This sits below the railway but above a local road. There is an underpass from the right hand ...
John McIntyre 11/10/2022
3 of 3 images.


323236 arrives at Flowery Field on 11 October 2022, with a service from Manchester Piccadilly to Hadfield. The station opened in 1985 and is mainly of ...
John McIntyre 11/10/2022
A view from the bottom of the footpath leading to the eastbound platform at Flowery Field in October 2022. The green palisade fence at the back of ...
John McIntyre 11/10/2022
2 of 2 images.








DBC 66024 passes Guide Bridge on 2nd June 2018 with empty stone hoppers. It is believed that it had come from Bredbury and was heading back to Peak ...
John McIntyre 02/06/2018
TPE 185143 passes Guide Bridge in June 2018 with a service to Hull. Immediately after the station the train took the Stalybridge route, leaving the ...
John McIntyre 02/06/2018
On a wet and miserable 12/04/1969 E26056 Triton arrives at Guide Bridge with a Manchester - Sheffield via Woodhaed working. Passenger services over ...
John Clark 12/04/1969
Driving Trailer 59602 of a Class 506 Manchester Glossop Hadfield EMU at Guide Bridge on 5 March 1983.
...
Peter Todd 05/03/1983
4 of 28 images. more












Very poor light at Ashburys in December 1984, not long before the end of the 1500V DC Glossop Hadfield units. ...
Roger Geach 07/12/1984
45128 on the 'Mersey Docker' rail tour from Euston passing Ashburys on 20 February 1988. Formed with Network South East stock, the Peak had picked the ...
Roger Geach 20/02/1988
Passing Ashburys and heading to Piccadilly is a Northern Pacer unit on a service from Rose Hill Marple on 02 June 2018. ...
John McIntyre 02/06/2018
A TPE Class 185 crosses Ashburys West Jct on 02 June 2018 with the 1617 hrs Manchester Piccadilly to Leeds service. The platforms of Ashburys station ...
John McIntyre 02/06/2018
4 of 6 images. more




If you search hard enough around the back streets of East Manchester you may eventually find the entrance to Ardwick station. A main road runs close ...
Mark Bartlett 03/08/2011
A Rose Hill bound service, formed by Pacer 142005, hurries through Ardwick in East Manchester, as do most trains on this busy line. In the 2011 ...
Mark Bartlett 03/08/2011
Looking across to the LNWR lines from Ardwick's deserted platforms, situated on the old Great Central route. Northern EMU 323237 is approaching ...
Mark Bartlett 03/08/2011
Framed by the footbridge that provides the sole access to Ardwick's island platform, 323229 passes over Ardwick Junction on its way to Stockport. The ...
Mark Bartlett 03/08/2011
4 of 4 images.