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Penistone Station - In the days of Cammel-Laird's factory. These were their smoking chimneys in the old days, near to the current 'Laird's Way' off Sheffield Road.
The Woodhead Line Begins
The Manchester to Sheffield line was built in stages until its official opening on 22nd December 1845. That was the year of Wagner's 'Tannhauser' and Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. It had not been an easy history. The notes here are pieced together from various sources including Graces Guide, The Railway Archive and these videos: History of the Woodhead Tunnels by 'Doncaster Drawn' and 'Woodhead Tunnel (1955)' but 'Age of the Train' both on Youtube (and my thanks to Peter Lawford for the links).
Sheffield's steel industry had been expanding in the 1830s and its requirement for coal followed a similar pattern. The problem was transporting these into and out of the city. Sheffield had its canal and it could use that but it was very slow. The answer would be the railway but that had a big problem; the geography of the land. It was desirable but almost impossible to set up a railway connection with Manchester. The Pennine Range was in the way.
In 1831, a plan was proposed to set up a railway line to link the two cities going overland and traversing some steep hills. That plan was approved by Parliament but was really a non-starter and it did not proceed. The East-West route needed a re-think and that would need to include a tunnel, given that the Pennine hills between would rise up to 950 feet above sea level. In 1833, committees were set up in both Manchester and Sheffield to find the solution and, after much to-ing and fro-ing, the Sheffield, Ashton-under-line, Manchester railway line was considered. A fly in the ointment was that Manchester's committee was dominated by Glossop industrialists who wished to include their town in the scheme but the line could not realistically go through Glossop. A branch line could get around the problem but it was not ideal for the industrialists. A station would ultimately be provided for Glossop at Dinting in 1845 but that was in the future.
Even the great George Stevenson had no faith in the tunnel scheme, but it was to be the winning plan. It would require a tunnel 3 miles 13 yards (4.8 km) long, mostly through millstone grit. Even with the new tunnel, gradients from both ends were relatively steep with the apex between Dunford station and the middle of the tunnel. The chosen engineer would be Charles Vignoles. The civil engineering contractor was Thomas Brassey (1805 - 1870) and he was no mug. In 1855 Brassey's company quickly built a seven-mile tunnel from Balaklava in Crimea for allied troops besieging Sevastopol, thereby shortening the campaign and alleviating suffering.
Enough land was purchased for two tunnels but this plan was for one only with a single line through the tunnel. Work could only begin on the line after an Act of Incorporation was passed by Parliament in 1837 for the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Line and Manchester Railway Company. The Manchester and Birmingham Railway Company opposed the route but a compromise could be found. The line between Ardwick and Manchester would be shared, with the Ardwick station serving both routes.
The First Woodhead Tunnel Begins - The first sod was ceremonially cut on 1st October 1838, at the Woodhead end of the tunnel. Making a long hole through the Pennine Range would be a huge construction project requiring hundreds of men (the 'navvies') and a crude village for them, and with no access roads. Work started in 1839 and the first job was to mark out the route over the ridge. The boring of each vertical shaft could begin. At each shaft base, boring would aim towards other shaft bases with the waste bucketed up to the top of each shaft; a dirty and dangerous job with what might have been rickety hoists. Safety was not high on the agenda in those days. The tunnel's deepest vertical shaft to be bored would be 193 yards deep (118 metres, about a tenth of a mile).
The shareholders became restless in 1841 as progress was slow and the Hope Valley line was shaping up between Sheffield and Manchester as an alternative route and competitor. On 11th November 1841, the line from a temporary station on Travis Street, Manchester to Godley Toll Bar (later Godley Junction) was opened. The Manchester Store Street (later Piccadilly) station came into use the following year.
A Thurgoland Spur - As an aside, we learn from Penistone Archive Group's Journal 14 (Page 10) that there had been a short single-track branch line from Thurgoland opened in 1947 by the MSL Railway. It was used to carry minerals but was never used for passenger traffic, although it was a fully-specified line which could have served that purpose, had there been a strong enough reason to build a station on the line. Coal from a rich seam near Silkstone was carried by the two-mile line but it would not last long. It closed in 1860, with few traces remaining in the modern age.
Back to the tunnel-builders. The 'shanty town' for navvies was certainly not salubrious, with poor sanitation and water supply. The men had built huts which had disgusting living conditions. Disease was rife and health care crude. There were far too many accidents. On top of this, the navvies became unwelcome guests in any village; being typically ill-mannered, drunk and generally a lot of trouble. They were described as drunken hooligans.
Costs were mounting in 1844 as more powerful pumps were needed to remove water from the workings but good progress was made. The line from Manchester to the tunnel end opened in 1844, with new stations at Hadfield and Woodhead. On the Sheffield side, the line was complete to Dunford Bridge, Penistone, Wortley, Deepcar, Oughty Bridge, Wadsley Bridge and Sheffield and officially opened on 14th June 1845.
Application to Parliament - Recorded in 11th November 1845 Hansard, requesting an Act by Parliament in the next session:
' ... to authorise the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne, and Manchester Railway Company, to make and maintain a railway, with proper works, approaches, and conveniences connected therewith, commencing by a junction with the main line of the said Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne, and Manchester Railway, in the township of Thurgoland, in the parish of Silkstone, in the west riding of the county of York, and terminating in the township of Worsborough, in the parish of Darfield, in the said west riding, or at some intermediate point between the said two places of commencement and termination; which said intended railway and works will pass from, in, through, or into, or be situate within the severalparishes, townships and extra-parochial, and other places following, or some of them, that is to say, Silkstone, Tankersley, Darfield, Thurgoland, Wortley, Pilley, Stainborough, and Worsborough, all in the west riding of the county of York. (etc., with much lasting for several pages).
The places affected by the new railway were listed as: Sheffield, Ecclesfield, Tankersley, Silkstone, Peniston, Wortley, Brightside-Bierlow, Bradfield, Hunshelf, Oxspring, Thurgoland, Thurlstone, Langsett, Wadsley Bridge, Birley Carr, Oughtibridge, Outhwaite, Wharnclifie Wood, Carlcotes, Bullhouse, Durnford Bridge, Saltersbrook, Glossop, Dinting, Hadfield, Padfield, Simondley, Charlesworth, Mottram-in-Longdendale, Stockport, Godley, Hattersley, Newton, Matley, Tintwisle, Dukenfield, Hyde, Woodhead, and Flowery-field, Manchester, Ashton-under-Lyne, Gorton, Audenshaw, Ardwick, and Openshaw, Ashton Town, Ashton, Hartshead, and Stalybridge, or some of them, in the respective counties of Lancaster, Chester, and Derby, and the west riding of the county of York. No stone left unturned there.
In 1845, the Manchester Guardian newspaper took an interest in the navvies' construction village and their report reached far and wide, highlighting the disgraceful living conditions. The tunnel construction would claim many lives and injuries (sources vary on numbers). It was said that the death-rate at the site was worse than our side at the Battle of Waterloo (see Navvies at the Railway Museum and Woodhead's Forgotten Tragedy).
The Oxspring and Thurgoland stations opened in 1845 on what had been coal sidings. The branch line to Glossop with the new Dinting viaduct and Dinting station also opened in 1845. In December 1845, Government inspectors gave their approval and the tunnel could now be used by the railway. The completed line, including the country's longest tunnel, would be officially opened on 22nd December 1845.
The cost to build the tunnel had been about £200,000. 157 tons of gunpowder were used and more than 8 million tons of water pumped during construction. The new line was open but the Sheffield, Ashton-under-line and Manchester Railway Company was in trouble and would not survive long. By 1847, it would be merged into the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MSLR). Their jumbled MSL&R monogram can still be found on Penistone station but the lettering makes little sense.
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Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway monograph looks like MRL on the Huddersfield Platform 2 canopy of Penistone Station. The 'S' is mingled with the 'R'. MSLR might have been better. The 1968-1969 timetable, Manchester Piccadily via Penistone to Sheffield Victoria (click it for train times). This was the last timetable for the Woodhead Line. |
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Second Woodhead Tunnel Needed - The single line working through the tunnel became a bottleneck to the busy rail traffic and soon a second tunnel had to be planned to cope with demand and allow for two-line working. This would start in 1847 with Pauling and Company as contractors and James Potter as engineer. The second tunnel would be much easier than the first and the existing vertical shafts could once again be used in the construction. Again, the living conditions of navvies would be very poor and a cholera outbreak in 1848 claimed another 28 lives. Poor sanitation and contaminated drinking water was part of the problem. The arrival of dozens of new coffins at the site spooked the workers and some of them fled to neighbouring villages where, as always, they were not welcome.
The Sheffield Victoria railway station opened on 15th September 1851 for the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway and the second tunnel was completed in 1852. It would have been quite an experience to thunder through the tunnels on steam-hauled trains, with sulphurous fumes, smoke and soot being the norm. The vertical shafts would help (but not by much) as air shafts and they must have helped dissipate some of the pollution between trains.
Train lighting was usually not available on the early trains and people were encouraged to purchase their own small oil lamps. It must have been quite an adventure on evening trains and going through tunnels with no lighting. Even so, the route proved to be very popular with 250 trains a day running each way and the two tunnels would serve well until about a century later when the third tunnel would be built. In 1897, the MSL& R became the Great Central Railway.
George Kay
Part of memorial stone in Penistone Churchyard for Dunford Stationmaster George Kay:
Inscribed 'In affectionate Remembrance of John Kay, Son of George and Mary Kay of Dunford Bridge, who died February 19th 1877 aged 26 years' followed by:
'Also in ever loving Memory of the above named George Kay of Dunford Bridge, who died May 25th 1910, Aged 86 years.
' He was for many years Station Master and served the Great Central Railway Co. faithfully for 55 years at Dunford Station and was highly respected by all that knew him. Interred at Penistone Cemetery May 28th 1910. Life’s work well done. Life’s journey well run. Life’s crown well won. Now comes rest.'
Some Accidents
In February 1855, the Guard's van on a passenger train was derailed near Woodhead. The van was carrying three people, the Guard, a carriage inspector and a Mr Livesley who was a financial inspector. The motion of the van suggested something was wrong, the Guard pulled the brake as Mr Livesley approached the door. The van came to an abrupt halt as it left the track and Mr Livesley was thrown out, to land in a ditch.
In July 1884 a derailment accident at Bullhouse caused the deaths of 24 people, with 64 injured. The line carried a lot of coal traffic into Lancashire.
In 1896, a train passed a signal at Danger and ran into the rear end of a coal train. We might surmise that the signal had only just changed to danger, as the signalman was blamed for not allowing enough distance beween trains. Nobody was injured.
The New Electrified Line 1954
With the Woodhead Line as busy as ever, it was time to improve the line further and bring it into the modern age. An electrified Woodhead line had been proposed in an LNER Report as early as 1926 but would be delayed because of the economic conditions of the time. Ten years later, the LNER Board authorised an electrification plan with Government support, in an effort to ease the high unemployment of the time. Progress would be slow. The decision was taken to adopt a 1,500 Volt overhead power scheme using a Direct Current supply, with locomotives using regenerative braking to offset costs. Electrical power retrieved during braking could be returned to the electrical supply. They had also planned to retain the semaphore signals and steam shunting locos to save costs.
The route from Manchester to Sheffield would be 41½ miles (66.8 km) long and the Woodhead Tunnel about three miles long. The stations were: Manchester (London Road) Gorton, Guide Bridge, Newton, Godley Junction, Mottram, Glossop and Dinting, Glossop Central, Hadfield, Crowden, Woodhead, Dunford Bridge, Hazlehead Bridge, Penistone, Wortley, Deepcar, Oughtibridge, Wadsley Bridge, Neepsend, Sheffield Victoria.
Given all the years of coal mining in the Barnsley area, hidden caverns deep beneath the ground would lead to substantial subsidence and expensive remedies. Much of the existing line had been subject to subsidence at the Barnsley end - a word inducing terror to all engineers. The new scheme had to be protected against subsidence. In fact, the Wath locomotive shed had lost two feet of altitude during its first four years and this was no uncommon problem. Residents of such as Dodworth would also suffer from subsidence as many a tenant would find badly cracked brickwork as the ground sank away.
The electrification scheme ploughed on with electric locomotives being designed, foundations laid, and contracts placed. Then the Second World War intervened in 1939 and everything was 'put on hold' for six more years. By 1944, (and as always) the projected costs had doubled to about £6m. The one working electric locomotive was out on loan to the Netherlands railway which used the same 1,500 Volt dc system that was being implemented here.
After the war ended, organisational difficulties for the electrification scheme were a new difficulty to contend with, as previous work and research had been disrupted from the war. When it restarted in 1946, the organising teams for the scheme had become widely dispersed and would need a new start.
However, technology had not stood still and the usual British spirit of innovation continued. The new electric locomotives could now be more powerful than originally envisaged and able to go faster but this meant that the signals would need to be repositioned to allow for greater stopping distances. 750-ton trains with one electric locomotive could now replace the old 100-ton trains with up to four locomotives, but 850-ton trains on the stretch between Dunford and Wath would still require a locomotive at each end.
Things were getting worse and the plan could easily have been scuppered, in spite of all the work that had gone into it. The estimated cost of the scheme was now about £11m and many people had lost faith in a scheme which had been going for around 13 years. Also the already busy line prevented most of the work being done during the working week. And that old problem of subsidence was increasing.
The new tunnel would be 31 feet wide and 24 feet high and contain both the Up and the Down lines. Trials of the electric locomotives and catenary system went ahead. The first working electric locomotive ran on 3rd June 1951 at Wath. Work on the tunnels pressed on and the two ends of a pilot tunnel would meet about a mile from the Woodhead end on 16th May 1951. Various bridges on the route had to be raised to accommodate the high-voltage catenary, such as that the bridge at Bullhouse. By February 1952, all rail traffic between Wath and Dunford could be electrically-hauled.
The new Woodhead tunnel was making good progress, although a collapse of 72 feet set it back in 1952. It would be finished by August 1953 and ready for action. Bridge clearances all along the track had to be increased to allow room for pantographs and overhead cables, and there were many bridges on the route. The Wath end suffered terribly from subsidence and bridge clearances became a running battle. With such intensive work and testing required on the Wath to Dunford route, it provided much useful data for electrification schemes throughout the land.
This is not a great picture from 2005 (from an early digital camera) but we can see the old gantries with their catenary wires at Dunford Bridge, looking down from the wall of Winscar reservoir. Some of the rails still in place. The stream in the picrtures is from the reservoir to form part of the River Don.
The rails and gantries were soon to be removed. The pylons were also removed and replaced with underground cabling to restore the natural views of the countryside. This valley is now used as the Trans-Pennine Trail and much enjoyed by walkers, cyclists and horse riders.
Tunnel Opening Ceremony
The new tunnel was officially opened on Thursday 3rd June 1954 with the first train running on the electrified Woodhead railway line. From 14th June 1954, all future trains would be electric (although there would be occasional exceptions). Faith and enthusiasm helped complete the scheme and the new era of electric trains had dawned. Much of the information here is derived from the IEE Journal, Volume 1 (new series), No 4, April 1955 in the article 'Across the Pennines.' .
WOODHEAD NEW TUNNEL
Length 3 Miles 66 Yards
Opened by
The Rt. Hon. Alan Lennox-Boyd P.C. M.P.
Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation
Thursday 3rd June 1954
J.I. Campbell M.I.C.E. Civil Engineer Eastern Region British Railways,
Sir William Halcrow & Partners M.M.I.C.E. Consulting Engineers,
Balfour Beatty & Company Limited Civil Engineering Contractors.
This was a great trail-blazer at the time, heralding in a great and modern future for railway: electrification. The end of steam locomotion was on its way and the last scheduled steam-hauled train from Sheffield to Manchester (London Road) would run at midnight on 12th June 1954.
Commemorative Booklet, September 1954
British Railways Eastern and London Midland Regions published an illustrated booklet: 'Electrification of the Manchester Sheffield and Wath Lines' which also showed the Route Map. Subjects covered were the boring of the tunnel, electrification, signalling and locomotives and multiple units. Unfortunately, this is not easily to be found through the usual internet searches. It was subtitled 'Issued to commemorate the inauguration of the scheme by Sir Brian Robertson, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, on 14 September 1954.'
A much more recent booklet (2015) on the Electrification of Railways omits any mention of the earlier Manchester-Sheffield DC supply electrification. See 'Network Rail: A Guide to Overhead Electrification' (pdf). This picture of Penistone station showing the catenary system was taken by yours truly some time in the 1970s.
Railway Route to Sheffield Changed , 1983
A Penistone to Dodworth line had opened in 1854 and was extended in 1858 but for freight (coal) only. This would come in handy later. The Penistone to Sheffield Victoria journey took something like twenty minutes, which for many years made Sheffield the most convenient place to visit by rail. This was to change, however, as plans were put in place to demolish the old Sheffield Victoria station. Sheffield already had the Midland station and would not be badly compromised by the change.
Towards this end, the Penistone to Sheffield train was re-routed but continued to pass through the now deserted and dilapidated Sheffield Victoria on its way to Sheffield Midland station, having changed direction at the Nunnery junction. This did not add more than perhaps five or ten minutes to the journey. A new route was implemented on 16th May 1983, as the route would now pass through Barnsley and Elsecar on its way to Sheffield Midland, with the change funded by the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE).
This would make Silkstone, Dodworth and Barnsley easy to reach from Penistone but Sheffield would be less so. Sheffield Victoria could now be demolished and its site taken over to build a Holiday Inn hotel. At first, the new route greatly disrupted traffic in Barnsley town centre, with the level crossing gates being closed for up to 77 times a day for freight and passenger trains. Also in May 1983, British Rail appealed for the return of a 30-foot banner which had been put up in Penistone to advertise a new railway timetable. It had been stolen from the bottom of the Station Approach. Not a lot changes.
The new route to Sheffield via Barnsley would now include the Oxspring viaduct, perhaps not as grand as Penistone's 29-arch viaduct but still a worthy structure in its own right. That same year, and not for the first time, in July 1983 after the new route to Sheffield had opened, British Rail announced preparations to close the Huddersfield to Denby Dale line, which would effectively block railway access to Huddersfield from Penistone. This threat would be repeated from time to time. See Oxspring.
Technical Matters
A section for those of a technical disposition.
AC Versus DC Supply
Beginning with London Underground in 1890, the UK has had a long history of electrically-powered railways and it is interesting to note that the Underground was and is powered by a DC system. However, Alternating Current (AC) has the advantage of being relatively easy to transform from the high supply voltage to the lower in-use voltage, with very low power losses in the transformers. Direct Current (DC) has also to be rectified from the AC supply and rectifiers can be large and lossy.
Higher Versus Lower Voltage
The voltage at the track helps decide the overall power losses. The higher voltage, the better the efficiency (within sensible limits). For any given power load, a higher supply voltage results in a lower current being drawn and it is the current which causes a voltage loss in the supply chain caused by the resistance of the cables and the earth return, as in Ohm's Law, Voltage = Current x Resistance. Also the quality of contact between overhead cable and current collector (the pantograph) can reduce the voltage and cause wear. The chosen voltage on the Woodhead Line had needed frequent sub-stations containing transformers and rectifiers to maintain the supply.
The Woodhead Line Electrical System
The Woodhead Line employed Class 76 (Wiki) and Class77 (Wiki) electric locomotives on a 1,500V DC catenary system. The DC system allowed for Regenerative Braking between 16 and 55 mph, recovering some of the motor-braking energy from locomotives going downhill for use by other locomotives on the system but the system needed plenty of sub-stations. The DC system was later superseded by a 25kV AC in the UK (developed in France) but the Woodhead Line was too costly to convert to the much higher voltage AC system, as it would need improved insulation and cable clearances along with major alterations to the locomotives. These locomotives were withdrawn by British Railways in 1969 and sold to Dutch Railways, who continued with the 1,500V DC system. With modern electronics, it is possible to use regenerative braking on an AC system. See John Spiller's website for early pictures and description.
Locomotive Controls and Machinery
The main controls in an electric locomotive governed how power was supplied to the motors. They would allow for series or parallel operation of the field coils and each of these would have 'Weak Field' or 'Full Field' operation, resulting in four modes of operation. There was also provision to reduce the power to the leading motor of each bogey, to safely distribute the loading capacity. Field weakening used inductive shunts with switchable resistors in series.
Regenerative braking used a separate exciter and this would allow a higher braking speed without overheating conventional brakes. A motor-generator would provide the 50volt supply needed for control circuitry. Another motor would provide air pressure for the normal brakes on the loco and ancillaries such as wipers, horn, sanding and pantograph operation.
Unfortunately, the chosen Direct Current system, for all of its advantages, would ultimately be doomed. The regenerative braking was something as a wonder, as it not only provided electrical power from trains going downhill for use by the other trains, it also allowed for safer braking which did not overheat and could be used at higher speeds. The higher voltage AC system would also require better insulation but needed fewer power supply buildings to be installed. Also, diesel locomotives were in competition and taking over from steam. Diesel locomotives could now do the job just as well as electric and with much less infrastructure needed.
The End of the Line
More on this subject on the Beeching's Axe page but the scheduled passenger
trains between Manchester and Sheffield via Penistone ended in 1969. This was a bitter blow to the
Penistone area but the Manchester - Sheffield passenger traffic had been in decline over a long time. On a personal note, as a regular traveller around this time to Manchester, I could recite the station names with ease: Hadfield, Dinting (for Glossop), Mottram, Godley, Guide Bridge, Gorton, Ashburys and Manchester Piccadilly (London Road).
The timetable shown here (click it for train times) was the last one designated for the Woodhead Line. It also included times for the alternative Trans-Pennine route which started from Sheffield Midland, through the scenic Hope Valley (about 20 miles south of Penistone) to terminate at Manchester Victoria.
Steam-hauled Through Woodhead Tunnel
This section is really an "I told you so!" The trains between Sheffield and Manchester trains had been electrically-hauled until the passenger service ended but, just occasionally, steam-hauled trains would pass through the Woodhead tunnel (whether or not that was supposed to happen). People say that steam locomotives were prohibited but I once travelled by steam through the Woodhead tunnel in the 1970s, on a scheduled train. It seemed odd at the time but it looked as though a steam locomotive needed to be moved from Yorkshire to Lancashire and that the regular train would be convenient.
A guard walked the train and explained to passengers that the tunnel would confine the smoke from the engine. He asked the passengers to close the windows before going through the tunnel section. Train compartments often contained smokers in those days and, as the carriages were usually well-heated, the windows were usually left open.
Some said that I was mistaken about the journey but a message on Youtube confirmed that at least one steam-hauled train had been through the tunnel. Which suggests that several might have done. In the summer of 1979, a special train hauled by two Class 76 steam locomotives passed through the tunnel on its way to Sheffield Victoria. Take a look at the History of the Woodhead Tunnels by 'Doncaster Drawn' on Youtube and read the comments on the Youtube page.
The Wondrous Deltic
For a few years before the line's demise, freight trains were generally hauled by 'Deltic' diesel locomotives of considerable power. A Penistone station employee described them as "Infinite power" as some of the trains could be extremely long with uncountable freight wagons. The Hornby company made a model Deltic locomotive which was very popular. The advert showed a small boy being pulled along on a trolley by a Deltic model loco. It boasted a 'Ring-field Motor' and had a solid metal body, the weight of which gave it a good traction. It was a good loco. As an aside, Hornby also made a locomotive with pantograph pick-up and catenary wires, just like those on the Woodhead line.
The name Deltic was actually from the innovative Napier Deltic diesel engine used by the locomotive which adopted the same name. The engine could have 18 cylinders in a triangular cross-section, similar to the Greek letter Delta. It had been inspired by a pre-war Junkers-Juno engine developed by Germany which used twin pistons in opposition in each cylinder. A problem with the early Deltic engines was vibration but it was cured by changing the rotation of one of the three crankshafts. Unlike most diesel engines, a Deltic could run at high RPM.
There were two versions of locomotive, the Baby Deltic had a single engine and the more common two-engined beast could drink two gallons of diesel a second when pushed hard. The imposing size, power and sound of a throbbing Deltic was always something to wonder at. (see Wiki)
The lady shown here is Mrs. Fieldsend with the railway lines and gantries behind (picture submitted by Paul Fieldsend - many thanks). This is probably from around the same time as the picture higher up on this page, perhaps 2005-ish.
Further Reading
Please visit the Railways Archive for more about the 1.5kV Railway Electrification.
EM Forster: 'Railway termini are our gates to the glorious and the unknown.'