The Viaduct

The Penistone Line
What we now know as the Penistone Line was originally given Royal Assent in 1845 as the 'Huddersfield and Sheffield Junction Railway' (H&SJR) to connect Huddersfield with Penistone Junction and the newly-constructed Manchester, Sheffield and Lincoln Railway (MSLR) from Manchester Piccadilly to Sheffield Victoria station, via Penistone.

The Huddersfield and Sheffield Junction Railway was absorbed into the MSLR about a year later and in 1847 became the 'Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway'. In 1845, the Huddersfield to Penistone extension involved building a curved 29-arch viaduct over the dale of the River Don at Penistone to the height of about 80 feet.

Our elegant viaduct opened on 1st July 1850, the year of Charles Dickens' 'David Copperfield.' It became a proud landmark for Penistone and testimony of our town's progress towards the modern age, opening all kinds of possibilities beyond being a purely rural economy. It also opened the way for the Penistone Iron and Steel Works to arrive a few decades later. Stone for the viaduct came from the area of Walk Mill Oxspring (near the wireworks) and was conveyed alongside the River Don through Spring Vale.

Views of Viaduct
The viaduct is a beautiful structure on the Huddersfield railway line and a great landmark for Penistone. The viaduct has 29 arches, including one over Sheffield Road and is curved to a radius of half a mile.

Here are some photogenic pictures from various times and conditions. In the middle picture, middle row, the second arch is not usually easy to see but it was revealed here after a speeding skip truck demolished a high wall. The steam engines in the lower two pictures were photographed by Braham Hughes (for which - many thanks) on 3rd April 2009. I heavily cropped the pictures so that you could see some detail.

View from the church tower.

Views from the Viaduct
It is not only views of the viaduct which are photogenic, most of the journey from Penistone to Huddersfield is scenic and interesting. there are a lot of tunnels too. Here's the start of that journey with views from a train window.

Further Reading
For the history of our railway, please visit the Penistone to Huddersfield Line history.