The LNER Encyclopedia

Can anyone give me a reliable date for the closure of the Woodhead route from Sheffield to Penistone? The best i can get is Geoffry Body's Railway's of the Eastern Region which puts the last train at 1 July 1988. Hurst disagrees making it earlier and Wignall from 1985 shows it as open on page 28 and closed on p37! I know it's future was in flux around that time!

Tanya

The official date of closure of the Woodhead Route was 18th July 1981, however the track was left in place betwen Sheffield and Hadfield for 5 years as part of the closure agreement. All the track was lifted during 1986 with the exception of some short sections around Penistone which were retained for the Huddersfield service.

Deleted

Micky wrote:In summing up at the end of the 60 minutes TVP (Transport Video Publishing) dvd on the Woodhead route the narrator says-

''Some critic's against keeping the Woodhead route open argued that the more important WCML was the main route to the north west of England but ONLY IN THIS COUNTRY could an electrified main line linking two important northern cities be closed''.

End of the dvd...

And now look at the state of the M62. Hardly a day goes by without my hearing of 10-15 mile tailbacks on that motorway just because of a couple of broken down vehicles, or some relatively minor accident.

Ok, so much of the traffic would still be there even if Woodhead remained open, but with a little long term thinking a percentage of HGVs could have been carried by rail somehow.

Deleted what appears to be a repeat post, sorry.

Just to provide a bit of balance.

'.......However by 1980 there was a shift in emphasis in coal production. The second phase of Drax, Drax 'B', was due to be commissioned in 1986, and would absorb most of the Aire Valley coal production that was going to Fiddler's Ferry, including the anticipated new Selby mine output. Wath's own importance would decline with the concentration of production on just four collieries. Sources west of the Pennines would be exploited, and therefore the future demand for Trans-Pennine coal was likely to reduce. This inevitably hastened the demise of Woodhead.........' Merry-Go-Round on the Rails, David Monk-Steel, HMRS 2011

The world is seldom as some of us would wish it!

Tanya wrote:Can anyone give me a reliable date for the closure of the Woodhead route from Sheffield to Penistone? The best i can get is Geoffry Body's Railway's of the Eastern Region which puts the last train at 1 July 1988. Hurst disagrees making it earlier and Wignall from 1985 shows it as open on page 28 and closed on p37! I know it's future was in flux around that time!

Tanya

Do you mean, as a through route, Tanya? Or just any part of it?

I suppose that you could argue that part of that section has not closed, because I thought the Stocksbridge branch remained open at least until recently - and may still be open for all I know, as I do not visit that area very often.

Therefore the (much rationalised) line from Deepcar towards Sheffield must have remained in place for the occasional train to the steelworks.

Or have I missed something?

Wikipedia gives the date for diversion of Sheffield - Huddersfield trains via Barnsley as 16th May 1983 so that would be the date for closure of the Sheffield to Penistone section to passenger trains and presumably the date for total closure between Deepcar and Barnsley Junction, Penistone.

Bill

Morning all
"Passengers no more" gives the closure of the Penistone to Hadfield to passenger trains as 1970. However, the line was still kept open for freight until approx 1980.
Earlswood Nob

The last passenger trains ran from Sheffield to Penistone via the Woodhead route in 1983. I think it was 1st of July the last public train ran, but I'm not 100% sure. I dont think the track was fully lifted until 1986.