Distance: 16 miles

Difficulty of the Terrain: hard

Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps

Walk right across the Peak District National Park from Hadfield the most northerly town in the Midlands, to Penistone in South Yorkshire. using the Trans Pennine Trail which takes the course of the old Woodhead Railway Line between Manchester and Sheffield.

The Story

The Walk

Getting Back

Railway Modernised to Nowhere

Maybe there was always something quixotic about the Woodhead Line electrification project.

The first railway line between Manchester and Sheffield ran far to the north of both cities. High up in what is now the Derbyshire Peak District. Upon leaving the pretty flat country around Manchester the line wound its way up the narrow, gentle, but impressively steeply sided Longdendale towards the Woodhead Pass. Here at great cost in human life a three mile tunnel was dug beneath the Pennines to bring the line to Yorkshire, from where it trundled southwards through the foothills towards Sheffield.

By the 20th Century the original tunnel, and a second one constructed about a decade later, were struggling. They were too small and cramped, with uneven gauging, which meant that trains had to pass through them very slowly and the tunnels struggled to accommodate large modern steam engines. The line through the Woodhead Tunnel as a whole was very busy with both passenger trains and freight. So busy that in places the line was quadruple tracked. Not really a viable solution in the narrow Longdendale valley hemmed in by reservoirs supplying water to Manchester on one side and the wall of the Pennines on the other.  

The solution to the speed and power problems presented by the route appeared to be electrification of the line. This was proposed by the management of the Great Central Railway Line (the original late Victorian attempt to build a high speed line between London and Northern England via the Midlands), which connected with the Woodhead Line at Sheffield, in the mid-1930s. 

This would have been revolutionary at the time, because in the 1930s in the UK only a few commuter lines, mostly in the South of England running into London had been electrified. And all of them had used a third rail system like the London underground.

World War II got in the way of the electrification project. However, a prototype train amongst other things had been developed and proved successful, and after the railways were nationalised at the start of 1948 British Rail were keen to continue the project.

A key impetus for the project was the demand for coal from Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire in North West England. At the time, more or less all of the UK’s electricity was generated by coal and it was still used domestically and for other industrial purposes in large quantities. This made British Rail especially keen to make it easier for heavily laden coal trains to be able to cross the Pennines quickly making electrification worthwhile. They even committed to constructing an entirely new three mile tunnel beneath the Pennines which would replace the clapped out Victorian tunnels adjacent to it.

In approving the improvements to the line British Rail made a number of key decisions. The electricity gantries had to be placed high up as a practical safety measure to ensure that they were far enough away from the chimneys of the steam trains that would also use the route. They also chose to use the tried and tested in other countries like the Netherlands 1,500 volt system, rather than the then experimental 25,000 volt system.

These decisions were undoubtedly examples of the curse of being a first mover. However, they undoubtedly had an impact upon the future of the line.

As the 1950s and 1960s progressed, the use of Britain’s railways for both freight and passengers began to decline. This led – infamously – to the Beeching Report which recommended closing large chunks of the network. 

The Woodhead route would not have closed under this scheme, the report suggested closing the Hope Valley Line instead, however, the climate at the time was one of hacking at passenger services and entire railway lines and this had an impact upon the line. When the Beeching Report reached the cold light of day, politicians and British Railway managers observed that unlike the Woodhead line which travelled mostly through the middle of nowhere, the Hope Valley line actually served quite a few communities. The Hope Valley line also serves the Peak District’s quarrying industry and had the advantage over the Woodhead route of being a more modern line (having been constructed in the 1890s) and being worked by flexible diesel trains rather than the very bespoke electric trains, unusable anywhere else on the network, that the Woodhead line used.

So, the decision really was made at that point. The Woodhead Line serving fewer communities, possessing non-standard trains and non-standard electrification (25,000 volts having won out over 1,500 volts) would lose its passenger services. This happened in 1970. The passenger trains were sold to Dutch Railways who had persisted with the 1,500 volt system where they were nicknamed “Tommys” in tribute to British soldiers during World War II.

A decade later, ageing trains and falling demand for coal in North West England led British Rail to decide to close the Woodhead Line entirely. A chunk running up to Penistone in Yorkshire would remain, as would a commuter line out from Manchester to the Derbyshire towns of Glossop and Hadfield, but the rest would close. This happened in July 1981, bringing to an end, 135 years of rail travel through Longdendale. A controversial move given that the line had been electrified and a new tunnel dug (at the cost of six lives) less than 30 years previously.

Not least due to its location in one of the wilder parts of the Peak District National Park it was perhaps inevitable (and undoubtedly advantageous to walkers, cyclists and equestrians) that the Woodhead Line’s trackbed would be turned into a multi use path. This occurred in the 1990s after the railway line had been lifted. Then in 2004 the path, known as the Longdendale Trail, was incorporated into the wider Trans Pennine Trail.

This said, there has been vociferous campaigning including support from the Peak District National Park to reopen the line. If nothing else this might take some traffic off the notoriously congested A628 which winds around the other side of Longdendale from the former Woodhead line. Some of these proposals have been freight only, others include passengers, it has even been suggested that the Woodhead Line could (with substantial upgrading) form part of the UK’s emerging high speed rail network. Will any of these proposals come to pass? The 1950s tunnel is still there and apparently solid. It is now used for carrying electrical cables under the Pennines. But who knows? Time will tell. For now the trackbed is an excellent, quick, smooth way for walkers, cyclists and equestrians to cross the Pennines quickly.

The Walk

Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps

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This walk across the Peak District National Park from Hadfield to Penistone begins at Hadfield Station.

Upon arrival at Hadfield Station the presence of a rusting, “ghost” gantry or two in some scrubland, betrays that this little branch line was once a busy mainline between Manchester and Sheffield, and the first in the UK to be electrified.

Exit the station to the left and cross the forecourt.

This takes you onto the High Street through Hadfield. If you are a fan of dark, gross late 1990s British TV comedy, this road might look familiar. That is because Hadfield played the role of the bleak, surreal, and often outright disgusting Pennine town of Royston Vassey in the League of Gentlemen.

At the top of the high street turn right.

Walk down the road a short distance until on the left hand side you see the ramp leading up to the start of the Longdendale Trail stretch of the Trans Pennine Trail.

Once on the path turn left and start walking. You follow the trail for around seven or eight miles right the way up Longdendale to Woodhead.

Soon you are out of Hadfield and its outlying villages and hamlets. The Pennines rise increasingly tall on either side, while to your left the valley floor has been flooded to create the “Longdendale Chain” a network of seven reservoirs built between the 1830s and 1884 to supply Manchester and Salford with water.

After a couple of miles you veer slightly to the right to cross a road and the Pennine Way, which steeply descends from the Bleaklow plateau into Longdendale.

Keep on going for a few more miles on the other side and you reach the tiny scattered hamlet of Crowden. The only settlement of any real size deep into Longdendale.

Continuing on the trail the trees which line earlier sections of the route largely disappear leaving impressive vistas on either side of the path.

Soon though, a mile or so further on, and the valley begins to narrow. The reservoir ends and you approach the Woodhead Tunnels.

Arriving where the Woodhead Station once stood you can see the tunnels ahead of you. The two vaguely castle looking ones are the original mid-19th Century ones. They’re now bricked up and totally derelict. The right hand side one is the 1950s tunnel dug when the Woodhead Line was electrified. Today it carries electrical cables and it looks like it is accessed frequently. The name British Rail and the date of completion, 1954, can still be read carved on the keystone over the newer tunnel’s entrance.

This is the end of the Longdendale Trail section of the route. Now continuing just on the Trans Pennine Trail turn right and begin walking up a steeply sloping tarmac road.

Soon off to the left there is a track with you turn onto. This brings you up level with the busy A628.

Taking care crossing the road head for the other side and walk through a gateway marked with the Trans Pennine Trail signs.

Walk up the steep path on the other side of the gate. This takes you up to the level of the moors, which you walk across for the next couple of miles. There are impressive views behind you right down Longdendale.

Soon you reach a junction with a signpost. Here turn right.

Follow the track up and over the brow of a hill and then for some distance as it runs a parallel course across the moorland following the line of the A628.

Eventually you cross the A628 again, heading left down a slope.

This soon brings you along the path to a brook running down towards the River Etherow below. This is the boundary between Derbyshire and South Yorkshire. It is also roughly the halfway point of the walk.

After the brook the path climbs for some distance.

Presently you reach a drystone wall. Here take the track running to your left up towards the A628.

Upon reaching the road, cross the A628 for the third and final time.

On the far side there is a quiet (albeit not so quiet that you shouldn’t be mindful of traffic) road sign posted for Dunford Bridge. Begin walking down this road. It takes you up to the highest point on this walk (423 metres above sea level).

Soon it begins running downhill quite sharply. There are great views east across the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire. You can see the end of the moors and the start of cultivated land.

Eventually at the bottom of the valley the hamlet of Dunford Bridge comes into view. This is where the eastern portal of the Woodhead Tunnels lies.

At the valley bottom you turn right, walking past a car park for Trans Pennine Trail users, rejoining the old railway trackbed.

From this point it is around 5 or 6 miles to Penistone and should be fairly straightforward walking all the way into the heart of the town, right to the railway station.

Initially the moor and heath land off to your right is still inside the Peak District National Park whereas the more cultivated land to your left is not.

Eventually you reach a green metal bridge over the A616. This marks the boundary of the National Park.

Soon after crossing the A616 signs of settlement become more frequent as you approach the edge of Penistone.

Soon you are walking through the town itself with housing estates of various ages on either side.

Continue past the town centre with its large TESCO, many other shops and distinctive church, for a few hundred more metres to reach the station.

This is where the walk ends

Getting Back

Penistone is served by a decent train service on the Sheffield to Huddersfield line. Trains head south towards Sheffield via Barnsley and Meadowhall and north to Huddersfield via Holmfirth (another Pennine town with British TV connections…). Buses mainly go to Barnsley or outlying villages. Unfortunately there are no transpennine connections by public transport back to Hadfield, though Homfirth does have bus services heading west.