[1830-1907] [1907-1948] [1949-1963] [1964-1981]
This was originally written over 20 years ago as an illustrated talk on the route. It is obvious now that it contains some glaring errors which will be correct when I can find the time!
In 1838 Parliamentary authorisation was received for a new main line to be built between Manchester and Sheffield by Charles Vignoles & Joseph Locke. The line required a single track tunnel 3 miles 22 yards long which eventually claimed the lives of 26 men, injured another 140 and cost more than three times the original estimate of £60,000. From this tunnel the line took its name -
The tunnel was completed on 22nd December 1845 and the Sheffield, Ashton and Manchester Railway (SA&MR) commenced operations. Very shortly afterwards it was realised that the single track tunnel was creating a bottleneck, so in February 1847 the contract was awarded for the construction of a second tunnel to run parallel to the original one. This 3 mile 24 yard tunnel was eventually opened to traffic on 2nd February 1852. A further 28 workers perished during the construction of this bore, many falling victim to the great cholera epidemic of 1849.
On 15th September 1851 the SA&MR opened their new station in Sheffield, naming it after the reigning monarch - Victoria. The old terminus, Bridgehouses, became a goods depot.
Another railway now enters the story, the small South Yorkshire Railway (SYR), which, in March 1852, opened a branch line from Adlam Junction, on their main line between Barnsley and Mexborough, to Moor End colliery, near Silkstone.
In 1857, by which time the SA&MR had merged with other companies to become the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR;), built a new line from Barnsley Junction, just south of Penistone, across east to Barnsley, with intermediate stations at Silkstone, Dodworth and Summer Lane.
The close of 1862 saw a Bessemer process steel works open at Penistone, adjacent to Huddersfield Junction.
There then followed nine years of relative inactivity until 1871, when the MS&LR line to Barnsley was double tracked, and this was followed in 1874 by the opening of the present station at Penistone, at the Junction with the line to Huddersfield, with the old station again becoming a goods depot.
The coal traffic generated by the area around Barnsley was starting to cause congestion in Barnsley Station, so the MS&LR; obtained authorisation to construct a connecting line from West Silkstone Junction, adjacent to Silkstone station, to Wentworth Junction on the old SYR branch to Moor End colliery. The new line required the construction of two tunnels, one 74 yards long and the other 289 yards, which were known as Silkstone tunnels. The two mile line was eventually opened to traffic on 2nd August 1880, and with its ruling gradient of 1 in 40, became the legendary, and feared, Worsboro incline.
Two accidents on the line in a short space of time gave the route a dubious reputation. In the first incident, on 16th July 1884, a Manchester - Sheffield express was travelling at speed through Hazelhead when an axle fractured on the locomotive and the train left the rails. 24 people perished in the accident. Just over six months later, on 1st January 1885, a wagon in a goods train derailed travelling through Penistone. This damaged a Liverpool bound express travelling in the opposite direction, and 4 people died as a consequence.
Train weights were increasing with the passage of time, and this was causing concern at Etherow viaduct. The outcome being that the viaduct was strengthened with girders in 1894.
Not only were the train weights increasing, but so was the frequency. This caused the Great Central (as the MS&LR had become) to embark on a plan of track modifications. First a short holding loop was constructed next to the up line at Woodhead, opening for traffic on 8th July 1900. During the same month a traffic survey was conducted at Guide Bridge. This found that over a 24 hour period 252 up trains and 265 down trains passed over a double line of rails. The next traffic easing measure was the opening of Dunford sorting sidings on 1st December 1901.
It was around this time that a signal box was opened in the up Woodhead tunnel in an effort to reduce the size of the three mile block between Woodhead and Dunford Bridge. However, even with reduced 6 hour shifts, men naturally loathed working there and it closed in 1909.
More track improvements took place with the opening of Wadsley Bridge down loop and goods yard on 3rd January 1903, and by the end of 1904 the British Pneumatic Railway Signal Companies tender of £2,100 was accepted for the low pressure pneumatic signalling of the up tunnel at Woodhead.
A meeting on 7th April 1905 saw money allocated for two projects. The smallest was the linking of a short lay-by siding at Torside with the short passing loop at Woodhead, creating an up loop some 3¾ miles long, which opened to traffic on 26th October 1908. The other project was the considerably larger £191,000 construction of a new gravity marshalling yard at Wath-on-Dearne, which at that time had 45 collieries in the vicinity. Logan & Hemingway were awarded the contract for the yards construction, which had 15 reception roads and 42 sorting sidings. The yard was partially opened on 19th August 1907, and brought into full operation on 4th November.