Fred Dibna was spot on ..........Also a mistake was the closing of the electrified route from Heysham Harbour to Morecambe Promenade , Lancaster Green Ayre and upto the WCML at Lancaster Castle . Also the Lune Valley line to Wennington. cheers DaveH. Carnforth
I was one of the last to take a train up in 2023. Getting the train up especially in Autumn/winter on a greasy wet rail with the overhanging trees all the way up wasn't an easy task it required you to maintain speed all the way up the climb from the centre of Sheffield. Many of our drivers failed on that climb. The steel billets were taken up from Aldwarke New site Rotherham, I was the last to drive a train out of that yard 31st August 23. Shame our government is killing the steelworks off just like they have with our coal industry.
Thanks for the comment. That's such an interesting insight from someone in the know. As I was walking alongside it yesterday, I was trying to imagine what challenges the line might provide for a driver. Such a quirky branch.
When I was an apprentice sheetmetal worker in 1982 we had a day looking around the steel making operations here. Back then it was very busy with trains bringing in scrap metal for smelting. Its sad to see how it is now. We still use and need steel more than ever before, but politics and other stupid issues have got in the way. We should never be dependent on other countries for essential materials and supplies like steel. Thanks for sharing the video.
With the end of nationalised industries we're left with private investors. They want a fast buck and they won't get that in the UK so they invest elsewhere. Globalisation has its pros and cons. Mostly the latter.
Blame the EU for that with it's ban on government subsidies to industry and all contracts having to go to open tender rather than paying a bit extra for steel made in Britain
My Grandparents lived in Deepcar, and you could see the trains from their bedroom window, going through the woods you filmed in. The first train of the day was a happy memory as it usually signalled time to get up. My Great Grandfather was a shunter driver on the works railway.
Thanks for the reply. It's really nice to hear those memories. A railway can act as the beating heart of a community, so much so that you can set your clock by the first and last train.
I'm not from the area but every cut from the 'Network' seems more and more depressing. Thank you for highlighting this one Sarah. It seems that it would have faded from wider attention otherwise. Here's hoping that the Trams may keep the route open for some use. Keeping a positive out-look. Cheers Sarah.
Loved this video sad to see it in that state, though knowing it will only get worse, though, unless the super trams do run on it, that would be a great idea, especially with the shopping area being so close.
This line was not even scheduled for closure under Beeching. Indeed, it was one of the few routes which would have been retained if Beeching Mark 2 had been implemented in 1965!
I am more interested in the Government working to preserve what ever is left of our industry. So Britain in no longer a primary steel maker doesn't concern anybody but the loss of the railways supporting the steel industry is. Just think of all the ex colliery railways that have closed. Not even coal from the docks survives.
There's so much traffic on the Woodhead Pass these days and they're just about to invest many millions tackle the bottleneck at Tintwistle and Mottram Moor. That pressure on the roads would have been eased massively by keeping the railway open. Remarkable that it went from being one of the first electrified lines to being closed in almost the blunk of an eye.
@@sarahandwills i come from that neck of the woods originaly (Ashton under Lyne) so just a stones throw away from mottram and tintwistle) I have lived down in Bristol for the past 19 yrs BUT all my family is still up there .....i remember going out with my granadad (as he was lorry driver) with him on runs in the late 70s and 80s ( im sure you couldnt get away with that these days!) BUT it got me out the house as a kid during school hols and i got to experience the surounding counttryside (all be it from a lorry cab lol) ..my grandad worked for a timber firm so we had a lot of runs across the peak district etc in to yorkshire , sheffield leeds and even on to hull! ..OBV by the time i went on these "unofical shal we call them" trips with my grandad the wood head tunnels had close BUT I allways remember going over the pass and looking down on the site of the station ( in 2024 you cant now as its been obsured by pine and other trees they hav planted!
I'm not from Sheffield but it would seem to have potential as a Metro route. It goes through some populated areas like Wadsley Bridge as well as Deepcar and Stocksbridge itself. Pity it skirts around the Oughtibridge area - perhaps a new section could be built to go more through the centre of that area?
Well, the good news is that it is being mothballed, not torn up and the land sold off. You can't expect Network Rail to spend money on an unused railway, but safeguarding the wayleave is propitious and may lead to better things (e.g. Supertram).
This is another thing I hate about British Rail is not just scrapping historical steam locomotives but also closing several Branchlines because of them not being as profitable as others. To me it doesnt matter how much money branchlines make if the public rely on the Railways and what they would be without them
They were trying to keep the network alive as a whole. Specific closures can be debated, but reality is many of the small or rural lines had very little traffic left, and there was little point in keeping them in service.
@@andrewreynolds4949 Right. If people had actually used them then they wouldn't have closed. Having said that there must be plenty of lines that must have been marginally loss making which today would be very useful to have.
@@andrewreynolds4949 Think of some of the towns that have no rail link. Dunstable population now 36000. I am sure there are many 30000 plus towns that used to be rail served but now aren't.
We need to keep this line available for future use; if not for passenger use (I still cannot believe there's no station for Hillsborough and the SWFC stadium) then as a heritage line.
Very poignant😢....did manage a last trip to Deepcar on the Pathfinder railtour in April 2023. Previously to that was the St Pancras-Manchester Sunday diversions in 1981 and even further back the last day of the Woodhead Electrics in 1970.
I'm a little gutted that this intriguing railway line's said to have become mothballed for the foreseeable future.... I hope it can get brought back into good & further use one day, Who knows, perhaps a potential passenger train service could be considered.... after all, there's an interesting shopping centre at stocksbridge out there, for whom a potential passenger train service ought to be considered, for any potential resurrection of the line that still appears to have further potential in securing a future as we speak.
and jobs and capacity and hope and social decline and national security. Nobody seems to be advancing a plan for a future in which we're well-off, productive, and feel positive about the future.
The tram: YES. When I first saw this, I had the same thought of using it for Shieffield's tram system before you commented at the end about the tram :D
State of the transport infrastructure at the moment is a mess , yet years ago before beeching in the 60s came along more or less every town n village had a train station, very sad to see all the great engineering into the railways across Britain including the disused bridges etc all gone to waste!!.
I live at the far western end of what is not so affectionately known as " The Rust Belt " in the U.S. This is a familiar scene in my hometown . We still have 2 steel manufacturers left . Griffin Wheel makes RR Wheels & Keokuk Steel Castings makes parts for Cat, Case, John Deere .
Here's a great opportunity to extend the tram system to Stocksbridge & Deepcar. If other conurbation tram systems can do it, why not in and around Sheffield too!
Never mind the trams, the rails are already in place - just tidy up the line and build a couple of stations. Easy and cheapest way to restore a passenger service. But of course, we know that won't happen - this country is so anti rail and so pro road. So much for wanting to be greener, eh?
Nope. Finish opening and making good the lines and a rolling stock we already have leases on and examples of sitting rotting. Barely enough money to go around what we already have let alone adding more, in fact barely enough is a lie, there isn't enough. The whole sector needs a strong dose of reality and rationalisation of what it has.
There are too many heritage lines all competing for the same customers. The running costs for any heritage line are horrendous and several lines are already in the financial mire. Supertram extension is a better option if a business case can be made.
Better still we shouldd be producing steel and this line should still be serving its purpose. We should not be importing such a strategic asset. Besides a lot of foreign steel is utter garbage by comparison to what I used to work with beck in the day. Cheap crap that's not up-to the job in a lot of cases and becoming more expensive to import by the day ! False economy. Just look at Chinese electrical cable that they coat steel wire with copper and pass it off as the real deal.
@@MervynPartin They don't all compete for the same customers. One my local ones publishes a timetable and runs trains to it. Some of my neighbours use it almost every week. The running costs for everything are horrendous due to energy price, but if this line comes with a little land, they may be able to run a service more cheaply subsidised by renewable energy? The way we split train companies and the land the track runs on is madness. It's almost as though someone's deliberately sabotaging everything.
Sad to see, but an indication of the problems Liberty Steel are in. It would be good to have the line running back to Manchester, although there are now major issues as the tunnels are used for electrical cabling. Supertram would be a fair second as there's a decent population along the route. again it would be expensive though. I used to run steel from Rotherham to Stocksbridge nearly 30 years ago as a lorry driver and even then there were frequent derailments due to the condition of the line and rolling stock.
Absolute madness if this line ends up closing. It runs along a highly densely populated corridor and is a perfect candidate for high frequency electric suburban trains!
There are rumours about a train service from Stocksbridge to Chesterfield with a lot of new stations which would be very expensive to build in the current economic climate, how long will it be mothballed before Network Rail start pulling up the tracks, this line needs to be saved for future generations
@@craiglogistics2092 that was/is part of the defunct and never funded(like so many other temptations dangled) restore your railway initiative of the previous government that was more than likely never going to go anywhere anyway even if funding had been found beyond that initially flagged but never properly funded stage of handing out money for feasibility studies into the state of the infrastructure and business cases. All while appealing to the boomers outside the inner sanctum of railway enthusiasts that actually remember who Beeching is. Basically it was a cheap ploy to buy votes not a serious proposal. 🙄
It would be sad to see the track pulled up, but I fear it doesn't quite fit into a business case for any of the options - namely a heavy rail passenger service, Supertram or a preserved railway. I hope I'm wrong though. The tram is probably the best hope but I can't help noticing quite a bit of it runs through heavy woodland, which isn't your normal heavily-populated tram environments
@@sarahandwills A heavy rail passenger service is a complete non-starter because there is no way of routing it into Sheffield station without either reversing the train somewhere around Nunnery or building a sweeping south to west curve which would demolish whole tracts of the city and potentially cost billions. A tram could at least be routed onto the roads at the Sheffield end and linked in with the existing system. But, turning it into a tramway would eliminate any chance of the steelworks running freight trains again should they want to, and also end any faint hopes of a Woodhead line reopening.
Woodhead line went from Wath hump to concentration yards, in Dinting i think, any passenger traffic was superflous the majority was coal and coke to the north west of england, i remember the crossing gates at Manvers, if one didnt get you the other would.
Sad indeed, particularly at a time when the government and railfreight industry is pushing for more freight to be taken off the roads and on the rail network. A huge some of money has been invested by Network Rail in recent years to expand and build multi-modal freight yards close to busy motorway interchanges.
That depends on if there’s freight on the line to be moved. If there’s no more steel trains going that way and no other traffic, there’s not much point keeping the line open for service
What on earth is happening to our railways it’s terrible they have closed far to many lines SAVE OUR RAILWAYS Stop line closures. It’s Ernest Marples to blame for the closures in the 1960s for the closures
@@DanDare-i2zErnest Marples was really behind the closures, leading up to Beeching. He was hired as a hatchet man, and as an accountant what he recommended was what you would do on a strictly economic basis. Sadly that meant that at least 10 lines, with some further investigation, would have kept running, even if with singling and reduced services. Some examples: Somerset & Dorset, Bournemouth West to Bath Green Park. In this case it may have been possible to close West and use Central as the Southern Terminal. This would allow better capacity from Dorset/ Hampshire to the Midlands and further. Lymington Junction to Hamworthy Junction Via Ringwood etc. This would allow a faster trip time from Weymouth to Waterloo with only stops at Wimborne and Ringwood on that section. Broadstone would only be a Junction, with all lines singled except for loops at those stations.
Shame about this! Hopefully in the future, they decide to put more trains on the route, or as you say extend the Supertrams on this route as well. I'd happily buy up a railway like this and turn it into a private/heritage line, if I could...
If it is barred to traffic I wonder if Network Rail would permit drasines/rail trolleys/speeders to be operated down there for the time being, in return for keeping vegetation under control & light maintenance of the route for Supertram if they eventually take over.
It's the same with the freight line from ystrad mynach to cwmbargoed here in south Wales since the opencast coal mine ceased operating recently at cwmbargoed near Merthyr. Tydfil
In Green Bay Wisconsin U.S.A we lost our Classic ALCO shortline the GREEN BAY AND WESTERN, back in 1996 when merged into new WISCONSIN CENTRAL LTD. But we lost the Historic NORWOOD ROUNDHOUSE that was slowly ripped down in the winter of 2001. And the ALCO Diesels like RS30. and C424 were sold to other shortlines that used them for the last 30 years but since scrapped due to no spare parts; and the NATIONAL RAILROAD MUSEUM at 2285 South Broadway has the ALCO C-430 Number 315 class B-B donated in July 1987 with new red paint, but stripped of the valuable ALCO parts like traction motors; but sadly stored outside during the last 37 YEARS, and now the Ugly faded rusted mess in 2024A.D. And the GBW Rails were ripped off from the original 4 miles west to the junction at New London. But we railfans wanted to save our tracks for excursions with ALCO DIESELS!! And Dinner trains serving Farm 🚜 fresh Wisconsin food and dairy cheeses. Plus ➕ use the Norwood Roundhouse to fix the historic trains for all the other train Museum's in the Midwest!! The NORWOOD ROUNDHOUSE should have been the Best Tourist attraction in Hreen Bay, and also Surpass the former National Railroad Museum that fell flat during the 1980s when controlled by a Outside Management Group who sold and Scrapped numerous locomotives 🚂 and coaches and freightcars!!! So much that during the past 40 years from 1984 to 2024A.D, this NRRM has now lost 40 locomotives and coaches, and freightcars, and the 2 Britain 🇬🇧 carriages named LYDIA, and ISLE OF THANET , that arrived in 1970 with FLYING SCOTSMAN 4472; but the carriages suffered from vandalism and weather damage 💔 until returned to Britain 🇬🇧 in 2001; and recieved their Proper Restoration!! O.k.!! Yet. We railfans in Green Bay have offered to repaint the GBW 315 ALCO C430, but been told quite forcefully "NO!!" in addition to numerous other trains. But back in 2008, yet another different manager had our H.O scale model rr club Forcefully Evicted out of the classic HOOD JUNCTION DEPOT that was our home base for 19 years since 1989; yet they changed ot into the Children's room. And the H.O. Club was forced to rebuild the layout in the basement of the library in east De Pere!!! However that manager in 2008 also sold 8 diesel engines!!!!!!!! Like the 1950 Streamliners F7 A-B-A to Upper Michigan but sitting outside for the past 26 years. And the AMAZING Unique 1949 EMD class BL2'S with special Streamlined cowls that went to The New York shortline that was bancrupt; and then sold to the Hoosier excursion of Indiana that completed the rebuilding and with new blue paint 🎨 with yellow stripes!! Please watch their videos on RUclips !! But, just imagine how exciting the publicity if the NRRM in GBW had run these 2 class BL2'S in 2008. What a waste.....!!!!! Mon. NOV. 25, 2024A.D. OK. SES.
Whilst it's excellent to point this out so that a 'watching brief' can be maintained to protect it, I'm maybe a bit more optimistic, because like you show at the end, there are proposals. Firstly, mothballed is as it states, just not being fully maintained. But even mothballed lines have basic maintenance performed. At least be grateful that there ARE alternative proposals and that the old thinking of "Okay, it's shut, rip it up and sell the land off" has now mostly gone. Railways now, even closed ones, are now given much longer periods of disuse before any permanently negative decisions are made regarding selling it off or the possibility of it reopening. To my mind, FAR more damaging to any line's future are Sustrans, who flat out REFUSE to have any dialogue regarding railway reopening projects, no matter how deserving, practical or even ESSENTIAL the reopening is to the place wanting it, once they have their sticky paws on it. Plus, there are even proposals to reopen the Woodhead line as an LRV system that the current use of the tunnels wouldn't affect. Trams in Manchester. Trams in Sheffield. Do the maths, perhaps? So, no, I absolutely agree, not the happiest thing to see any line mothballed, but equally, I'd suggest that we are a long way from seeing it fade into history. Time will tell.. but well done for tagging it up to keep an eye on.
The Churnet Valley line from Stoke to Leekbrook Jcn as an example was put into 'mothballed' state decades ago, never officially closed. Unless a new use to create demand evolves, whether that be freight or passenger AND a budget to reinstate to operational state is found I feel its destined to become part of nature again like so many lines before it.
Unfortunately i can’t see a future for it especially under this current Labour government and its unashamed stance of refusing to finance or even engage in dialogue regarding rail reopening projects. In County Durham the Leamside Line sits idle and trackless 33 years after its last train. Although it’s still officially ‘mothballed’ no maintenance has been done in over 20 years. Some sections of embankment are so badly degraded they are close to collapse. There are still some who are confident that it will reopen however i seriously doubt it will. Just like this line talk is all that ever came of reopening so I’m not holding my breath.
Very true. It would make a lot of sense on a matchday. It's so easy to let these lines fade into disrepair, but it cost hundreds of millions to get them going again. It's short sighted really
@@sarahandwills There is not enough rolling stock to run the trains, there is no easy way of running passenger trains from Wadsley Bridge into Sheffield station, and the railway companies do not want trains entirely made up of football supporters who are liable to cause trouble and damage (nor do the police)...the hooliganism of the 80s was a major reason why the railways stopped running football matchday excursions (everywhere, not just in Sheffield).
This is now crying out for a supertram extension, especially with all the new housing developments, it could help alleviate traffic congestion into the city.
It looked like there was a huge housing development underway in Deepcar when I drove through. Most of the new residents will probably work, shop and socialise in Sheffield, so a tram stop would be very handy
Rail engineer Gareth Dennis includes this route in his most recent edition of Railnatter (Episode 238): How a Sheffield Crossrail would boost South Yorkshire ruclips.net/video/uKT9uEsP6f0/видео.html (1:29:02) He shows lots of maps.
Nice effort to film this and put on show. Fingers crossed it'll come back from the ashes one day. Maybe a cycle track first of all to keep it alive, then back to trains after a consultation?
With our railways it is hard to tell the difference between the disused ones like here,and the main lines in everyday use.They are so tree ridden and overgrown.
I may be wrong but I think the stretch at the western end of the Woodhead line was also GCR track. The bit between Hadfield and Manchester Pic is still open and the gantries look like the old-style ones used when the Woodhead line was still open. Perhaps someone with a bit more knowledge of the history than me will clarify.
The remaining bits of the GCR (apart from the heritage bits in Leicestershire, and the alignments used by the Nottingham tram are the commuter routes out of Marylebone.
@@sarahandwills Yep that's all correct. Also the few miles from Nunnery to Woodhouse was part of the GCR, that's the first couple of miles of the Sheffield to Retford line which still carries regular passenger trains today. Then, as others have said, there's the preserved line(s) north and south of Loughborough, the tram alignments in Nottingham, and the southern end of the GCR south of Calvert through Aylesbury to Marylebone.
At least they have not ripped up the track so there is still hope , but at the end of the day it is all down to financial restraints as what stays or goes , even keeping the line in mothballs will consume quite a bit of money .
No, it's still a big operation, but they've ditched the railway transportation in favour of road, sadly. It's one of the few steelworks in Sheff still going
Railway Historian Gunnar Henrioulle asks about this line going back to service when Putin makes good his threat to employ EMP (Troposphere nuclear detonations) disabling all those solid-state controlled vehicles in the shopping center? And not only this dormant line...
@@srfurley No, why would you think that? I was simply pointing out that there is quite a lot "not to love" about the idea of shopping by public transport, regardless of the fact that some have no other option.
You’re right, but we probably across the whole of the West have been far too keen to buy the cheapest possible goods which are made in countries where a minimum wage is but a distant dream, so in some respects it’s payback time …. the real downside of capitalism….
"Everything was built by men in overalls and destroyed by men in suits" F. Dibnah
What a guy! A great champion of the industrial north and all the world-leading heritage that accompanied it.
Damn right!
Never heard that quote but it's spot on. Fred Dibnah was a brilliant man.
Fred Dibna was spot on ..........Also a mistake was the closing of the electrified route from Heysham Harbour to Morecambe Promenade , Lancaster Green Ayre and upto the WCML at Lancaster Castle . Also the Lune Valley line to Wennington. cheers DaveH. Carnforth
Sad but true
I was one of the last to take a train up in 2023. Getting the train up especially in Autumn/winter on a greasy wet rail with the overhanging trees all the way up wasn't an easy task it required you to maintain speed all the way up the climb from the centre of Sheffield. Many of our drivers failed on that climb. The steel billets were taken up from Aldwarke New site Rotherham, I was the last to drive a train out of that yard 31st August 23. Shame our government is killing the steelworks off just like they have with our coal industry.
Thanks for the comment. That's such an interesting insight from someone in the know. As I was walking alongside it yesterday, I was trying to imagine what challenges the line might provide for a driver. Such a quirky branch.
I suspect they are trying to kill us all off, with starmer letting Ukraine fire British built missiles at Russia
Hopefully common sense will take over once Labour are out, and the steelworks can be brought back into production and the line used again.
When I was an apprentice sheetmetal worker in 1982 we had a day looking around the steel making operations here. Back then it was very busy with trains bringing in scrap metal for smelting. Its sad to see how it is now.
We still use and need steel more than ever before, but politics and other stupid issues have got in the way.
We should never be dependent on other countries for essential materials and supplies like steel.
Thanks for sharing the video.
My thoughts exactly. Well said!
With the end of nationalised industries we're left with private investors. They want a fast buck and they won't get that in the UK so they invest elsewhere. Globalisation has its pros and cons. Mostly the latter.
Blame the EU for that with it's ban on government subsidies to industry and all contracts having to go to open tender rather than paying a bit extra for steel made in Britain
My Grandparents lived in Deepcar, and you could see the trains from their bedroom window, going through the woods you filmed in. The first train of the day was a happy memory as it usually signalled time to get up. My Great Grandfather was a shunter driver on the works railway.
Thanks for the reply. It's really nice to hear those memories. A railway can act as the beating heart of a community, so much so that you can set your clock by the first and last train.
Hopefully they do extend the Supertram network to this section.
I'm not from the area but every cut from the 'Network' seems more and more depressing. Thank you for highlighting this one Sarah. It seems that it would have faded from wider attention otherwise. Here's hoping that the Trams may keep the route open for some use. Keeping a positive out-look. Cheers Sarah.
Loved this video sad to see it in that state, though knowing it will only get worse, though, unless the super trams do run on it, that would be a great idea, especially with the shopping area being so close.
Government should be working to preserve whatever is left of our rail infrastructure. The 'Beeching Cuts' were very short-sighted.
This line was not even scheduled for closure under Beeching. Indeed, it was one of the few routes which would have been retained if Beeching Mark 2 had been implemented in 1965!
I am more interested in the Government working to preserve what ever is left of our industry. So Britain in no longer a primary steel maker doesn't concern anybody but the loss of the railways supporting the steel industry is. Just think of all the ex colliery railways that have closed. Not even coal from the docks survives.
The two biggest mistakes Britain made with its railways: Closure of the Great Central Railway, and closure the woodhead route.
GCR yes but the Woodhead route no,bad mistake closing it,would be such a useful line nowadays.
It wasn't a mistake at the time though. It's sole traffic was in decline and it served less communities than the Hope Valley line.
@RaggyAl1971 It's easy to froth in hindsight but it was surplus. BR was starved of investment and couldn't justify the line and its upgrading.
There's so much traffic on the Woodhead Pass these days and they're just about to invest many millions tackle the bottleneck at Tintwistle and Mottram Moor. That pressure on the roads would have been eased massively by keeping the railway open. Remarkable that it went from being one of the first electrified lines to being closed in almost the blunk of an eye.
@@sarahandwills i come from that neck of the woods originaly (Ashton under Lyne) so just a stones throw away from mottram and tintwistle) I have lived down in Bristol for the past 19 yrs BUT all my family is still up there .....i remember going out with my granadad (as he was lorry driver) with him on runs in the late 70s and 80s ( im sure you couldnt get away with that these days!) BUT it got me out the house as a kid during school hols and i got to experience the surounding counttryside (all be it from a lorry cab lol) ..my grandad worked for a timber firm so we had a lot of runs across the peak district etc in to yorkshire , sheffield leeds and even on to hull! ..OBV by the time i went on these "unofical shal we call them" trips with my grandad the wood head tunnels had close BUT I allways remember going over the pass and looking down on the site of the station ( in 2024 you cant now as its been obsured by pine and other trees they hav planted!
Excellent production and very informative, cheers
I'm not from Sheffield but it would seem to have potential as a Metro route. It goes through some populated areas like Wadsley Bridge as well as Deepcar and Stocksbridge itself. Pity it skirts around the Oughtibridge area - perhaps a new section could be built to go more through the centre of that area?
Conversion to a tramway would be a good use of the infrastructure for sure.
Excellent video, thank you. As always, your videos are brilliant. Love from Oz
Well, the good news is that it is being mothballed, not torn up and the land sold off. You can't expect Network Rail to spend money on an unused railway, but safeguarding the wayleave is propitious and may lead to better things (e.g. Supertram).
This is another thing I hate about British Rail is not just scrapping historical steam locomotives but also closing several Branchlines because of them not being as profitable as others. To me it doesnt matter how much money branchlines make if the public rely on the Railways and what they would be without them
They were trying to keep the network alive as a whole. Specific closures can be debated, but reality is many of the small or rural lines had very little traffic left, and there was little point in keeping them in service.
@@andrewreynolds4949 Right. If people had actually used them then they wouldn't have closed. Having said that there must be plenty of lines that must have been marginally loss making which today would be very useful to have.
@@kevinrayner5812 That's very true, but hindsight is 20/20.
@@andrewreynolds4949 Think of some of the towns that have no rail link. Dunstable population now 36000. I am sure there are many 30000 plus towns that used to be rail served but now aren't.
@@kevinrayner5812 But were they that large at the time they lost rail service? Population concentrations have changed a lot in the last 50-80 years.
Thank you. What's interesting is the remaining amount of viable route that remains. Many housing projects later, we're a bit stymied in some cases.
Everything meaningful in our country is shutting down , what a sad country we live in
We need to keep this line available for future use; if not for passenger use (I still cannot believe there's no station for Hillsborough and the SWFC stadium) then as a heritage line.
Very poignant😢....did manage a last trip to Deepcar on the Pathfinder railtour in April 2023. Previously to that was the St Pancras-Manchester Sunday diversions in 1981 and even further back the last day of the Woodhead Electrics in 1970.
I'm a little gutted that this intriguing railway line's said to have become mothballed for the foreseeable future.... I hope it can get brought back into good & further use one day,
Who knows, perhaps a potential passenger train service could be considered.... after all, there's an interesting shopping centre at stocksbridge out there, for whom a potential passenger train service ought to be considered, for any potential resurrection of the line that still appears to have further potential in securing a future as we speak.
Love this Sarah, sad what’s happening, it’s only 15 mins away from where I live. 😎
Yes, definitely sad to see
I subscribed Sara… I’m in rail, this breaks my heart a thousand times…
We as a country use plenty of steel ,producing in China or India maybe cheaper, but at the expense of the environment.
and jobs and capacity and hope and social decline and national security. Nobody seems to be advancing a plan for a future in which we're well-off, productive, and feel positive about the future.
The tram: YES. When I first saw this, I had the same thought of using it for Shieffield's tram system before you commented at the end about the tram :D
State of the transport infrastructure at the moment is a mess , yet years ago before beeching in the 60s came along more or less every town n village had a train station, very sad to see all the great engineering into the railways across Britain including the disused bridges etc all gone to waste!!.
I live at the far western end of what is not so affectionately known as " The Rust Belt " in the U.S.
This is a familiar scene in my hometown . We still have 2 steel manufacturers left .
Griffin Wheel makes RR Wheels & Keokuk Steel Castings makes parts for Cat, Case, John Deere .
Here's a great opportunity to extend the tram system to Stocksbridge & Deepcar. If other conurbation tram systems can do it, why not in and around Sheffield too!
It would make a great heritage steam railway with the steelworks
I would say preservation would be the logical answer connecting to the main network and is in lovely countryside and would bring tourism to the area
What a perfect Preserved railway this would make.
Never mind the trams, the rails are already in place - just tidy up the line and build a couple of stations. Easy and cheapest way to restore a passenger service. But of course, we know that won't happen - this country is so anti rail and so pro road. So much for wanting to be greener, eh?
This should be turned into a preserved railway 😊 especially considering it's heritage history
Nope.
Finish opening and making good the lines and a rolling stock we already have leases on and examples of sitting rotting.
Barely enough money to go around what we already have let alone adding more, in fact barely enough is a lie, there isn't enough. The whole sector needs a strong dose of reality and rationalisation of what it has.
There are too many heritage lines all competing for the same customers. The running costs for any heritage line are horrendous and several lines are already in the financial mire. Supertram extension is a better option if a business case can be made.
I know what you mean, but the line runs to a steelworks.
It's hardly pretty or practical.
Supertram extension is far more practical.
Better still we shouldd be producing steel and this line should still be serving its purpose. We should not be importing such a strategic asset. Besides a lot of foreign steel is utter garbage by comparison to what I used to work with beck in the day. Cheap crap that's not up-to the job in a lot of cases and becoming more expensive to import by the day ! False economy.
Just look at Chinese electrical cable that they coat steel wire with copper and pass it off as the real deal.
@@MervynPartin They don't all compete for the same customers. One my local ones publishes a timetable and runs trains to it. Some of my neighbours use it almost every week. The running costs for everything are horrendous due to energy price, but if this line comes with a little land, they may be able to run a service more cheaply subsidised by renewable energy? The way we split train companies and the land the track runs on is madness. It's almost as though someone's deliberately sabotaging everything.
Sad to see, but an indication of the problems Liberty Steel are in. It would be good to have the line running back to Manchester, although there are now major issues as the tunnels are used for electrical cabling. Supertram would be a fair second as there's a decent population along the route. again it would be expensive though. I used to run steel from Rotherham to Stocksbridge nearly 30 years ago as a lorry driver and even then there were frequent derailments due to the condition of the line and rolling stock.
Absolute madness if this line ends up closing. It runs along a highly densely populated corridor and is a perfect candidate for high frequency electric suburban trains!
There are rumours about a train service from Stocksbridge to Chesterfield with a lot of new stations which would be very expensive to build in the current economic climate, how long will it be mothballed before Network Rail start pulling up the tracks, this line needs to be saved for future generations
@@craiglogistics2092 that was/is part of the defunct and never funded(like so many other temptations dangled) restore your railway initiative of the previous government that was more than likely never going to go anywhere anyway even if funding had been found beyond that initially flagged but never properly funded stage of handing out money for feasibility studies into the state of the infrastructure and business cases.
All while appealing to the boomers outside the inner sanctum of railway enthusiasts that actually remember who Beeching is. Basically it was a cheap ploy to buy votes not a serious proposal. 🙄
It would be sad to see the track pulled up, but I fear it doesn't quite fit into a business case for any of the options - namely a heavy rail passenger service, Supertram or a preserved railway. I hope I'm wrong though. The tram is probably the best hope but I can't help noticing quite a bit of it runs through heavy woodland, which isn't your normal heavily-populated tram environments
More expensive to keep the grid locked roads up to date.
@@sarahandwills depends on MP the idea is just better connection to Stocksbridge from Sheffield
@@sarahandwills A heavy rail passenger service is a complete non-starter because there is no way of routing it into Sheffield station without either reversing the train somewhere around Nunnery or building a sweeping south to west curve which would demolish whole tracts of the city and potentially cost billions. A tram could at least be routed onto the roads at the Sheffield end and linked in with the existing system. But, turning it into a tramway would eliminate any chance of the steelworks running freight trains again should they want to, and also end any faint hopes of a Woodhead line reopening.
Woodhead line went from Wath hump to concentration yards, in Dinting i think, any passenger traffic was superflous the majority was coal and coke to the north west of england, i remember the crossing gates at Manvers, if one didnt get you the other would.
Sad indeed, particularly at a time when the government and railfreight industry is pushing for more freight to be taken off the roads and on the rail network. A huge some of money has been invested by Network Rail in recent years to expand and build multi-modal freight yards close to busy motorway interchanges.
That depends on if there’s freight on the line to be moved. If there’s no more steel trains going that way and no other traffic, there’s not much point keeping the line open for service
What cost millions is abandoned,to be rebuilt later at a cost of billions.
What on earth is happening to our railways it’s terrible they have closed far to many lines SAVE OUR RAILWAYS Stop line closures. It’s Ernest Marples to blame for the closures in the 1960s for the closures
I thought it was Barbara Castle and those who followed on ?
@@DanDare-i2zErnest Marples was really behind the closures, leading up to Beeching. He was hired as a hatchet man, and as an accountant what he recommended was what you would do on a strictly economic basis.
Sadly that meant that at least 10 lines, with some further investigation, would have kept running, even if with singling and reduced services. Some examples:
Somerset & Dorset, Bournemouth West to Bath Green Park. In this case it may have been possible to close West and use Central as the Southern Terminal. This would allow better capacity from Dorset/ Hampshire to the Midlands and further.
Lymington Junction to Hamworthy Junction Via Ringwood etc. This would allow a faster trip time from Weymouth to Waterloo with only stops at Wimborne and Ringwood on that section. Broadstone would only be a Junction, with all lines singled except for loops at those stations.
@@Phil-oj5nralso had road interests! Think he was doing some dodgy dealing or something, and disappeared abroad later!
Shame about this! Hopefully in the future, they decide to put more trains on the route, or as you say extend the Supertrams on this route as well.
I'd happily buy up a railway like this and turn it into a private/heritage line, if I could...
If it is barred to traffic I wonder if Network Rail would permit drasines/rail trolleys/speeders to be operated down there for the time being, in return for keeping vegetation under control & light maintenance of the route for Supertram if they eventually take over.
It's the same with the freight line from ystrad mynach to cwmbargoed here in south Wales since the opencast coal mine ceased operating recently at cwmbargoed near Merthyr. Tydfil
Such a shame. It's very sad to see
In Green Bay Wisconsin U.S.A we lost our Classic ALCO shortline the GREEN BAY AND WESTERN, back in 1996 when merged into new WISCONSIN CENTRAL LTD. But we lost the Historic NORWOOD ROUNDHOUSE that was slowly ripped down in the winter of 2001. And the ALCO Diesels like RS30. and C424 were sold to other shortlines that used them for the last 30 years but since scrapped due to no spare parts; and the NATIONAL RAILROAD MUSEUM at 2285 South Broadway has the ALCO C-430 Number 315 class B-B donated in July 1987 with new red paint, but stripped of the valuable ALCO parts like traction motors; but sadly stored outside during the last 37 YEARS, and now the Ugly faded rusted mess in 2024A.D. And the GBW Rails were ripped off from the original 4 miles west to the junction at New London. But we railfans wanted to save our tracks for excursions with ALCO DIESELS!! And Dinner trains serving Farm 🚜 fresh Wisconsin food and dairy cheeses. Plus ➕ use the Norwood Roundhouse to fix the historic trains for all the other train Museum's in the Midwest!! The NORWOOD ROUNDHOUSE should have been the Best Tourist attraction in Hreen Bay, and also Surpass the former National Railroad Museum that fell flat during the 1980s when controlled by a Outside Management Group who sold and Scrapped numerous locomotives 🚂 and coaches and freightcars!!! So much that during the past 40 years from 1984 to 2024A.D, this NRRM has now lost 40 locomotives and coaches, and freightcars, and the 2 Britain 🇬🇧 carriages named LYDIA, and ISLE OF THANET , that arrived in 1970 with FLYING SCOTSMAN 4472; but the carriages suffered from vandalism and weather damage 💔 until returned to Britain 🇬🇧 in 2001; and recieved their Proper Restoration!! O.k.!!
Yet. We railfans in Green Bay have offered to repaint the GBW 315 ALCO C430, but been told quite forcefully "NO!!" in addition to numerous other trains.
But back in 2008, yet another different manager had our H.O
scale model rr club Forcefully Evicted out of the classic HOOD JUNCTION DEPOT that was our home base for 19 years since 1989; yet they changed ot into the Children's room. And the H.O. Club was forced to rebuild the layout in the basement of the library in east De Pere!!!
However that manager in 2008 also sold 8 diesel engines!!!!!!!! Like the 1950 Streamliners F7 A-B-A to Upper Michigan but sitting outside for the past 26 years. And the AMAZING Unique 1949 EMD class BL2'S with special Streamlined cowls that went to The New York shortline that was bancrupt; and then sold to the Hoosier excursion of Indiana that completed the rebuilding and with new blue paint 🎨 with yellow stripes!! Please watch their videos on RUclips !!
But, just imagine how exciting the publicity if the NRRM in GBW had run these 2 class BL2'S in 2008. What a waste.....!!!!!
Mon. NOV. 25, 2024A.D. OK. SES.
Nice video and music. But so sad. Lost memories, 😊 ❤ UK.
A real shame, that's for sure.
What a thought provoking video. Could also be the site for a specialised deisel heritage railway!
Cutting the trees - well when they shut the last section of the GNR from Luton to Dunstable the last train through was the weed killer.
Perfectly matched music.
Thankyou
How long before Saltburn to Skinningrove and Boulby closes?
Whilst it's excellent to point this out so that a 'watching brief' can be maintained to protect it, I'm maybe a bit more optimistic, because like you show at the end, there are proposals.
Firstly, mothballed is as it states, just not being fully maintained. But even mothballed lines have basic maintenance performed.
At least be grateful that there ARE alternative proposals and that the old thinking of "Okay, it's shut, rip it up and sell the land off" has now mostly gone.
Railways now, even closed ones, are now given much longer periods of disuse before any permanently negative decisions are made regarding selling it off or the possibility of it reopening.
To my mind, FAR more damaging to any line's future are Sustrans, who flat out REFUSE to have any dialogue regarding railway reopening projects, no matter how deserving, practical or even ESSENTIAL the reopening is to the place wanting it, once they have their sticky paws on it.
Plus, there are even proposals to reopen the Woodhead line as an LRV system that the current use of the tunnels wouldn't affect. Trams in Manchester. Trams in Sheffield. Do the maths, perhaps?
So, no, I absolutely agree, not the happiest thing to see any line mothballed, but equally, I'd suggest that we are a long way from seeing it fade into history.
Time will tell.. but well done for tagging it up to keep an eye on.
The Churnet Valley line from Stoke to Leekbrook Jcn as an example was put into 'mothballed' state decades ago, never officially closed. Unless a new use to create demand evolves, whether that be freight or passenger AND a budget to reinstate to operational state is found I feel its destined to become part of nature again like so many lines before it.
Unfortunately i can’t see a future for it especially under this current Labour government and its unashamed stance of refusing to finance or even engage in dialogue regarding rail reopening projects.
In County Durham the Leamside Line sits idle and trackless 33 years after its last train. Although it’s still officially ‘mothballed’ no maintenance has been done in over 20 years. Some sections of embankment are so badly degraded they are close to collapse. There are still some who are confident that it will reopen however i seriously doubt it will. Just like this line talk is all that ever came of reopening so I’m not holding my breath.
is supertram not going ahead with adding this to the tram network? or are they still in talks with network rail over it?
Exactly like in North America! I hope they don’t turn the line into a hiking biking trail! Once they do that, then the line is gone for good!
Was on a Railtoor up there some time ago. Sad news
Looks like they’re getting ready for the tracks to be lifted. I don’t know the line myself. Would it suit a Heritage Railway? Very nostalgic video.
How do they not still run trains during match days at Hillsborough? That's crazy, it's right there next to the line!
Very true. It would make a lot of sense on a matchday. It's so easy to let these lines fade into disrepair, but it cost hundreds of millions to get them going again. It's short sighted really
@@sarahandwills There is not enough rolling stock to run the trains, there is no easy way of running passenger trains from Wadsley Bridge into Sheffield station, and the railway companies do not want trains entirely made up of football supporters who are liable to cause trouble and damage (nor do the police)...the hooliganism of the 80s was a major reason why the railways stopped running football matchday excursions (everywhere, not just in Sheffield).
This is now crying out for a supertram extension, especially with all the new housing developments, it could help alleviate traffic congestion into the city.
It looked like there was a huge housing development underway in Deepcar when I drove through. Most of the new residents will probably work, shop and socialise in Sheffield, so a tram stop would be very handy
Rail engineer Gareth Dennis includes this route in his most recent edition of Railnatter (Episode 238): How a Sheffield Crossrail would boost South Yorkshire
ruclips.net/video/uKT9uEsP6f0/видео.html (1:29:02)
He shows lots of maps.
At least it’s not being ripped up as wreckers are usually following the last train. Before someone changes their mind, and stops it.
Nice effort to film this and put on show. Fingers crossed it'll come back from the ashes one day. Maybe a cycle track first of all to keep it alive, then back to trains after a consultation?
Was listed as part of the Restoring Your Railway, Reversing Beeching until Labour cancelled that programme.
Yes because there wasn't the funding for it.
@@rikkilambWhatever happened to Levelling Up?
@@rikkilamb Yes there is, depends where your priorities are.
@@12crepello looks like labour preferring buses (unless it is bradford leeds light rail)
@@rikkilambalways seems to be funding when it suits!
Going back the line used to serve the paper mill.
Let's hope that it's used for an extension to the Sheffield tram train network.
lets hope it gains some purpose
With our railways it is hard to tell the difference between the disused ones like here,and the main lines in everyday use.They are so tree ridden and overgrown.
Just waiting for a Heritage Railway Group. To take it over. Seems sensible.
Wdym end of branch line?
Wish train back running on the line
I thought the super tram would take over that line. Especially after they built fox valley. Linking kilner way to fox valley.
Is this the last bit of the GCR main line?
I may be wrong but I think the stretch at the western end of the Woodhead line was also GCR track. The bit between Hadfield and Manchester Pic is still open and the gantries look like the old-style ones used when the Woodhead line was still open. Perhaps someone with a bit more knowledge of the history than me will clarify.
The remaining bits of the GCR (apart from the heritage bits in Leicestershire, and the alignments used by the Nottingham tram are the commuter routes out of Marylebone.
Marylebone to Aylesbury technically.
@@sarahandwills Yep that's all correct. Also the few miles from Nunnery to Woodhouse was part of the GCR, that's the first couple of miles of the Sheffield to Retford line which still carries regular passenger trains today. Then, as others have said, there's the preserved line(s) north and south of Loughborough, the tram alignments in Nottingham, and the southern end of the GCR south of Calvert through Aylesbury to Marylebone.
Looking at the state of some of the track it's been neglected for more than 2 months.
At least they have not ripped up the track so there is still hope , but at the end of the day it is all down to financial restraints as what stays or goes , even keeping the line in mothballs will consume quite a bit of money .
Has Stocksbridge Steelworks closed down?
No, it's still a big operation, but they've ditched the railway transportation in favour of road, sadly. It's one of the few steelworks in Sheff still going
maybe in the future this could have the tram-train on it
Doesn't mean its being closed. Just going into hibernation
Rail freight should be the answer to getting thousands of lorries of the roads.
It’s finished like everything else in Sheffield and up north nobody is interested 🤷
Where is this location?
Detailed in the video description.
Could do for a heritage line if someone had money to buy it !
Part of the general process of mothballing Britain. Very sad.
Railway Historian Gunnar Henrioulle asks about this line going back to service when Putin makes good his threat to employ EMP (Troposphere nuclear detonations) disabling all those solid-state controlled vehicles in the shopping center? And not only this dormant line...
What about a preservation society taking it over?
A tram to a shopping centre, no worries about parking and certain lowering of pollution...what's not to love?
The fact that you can only buy what you can physically carry and get on the tram, which probably doesn't justify the hours it will take?
@@NiallWardrop
Do you assume that everybody has, or could have, a car, or that everybody wants to have one?
@@srfurley No, why would you think that? I was simply pointing out that there is quite a lot "not to love" about the idea of shopping by public transport, regardless of the fact that some have no other option.
@@NiallWardrop
I see, thank you.
so so sad
I heard it had been officially closed !! Not mothballed !
Vélorail anyone?
Heritage railway anyone? ;)
Britain closes everything.
Excellent video my friends 😊awesome 😮 Greeting 🙋 from 🇦🇷 suscribete
You’re right, but we probably across the whole of the West have been far too keen to buy the cheapest possible goods which are made in countries where a minimum wage is but a distant dream, so in some respects it’s payback time …. the real downside of capitalism….
that super tram extension is never going to happen there to much things need to be done lol😂
Probably forms part of a lucrative deal to sell off the land for a new road and give some local MPs a few few fat brown envelopes for Christmas
It’s mothballed, not closed, so they probably won’t sell it anytime soon
Still open! Load of untrue facts in this video
Blame the "Net Zero" BS...!!!
Battery operated tram trains.