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A century ago, Britain's rail
network was the envy of the world.

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You could get a train from almost
anywhere to almost anywhere else.

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But many of these lines were
considered unprofitable and

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in the 1960s, Dr Beeching was
recruited by the Government to come

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up with a plan that would stop the
railways from haemorrhaging money.

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He famously brought the axe down on
over 4,000 miles of track

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and 2,000 stations.

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Almost overnight,
30% of the network was closed down.

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50 years on, I'm going on a journey
to discover just a few

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of those lost lines.

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It feels like a lost world.

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HE CHUCKLES

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Over the series, I'm going to meet
colourful characters that

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remember the railways...

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"I've got a dead body here,"
he said to me.

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Good Lord.

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A chap had collapsed and
died in the train.

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..visit the places that are lost
but not forgotten...

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This is old railway archaeology
through here.

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Oh, wow! Look at this.

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It is truly impressive.

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HE LAUGHS

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..and experience what Britain was
like at the height of the biggest

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transport revolution this
country has ever known.

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I'm in the Royal Victoria Hotel
in Sheffield

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and looking out this window here
now,

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it's very hard to imagine what
anybody stood here

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when this hotel was built, in 1862,
would have been faced with.

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I've got this road with trucks
and cars coming up it.

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Anyone back then would have been
faced, right there,

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with Sheffield Victoria Station,
which was a real hub

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on the network of rail
transportation across the whole of

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the country, and it's hard to get
a sense for that,

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stood here right now.

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But if you know where
you're looking,

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there are a few clues which allude
back to what this was.

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Billions of journeys were being made
on newly-opened lines, and hotels

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like the opulent Royal Victoria
here exist because coal and steel

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magnates and businessmen with deals
to do all needed a place to stay.

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Grand edifices like this were
to follow in Nottingham and

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Marylebone and then all over
the rail network.

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The country was completely
transformed as people and

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goods became newly mobilised.

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Just have a look out here as well.

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You can really see how grand
a building this is.

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And station hotels like this were
built right across the country

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to serve the vast numbers of
people using the railways.

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No-one had ever seen anything like
this before and here in Sheffield,

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the Royal Victoria Hotel here
was the start

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of one of the most heroic railway
routes ever conceived and built.

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And really, what is just a stone's
throw away from the hotel,

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I've now entered what was
the station.

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This was a entrance into the
station.

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These are some of the original
Victorian tiles.

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Over 100 years, these tiles have
witnessed people sprinting up here

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to go and try and
catch their train.

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So up the steps, up to the ramp,
into what was...

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This would have been platform one,
and there are

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a few little telltale remnants of
the station that was here.

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If you look up here,
you've got these iron beams,

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these cantilever beams, that would
have come out supporting the canopy

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above the platform, and then
you've got this doorway here.

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And these windows and doors entrance
onto the platform

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and into the station.

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Back then,
I would have walked up here

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and I would have been
entering a train station.

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I would have smelt that,
I would have felt that,

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it would have been all around me -
the sounds.

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TRAIN WHISTLE SOUNDS

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Now...

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..it's just a car park.

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My journey begins here at Sheffield
Victoria and follows the line

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across a 41-mile stretch through
the rugged countryside

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of the Pennines in South Yorkshire.

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I can't walk the first several miles
of this track

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because it's still being used today
as a freight line,

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serving Sheffield's renowned
steel industry,

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carrying 1,000-tonne loads
every day.

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So I'm going to hitch a ride before
I pick up the trail

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at Deepcar Station.

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This is the engine that's going to
set me off on my journey here.

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The Woodhead line was originally
built as a freight line and

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the first part of it still serves
the same purpose,

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just as it did over 100 years ago.

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There's only one train per day,
though, and I don't want to miss it.

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Am I all right to come aboard?
Yeah, no problem, mate.

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Lovely. Thank you.

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This is really quite exciting
for me, I have to say.

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I like walking.

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I like trains, too.

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How long have you been driving?

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39 years now and seven months.

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39 years and seven months -
knocking on the door of 40, then?

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Yeah. I'm retiring next week.

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Wow!

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Wait, hang on then, did you used to
drive along the Woodhead line

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when it was open?

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Well, I was a second man in them
days but, yeah, we used to.

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My depot were Rotherwood and we used
to go up and down the Woodhead.

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That was my depot for three years.

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Your depot was Sheffield and you'd
be then going across to Manchester

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every day and back?
Yeah. There and back. Yeah.

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Cos one of the big features on the
Woodhead line is Woodhead Tunnel.

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Do you remember what it was like
going through there

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when you were driving? Yeah. It was
brilliant. It was the driest tunnel

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I've ever been through. Really?
Yeah. And like you go through these

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Victorian tunnels, they're all,
like, cascading water and all sorts.

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Yeah.

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You get icicles in winter and
everything like that, but,

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no, it was just brilliant.

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You are the last of
the Woodhead line drivers?

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Well, yeah, I am.
And you finish next week? Yeah.

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What are you going to do with all
your time in retirement, then?

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I've got a nice part-time job.

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Doing what?

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Driving trains. Have you?! Yeah.

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Two days a week. Two days a week.
Just come back to driving trains?

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Yeah.

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Once it's in their blood here,
it never leaves you, does it?

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No, it doesn't, no.

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The train will go on
to Stocksbridge,

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where the steel is processed, but
I'm heading in the other direction,

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picking up this lost railway just
behind the old station at Deepcar.

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This stretch of the line hasn't
seen a train since 1981,

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when it was closed and
the tracks were taken up.

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Very much back on the trail
towards Manchester now.

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The old railway line, and if you
weren't convinced this used

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to be an old railway line,
just look around.

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You've got old lengths of
rail back there.

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All these sleepers just
littered about.

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I mean, it really is just
abandoned and left.

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There are little clues
kicking about. Look.

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The old lamppost up there.

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Can't imagine the last time that was
actually used or turned on.

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This really is a lost railway.

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It feels like a lost world!

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A couple of miles on from Deepcar
station and I'm approaching

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a wonderful place, where retired
engineers and train enthusiasts

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have recreated a bit of history.

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And it has an actual real-life
working steam train.

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Well, kind of.

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Using their skill as engineers and
their passion as enthusiasts,

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they've created a working version of
what used to happen

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just across the River Don,
on the Woodhead line.

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I'm following the trail of
the now-closed Woodhead line from

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Sheffield Victoria to
Manchester Piccadilly.

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I'm about ten miles into my journey
at Wortley Station,

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where I'm getting a taste of railway
engineering, miniature style.

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Hi. How are we doing? Hello, Rob.
I'm Rob, how are you going?

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Nice to meet you. This is fantastic.
There's quite a lot going on here.

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Yes. There's a lot that goes into
manufacturing these.

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I mean, they were
all made by ourselves.

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The lot of them are machined
from bare metal.

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WHISTLE TOOTS

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Is there an element of, kind of,
big boys with big toys here,

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this kind of thing?
Well, of course it is.

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Some of us have never grown up!

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I think when you retire,

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it's important that you keep
yourself healthy... Yep.

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..to have pastimes, because if you
don't have anything,

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you're dead within four or five
months of giving up work.

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So, something like this keeps
the old grey matter turning over,

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keeps your fingers active and
the rest of your limbs working.

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And look here, you're 110 now
and still going strong!

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Oh, I'm heading that way!
He's getting there!

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Are there memories of
the old Woodhead line here and

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how it would run? Oh, yes.

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Many of the members here can recall
seeing the steam locos coming along.

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Yeah. And I did 20 years on
the railway, so. Oh, did you? Yeah.

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So you've never retired then if
you're back on it now. Well, no.

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I've never retired. Well, you know,
you never retire really do you?

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You've always got something to do.

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Can we have a little ride?
Yeah. Hop on.

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HE CHUCKLES

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That's what it's all about!

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For these guys,
the Woodhead line may be lost,

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but certainly not forgotten.
With a fully-signalled track

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measuring 589 metres, two stations
and a tunnel, this miniature

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railway is a reflection of what
it meant to them all.

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It's the attention to detail that
I love and that's not just on the

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engines themselves, but on the whole
infrastructure of this whole track.

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You could spend hours, days,
years putting your life into this.

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WHISTLE SOUNDS

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Woo-woo!

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Even though I'm a fairly big person
sat on a small train,

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inside I feel like a small boy
sat on a huge train.

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That's the excitement
this gives you.

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WHISTLE SOUNDS

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I'm back on the Woodhead line now
and my next stop is Thurgoland.

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This is now just a lovely
woodland public footpath.

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It really is gorgeous.

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But every now and then,
there's these little reminders

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which tell you that this was
the railway and in fact,

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when you've got these sidings,
like you have right here,

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it doesn't take too much of a
stretch of the imagination to think,

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yes, this was the railway.

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It's almost like they've just lifted
the rails, the sleepers and

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the ballast and everything else
has remained the same.

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They might have let the trees
overgrow a bit more

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but, up until this point,
from Sheffield,

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I haven't really had any big
physical obstacles to overcome.

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But now we're starting to reach
the borders of the Peak District

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and hitting the foothills of
the Pennines.

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And where you've got hills
and railways,

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typically,
you're going to find a tunnel.

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And there's the first tunnel,
right here.

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00:12:06,780 --> 00:12:09,500
This is the Thurgoland Tunnel.

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00:12:13,340 --> 00:12:17,340
Of course, the path very much wants
to take me off that way but,

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up here, yeah, there it is.

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00:12:20,500 --> 00:12:22,420
This is the original tunnel.

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00:12:23,780 --> 00:12:26,980
Hard to see from here
actually how open it is.

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00:12:26,980 --> 00:12:29,340
You've got this great big mound
of soil there.

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00:12:29,340 --> 00:12:32,220
But let's go and have a look.

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00:12:32,220 --> 00:12:36,260
This first tunnel was build in 1845,
but 100 years later,

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00:12:36,260 --> 00:12:38,620
when electrification was introduced,

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it was considered too expensive
to modify for the power lines.

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So instead they built another
tunnel right next to it.

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Let's see how much of this
is actually open.

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Let's see if we can see inside.

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Brilliant, it's open still,
somewhat.

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Somewhat.

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Look at this.

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The original tunnel.

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It is quite narrow.

225
00:13:01,740 --> 00:13:05,580
Hard to imagine getting
two lines through here.

226
00:13:05,580 --> 00:13:10,620
I think I'll say I've seen enough
from here for now.

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00:13:10,620 --> 00:13:11,820
Great to see it, though.

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Wow.

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WHISTLE SOUNDS

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I can hear trains.

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TRAIN ENGINE CHUGS

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At 282 metres long, this tunnel has
a peculiar swerving shape

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that contributes to an incredible
sonic delight -

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the most amazing echo.

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00:13:43,660 --> 00:13:46,380
I'm here to meet Trevor Cox,
an acoustic engineer

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00:13:46,380 --> 00:13:51,180
who's just as keen as I am
to investigate this unique sound.

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That really sounds like a real
train coming towards me.

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00:13:56,860 --> 00:13:58,540
This is amazing.

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00:14:01,020 --> 00:14:04,260
Trevor, am I pleased to see that
this is just a laptop

240
00:14:04,260 --> 00:14:07,580
and not a train actually hurtling
towards me? Yeah. Good to see you.

241
00:14:07,580 --> 00:14:10,100
It's just a bit of sound effects,
but it's really atmospheric,

242
00:14:10,100 --> 00:14:11,500
isn't it? Oh, my word!

243
00:14:11,500 --> 00:14:14,220
So, what you can hear is
reverberation, first of all,

244
00:14:14,220 --> 00:14:16,140
which is the sound lingering
in a space. OK.

245
00:14:16,140 --> 00:14:18,580
But there is an effect in here that
you might have noticed,

246
00:14:18,580 --> 00:14:20,100
a sort of strange warbling sound.

247
00:14:20,100 --> 00:14:23,300
If this is unique, I'm going to go
for my little warbling effect

248
00:14:23,300 --> 00:14:25,220
here now with that clap.

249
00:14:25,220 --> 00:14:27,460
WARBLING ECHO

250
00:14:29,300 --> 00:14:31,580
Yeah, It's almost like I can see
that sound

251
00:14:31,580 --> 00:14:33,060
going dudle-udle-udle-err.

252
00:14:33,060 --> 00:14:35,460
So a metallic ricochet,
you're getting. Yeah.

253
00:14:35,460 --> 00:14:37,500
And that's peculiar to this shape.

254
00:14:37,500 --> 00:14:39,860
It's actually a horse-shoe shape,
it's curved. Yes.

255
00:14:39,860 --> 00:14:41,860
And those curved surfaces
cause focusing -

256
00:14:41,860 --> 00:14:43,660
that means reflections
arrive in bunches.

257
00:14:43,660 --> 00:14:46,340
The other thing is, you know,
you have to learn to kind of shout

258
00:14:46,340 --> 00:14:48,020
as well, as an acoustician.

259
00:14:48,020 --> 00:14:51,020
HOOTING ECHOES AND DIMINISHES

260
00:15:03,140 --> 00:15:06,580
Still going! How long's that? 15?
That's a good 20 seconds.

261
00:15:06,580 --> 00:15:09,140
Good 20 seconds. See, that's longer
than St Paul's Cathedral.

262
00:15:09,140 --> 00:15:12,260
I mean, that's pretty reverberant.
And in fact, an old world record

263
00:15:12,260 --> 00:15:14,740
for the longest echo in the world
was only 15 seconds,

264
00:15:14,740 --> 00:15:18,260
so this is a pretty reverberant
and unusual tunnel.

265
00:15:18,260 --> 00:15:20,660
Do you want me to get my saxophone
out and give you a few notes?

266
00:15:20,660 --> 00:15:21,820
Why not?

267
00:15:21,820 --> 00:15:24,500
HE PLAYS SAXOPHONE

268
00:15:29,260 --> 00:15:31,740
SAXOPHONE ECHOES SONOROUSLY

269
00:15:37,300 --> 00:15:40,020
That sounds like an organ. It does.

270
00:15:40,020 --> 00:15:42,460
Like a rich chord on an organ with,
I don't know,

271
00:15:42,460 --> 00:15:44,020
six notes being played.

272
00:15:44,020 --> 00:15:47,100
Trevor, that was an absolutely
fantastic experience

273
00:15:47,100 --> 00:15:49,380
and I've not just heard that,
I've felt it.

274
00:15:49,380 --> 00:15:51,140
It feels like I've seen it
and everything.

275
00:15:51,140 --> 00:15:52,500
I will leave you to it, though.

276
00:15:52,500 --> 00:15:53,700
Good luck with the busking.

277
00:15:53,700 --> 00:15:56,340
Not the heaviest footfall along
here, but the advantage is

278
00:15:56,340 --> 00:15:58,060
you can get people who can't
even see you.

279
00:15:58,060 --> 00:15:59,580
Your reach is so wide.

280
00:15:59,580 --> 00:16:02,180
I need to earn my bus fare home
anyway, don't I?

281
00:16:02,180 --> 00:16:03,740
Thank you. Take care. Cheerio.

282
00:16:06,060 --> 00:16:09,660
ECHOING SAXOPHONE

283
00:16:38,460 --> 00:16:41,540
As I walk this line,
I'm constantly reminded

284
00:16:41,540 --> 00:16:44,420
of the thousands of passengers
that travelled along it.

285
00:16:44,420 --> 00:16:48,220
This railway was an essential artery
that connected two cities,

286
00:16:48,220 --> 00:16:52,100
but it also had an enriching effect
on hundreds of small communities

287
00:16:52,100 --> 00:16:54,820
along its route, like Penistone.

288
00:16:56,260 --> 00:16:59,420
The arrival of the Woodhead line
had a huge impact

289
00:16:59,420 --> 00:17:02,220
on towns like Penistone here.

290
00:17:02,220 --> 00:17:06,460
Because the railway fed the coal
and steel industry, there was

291
00:17:06,460 --> 00:17:10,940
suddenly a huge influx of workers
who came to live in the area.

292
00:17:10,940 --> 00:17:14,060
So small businesses like
the Paramount Movie Theatre here

293
00:17:14,060 --> 00:17:19,300
suddenly had a much bigger clientele
to thrive off and, apparently,

294
00:17:19,300 --> 00:17:22,020
it's quite special inside.

295
00:17:22,020 --> 00:17:26,060
It's been here for over 100 years
and it hasn't changed much

296
00:17:26,060 --> 00:17:27,220
since it opened.

297
00:17:29,940 --> 00:17:32,500
ORGAN PLAYS

298
00:17:32,500 --> 00:17:36,140
With the flood of potential
customers using the new rail link

299
00:17:36,140 --> 00:17:38,180
and the cinema in its infancy,

300
00:17:38,180 --> 00:17:41,420
the Paramount Theatre
was the place to be.

301
00:17:41,420 --> 00:17:45,140
But this auditorium has more
to offer than silent movies.

302
00:17:45,140 --> 00:17:47,900
To provide a premium night of
entertainment,

303
00:17:47,900 --> 00:17:50,860
the impressive organ was
the star attraction.

304
00:17:55,900 --> 00:18:00,660
Bravo! That's fantastic!

305
00:18:00,660 --> 00:18:02,940
What a sound that is.

306
00:18:02,940 --> 00:18:04,580
That's unlike anything else, for me.

307
00:18:04,580 --> 00:18:06,020
It's quite something, isn't it?

308
00:18:06,020 --> 00:18:08,780
Would the organ here have played
along with silent movies?

309
00:18:08,780 --> 00:18:09,940
Absolutely.

310
00:18:09,940 --> 00:18:12,660
That's the whole reason these
instruments were actually designed

311
00:18:12,660 --> 00:18:15,260
and therefore they had special
effects. Just like an orchestra

312
00:18:15,260 --> 00:18:18,740
would in a percussion section,
these have special effects as well.

313
00:18:18,740 --> 00:18:21,100
To bring that film to life?
Absolutely. Yes.

314
00:18:21,100 --> 00:18:23,420
So the typical one was
a railway scene. Good.

315
00:18:23,420 --> 00:18:24,700
I'm all about railways.

316
00:18:24,700 --> 00:18:27,260
Oh, absolutely.
So you would have the station bell.

317
00:18:27,260 --> 00:18:28,780
BELL RINGS

318
00:18:28,780 --> 00:18:31,180
Yeah, very good.

319
00:18:31,180 --> 00:18:34,940
Also, the engineman would then
blow the whistle.

320
00:18:34,940 --> 00:18:37,340
TRAIN WHISTLE SOUNDS

321
00:18:38,620 --> 00:18:41,580
And then the train would
start to depart.

322
00:18:41,580 --> 00:18:47,980
SOUND OF TRAIN PULLING AWAY

323
00:18:47,980 --> 00:18:52,220
SOUND OF TRAIN ACCELERATING

324
00:18:55,540 --> 00:18:57,300
That is unbelievable!

325
00:18:57,300 --> 00:19:01,020
PLAYS REGULAR ORGAN MUSIC

326
00:19:01,020 --> 00:19:04,660
I've never heard a steam engine make
that at the end of... Absolutely.

327
00:19:04,660 --> 00:19:06,060
Where is that sound coming from?

328
00:19:06,060 --> 00:19:07,940
The sound is coming from
under the stage.

329
00:19:07,940 --> 00:19:09,700
Just under the stage here
at the Paramount,

330
00:19:09,700 --> 00:19:12,260
there are over 1,200 organ pipes.

331
00:19:12,260 --> 00:19:14,580
I think a lot of people might think,
you know, this is it,

332
00:19:14,580 --> 00:19:17,220
you wheel the organ in and that's
where the sound comes from.

333
00:19:17,220 --> 00:19:19,900
This is just... Not at all.
This is the tip of the iceberg.

334
00:19:19,900 --> 00:19:22,420
It's the tip of the iceberg.

335
00:19:22,420 --> 00:19:26,340
PERCUSSION SOUNDS

336
00:19:29,940 --> 00:19:32,940
This is like something out of
Game Of Thrones, or something.

337
00:19:32,940 --> 00:19:35,700
XYLOPHONE-LIKE SOUNDS

338
00:19:38,740 --> 00:19:41,860
WOODWIND SOUNDS

339
00:19:42,980 --> 00:19:45,740
It's an incredible puzzle,
trying to figure out

340
00:19:45,740 --> 00:19:51,260
where in this maze of sound
each noise is coming from.

341
00:19:51,260 --> 00:19:53,860
When he talks about it being
an orchestra, that organ,

342
00:19:53,860 --> 00:19:56,980
it's a physical orchestra down here.

343
00:19:56,980 --> 00:19:58,460
Horns. Pipes.

344
00:19:58,460 --> 00:20:00,060
The percussion over there.

345
00:20:00,060 --> 00:20:02,780
Xylophones, bells, whistles.

346
00:20:02,780 --> 00:20:05,500
You name it, it's down here.

347
00:20:05,500 --> 00:20:11,380
ORGAN PLAYS FINALE

348
00:20:12,860 --> 00:20:17,060
As I continue my journey, I'll learn
about the lives that were lost

349
00:20:17,060 --> 00:20:19,300
in building the Woodhead Tunnel.

350
00:20:19,300 --> 00:20:22,380
These people were exposed
to a level of danger

351
00:20:22,380 --> 00:20:24,340
that we cannot imagine today.

352
00:20:32,360 --> 00:20:34,960
I'm following the old Woodhead line
on a journey

353
00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:38,080
from Sheffield Victoria to
Manchester Piccadilly.

354
00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:42,080
In its heyday, it transported coal,
steel and passengers

355
00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:46,160
between these two major cities,
but it also holds a few secrets.

356
00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:50,160
Due to some covert tank exercises
during the Second World War,

357
00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:52,320
it's seen some military action, too.

358
00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:56,160
Hang on.

359
00:20:56,160 --> 00:20:59,920
Just a sec.
Come and have a look round here.

360
00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:05,280
Now, this is kind of hidden away in
the overgrowth here but

361
00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:10,920
you've got to ask yourself,
what is a brick concrete ramp doing

362
00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:12,640
in the middle of nowhere like this?

363
00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:19,920
So, from what I know, this is
a tank ramp and it was used

364
00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:24,680
during the Second World War
to off-load tanks from the railway.

365
00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:29,560
The railway would have come in up
to here and you can see, definitely,

366
00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:33,960
what's left down here of railway
track coming right up to the ramp.

367
00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:37,280
So the railway would come up and
the tanks would be unloaded

368
00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:43,120
down this ramp and taken away to
a nearby tank training ground,

369
00:21:43,120 --> 00:21:45,760
allegedly in preparation for
the Normandy landings.

370
00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:51,880
So, what looks like a pretty useless
piece of brick and concrete

371
00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:56,480
left here now is actually a really
important part of our history.

372
00:21:58,040 --> 00:21:59,480
I'm so pleased I found it.

373
00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:06,280
I'm walking towards
Penistone Station now,

374
00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:09,040
which was a busy junction
back in its heyday.

375
00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:13,280
It had six lines running through it,
with an adjacent steelworks.

376
00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:16,160
There are still lots of hidden
relics along the footpath.

377
00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:19,560
Even an old train turntable pit,
now lost to nature.

378
00:22:31,360 --> 00:22:36,280
So, this is what remains functional
of Penistone Station here today.

379
00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:39,600
Now, this is the line between
Sheffield and Barnsley,

380
00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:41,440
up to Huddersfield.

381
00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:43,800
But the closed part of the station,

382
00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:47,520
you've got the station building
just behind us there.

383
00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:49,240
No longer used as a station.

384
00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:53,440
This is an original,
a little shelter here.

385
00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:56,360
You can see with the cast iron.

386
00:22:56,360 --> 00:22:58,040
It's beautiful.

387
00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:01,560
It's hard to imagine those
multiple lines and, what,

388
00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:05,320
360 odd trains a day coming through
here, passengers and freight.

389
00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:08,480
It's all just quite quaint now.

390
00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:12,800
There was so much traffic
through here,

391
00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:15,040
at the end of the 19th century,

392
00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:19,640
Penistone became infamous as a real
railway accident black-spot.

393
00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:21,960
Over a period of just 13 years,

394
00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:26,440
there were at least seven documented
accidents that took the lives

395
00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:30,120
of dozens of people and
injured many more.

396
00:23:30,120 --> 00:23:36,680
Add that to the harsh and bleak
landscape of the hills around here

397
00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:39,920
and for anyone with just
an ounce of superstition,

398
00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:43,560
Penistone became known
as the unluckiest place

399
00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:45,240
to cross the Pennines.

400
00:23:46,520 --> 00:23:49,400
The most infamous of these
tragic accidents took place

401
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:54,640
on the 16th July, 1884, when
an express train broke an axle

402
00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:57,040
a few miles west of where
I'm standing.

403
00:23:57,040 --> 00:24:00,440
The first five passenger carriages
ran off the rails

404
00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:02,480
and careered down the embankment.

405
00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:06,880
14 women, six men and
four children lost their lives.

406
00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:10,880
This abandoned section
of the station

407
00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:13,680
was part of the old Woodhead line.

408
00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:18,360
You'd have had people coming through
the station here with their tickets,

409
00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:21,320
waiting for the train to take them
to Manchester,

410
00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:23,000
or Sheffield in that way.

411
00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:28,840
Just a scrapyard now.

412
00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:39,760
Little blocked-off doorways along
here that are all bricked up now.

413
00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:42,320
They'd have been the entrances
out from the station

414
00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:43,440
out onto the platform.

415
00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:47,400
For a lost and abandoned line,

416
00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:50,400
something quite nice about coming
through the station here

417
00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:53,640
between the platforms is just
how clear and open it is.

418
00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:57,880
I'm going to stay true to
the Woodhead line route.

419
00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:00,640
Think I've got a slightly more
challenging journey

420
00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:01,640
on to my next stop.

421
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:06,600
I'm about 17 miles into my journey
and heading for Dunford Bridge,

422
00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:08,840
where the Woodhead Tunnel begins.

423
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:12,360
But before that, I want to take
a look at the Hartcliff Folly,

424
00:25:12,360 --> 00:25:15,800
an intriguing structure that has
a surprising connection

425
00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:17,600
to the railway.

426
00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:20,000
Oh, a nice tight little spiral
staircase. Here we go. Yes.

427
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:21,440
Very good. Legs at the ready.

428
00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:26,760
Local farmer Jeff Pears
rebuilt the folly

429
00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:29,880
after the original structure
collapsed in 1997.

430
00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:37,800
Oh, that is absolutely stunning.

431
00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:47,120
Tell me about the man who
built this originally.

432
00:25:47,120 --> 00:25:53,480
The original tower was built in 1856
by a man called Henry Richardson.

433
00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:57,120
The stories are his wife could
climb it and look for him

434
00:25:57,120 --> 00:25:59,480
coming home in the distance.

435
00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:01,280
Romantic story.

436
00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:03,520
Coming home on the Woodhead line?

437
00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:05,880
Well, it makes a good story.
That's a great story!

438
00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:08,440
Cos I can imagine you'd see that,
you know, at the time,

439
00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:10,400
we're talking about steam engines.
Yeah.

440
00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:12,800
So you'd have the puff of steam
and smoke coming along.

441
00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:15,080
It's the Victorian mobile phone
call on the train home.

442
00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:18,000
I'll be home in 45.
That's right.

443
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:20,320
How far can you see from up here?

444
00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:23,400
Cos, I mean, I will say it,
but it's a very general statement,

445
00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:25,360
I can see for miles, Jeff.

446
00:26:25,360 --> 00:26:28,920
We can see Kingston on Hull.
So that's 80 miles away.

447
00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:31,880
And so, off there in the distance
is where it would go

448
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:34,120
into the Woodhead Tunnel?
Into the Woodhead tunnel.

449
00:26:34,120 --> 00:26:36,160
Going through that hill
on the horizon? Yes.

450
00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:38,360
That's where I'm headed.
Well, it's great to see.

451
00:26:38,360 --> 00:26:40,320
It's great to get
the perspective from up here.

452
00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:42,680
I mean, this is a view unlike
any other, isn't it?

453
00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:44,600
Well, we think so. We think so.

454
00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:54,920
As I head back onto the old line to
reach Dunford Bridge,

455
00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:57,360
crossing the foothills
of the Pennines,

456
00:26:57,360 --> 00:27:01,040
you can definitely feel
the landscape changing around you,

457
00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:04,360
from green fields to
bleak scrubland.

458
00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:07,560
All right.

459
00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:11,440
I wasn't sure for a sec but I am
on the right path here.

460
00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:14,800
There's so much of the old Woodhead
line has been transformed

461
00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:17,040
into the Trans Pennine Trail,

462
00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:22,240
this fantastic pedestrian path
providing miles and miles of

463
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:24,880
access in this beautiful
countryside.

464
00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:28,120
But if you do want to stick
to the original route

465
00:27:28,120 --> 00:27:30,000
that the railway came,

466
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:33,720
you do sometimes have to go just
a little bit off piste, like this.

467
00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:40,240
The Pennines separated two power
houses of developing industry -

468
00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:42,800
Sheffield and Manchester.

469
00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:47,000
But the altitude and the steep,
rugged terrain made it impossible

470
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:48,760
to go over the top,

471
00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:52,200
so the bold decision was made to go
through the hills.

472
00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:54,440
At just over three miles long,

473
00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:58,640
the Woodhead Tunnel was a massive
feat of engineering.

474
00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:00,600
The Channel Tunnel of its time.

475
00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:02,560
When it was finished in 1845,

476
00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:06,320
it was the longest railway tunnel
in the world.

477
00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:10,040
The last train to pass through
here was 37 years ago.

478
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:13,640
Now, the entire site is being used
by the national grid.

479
00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:16,440
Come on through.

480
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:18,840
You can see the tunnel
ahead of us there.

481
00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:22,360
We've got 400,000-volt cables
running through there

482
00:28:22,360 --> 00:28:25,960
from power stations in Yorkshire
across to the north-west,

483
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:29,320
supplying hundreds and thousands of
homes and businesses.

484
00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:32,880
I love that, because so much of
the Woodhead line is overgrown

485
00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:36,640
and it's not used and it's not
really relevant to people's lives.

486
00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:39,440
This tunnel, though,
so relevant to, well,

487
00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:42,120
millions of people's lives,
whether they know it or not.

488
00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:46,320
Even though the tunnel's now home
to deadly high-voltage cables,

489
00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:48,600
I can't resist taking a peek inside.

490
00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:50,560
Here we are.

491
00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:52,280
We don't open these very often.

492
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:54,120
I'm stood here,
thinking about the trains

493
00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:56,880
that would have been coming
through here on the Woodhead line.

494
00:28:56,880 --> 00:29:00,000
I mean, for security reasons,
this is as far as I can come here,

495
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,160
is it, Steve?
Yeah, I'm afraid so, Rob.

496
00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:03,920
Yeah, nobody gets beyond this point.

497
00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:10,480
This tunnel was built to transport
coal to power Manchester.

498
00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:14,680
Now it's doing the same job,
but carrying electricity instead.

499
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:22,960
Since I can't walk through
the Woodhead Tunnel,

500
00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:25,280
I'm going to follow
the route above ground.

501
00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:34,400
Up here, I can get a sense of
the depth of the tunnel.

502
00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:38,640
Hidden amongst this rugged landscape
are five vertical shafts that

503
00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:42,640
were crucial to its construction,
and standing next to one of them

504
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:46,240
should be my engineer friend,
Graeme Bickerdike.

505
00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:47,880
It's nice to see a human face.

506
00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:51,360
I've only seen sheep for
the last hour or so.

507
00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:52,920
What are you photographing here?

508
00:29:52,920 --> 00:29:54,640
This was, believe it or not,

509
00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:57,360
one of the shafts for
the construction of the tunnel.

510
00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:00,000
Is this one of the shafts? Yeah.
This is shaft three. There were...

511
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,240
Behind us is number two.

512
00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:03,800
There were five in total.

513
00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:04,960
I'm glad you say that.

514
00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:07,320
I mean, this isn't necessarily what
I would have expected

515
00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:09,480
from one of the shafts,
but I now know I'm back on top

516
00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:10,840
of the Woodhead Tunnel.

517
00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:15,920
It's about 500 feet deep, took
a little over two years to sink it.

518
00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:17,280
Goodness me.

519
00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:20,240
There were 1,500 men involved
in the construction of this tunnel.

520
00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:22,920
You're looking at about one in 50

521
00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:25,480
dying during the course of
construction. Wow. Yeah.

522
00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:28,800
These people were exposed to
a level of danger

523
00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:31,000
that we cannot imagine today.

524
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:34,440
Explosions, falls down shafts,
collapses.

525
00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:39,840
It's a hideous place to be and
the railway network we rely on today

526
00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:43,800
was built in those circumstances,
and we lose sight of that.

527
00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:46,480
And it's built of the sacrifice of
all those men who were digging it.

528
00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:47,840
Absolutely.

529
00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:50,440
The navvies were a rowdy mix of
hard-working,

530
00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:53,360
hard-drinking Englishmen
and Irishmen

531
00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:57,200
who lived in squalid huts along the
route of the railways they built.

532
00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:00,480
Unfortunately, they were the first
to fall foul of what would be

533
00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:04,720
considered today outrageously
negligent safety precautions.

534
00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:08,480
The reality is that for every mile
of track laid throughout the UK,

535
00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:11,120
there was an average of three
work-related deaths.

536
00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:14,840
28 navvies died on this
three-mile stretch

537
00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:17,160
that I'm standing on right now.

538
00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:20,320
That's higher than the death rate
at the Battle of Waterloo!

539
00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:22,000
Climb into this bucket.

540
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,800
They'd be lowered down the shaft and
then they'd spend eight hours,

541
00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:27,920
12 hours at the bottom, hacking away
at the rock and then

542
00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:30,240
come back up and then walk back to
their encampment,

543
00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:33,520
a mile and a half away, and they did
that for two and a half years.

544
00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:37,440
The techniques involved were bizarre
by modern standards.

545
00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:41,080
Whereas now we use sort of
laser-guided surveying equipment,

546
00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:46,560
this was plumb lines down the shaft
and sort of 30-foot long

547
00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:49,760
wooden laths, they called,
to measure the depth of the shaft.

548
00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:52,440
But that was engineering. That was
the height of engineering then.

549
00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:54,000
It was absolutely the cutting-edge.

550
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:55,600
We ought to appreciate these things.

551
00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:59,600
This was the longest railway tunnel
in the world and, you know,

552
00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:03,320
now it's reduced to a pile of bricks
and concrete plugs in the entrances.

553
00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:06,200
There's something not quite right
about that, I think.

554
00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:09,480
I agree, but I'm not going to let
that sadden me, though, Graeme.

555
00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:13,040
I'm remembering this for the
incredible engineering feat it is

556
00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:16,240
and that attitude of can-do
for everyone involved

557
00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:17,400
in making it happen.

558
00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:19,760
But listen, I'm going to get on
my way. I will leave you to...

559
00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:20,840
Great to see you.

560
00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:23,040
..a bit more photography
and this beautiful light.

561
00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:25,560
It's fabulous, isn't it? Oh. Lovely.
Enjoy your walk. Thank you.

562
00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:27,120
Wish me luck. Cheers. Cheerio.

563
00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:39,600
The sacrifices made in constructing
this tunnel

564
00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:42,360
haven't gone to waste
now the line's gone.

565
00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:45,680
Rather than carrying coal and
ferrying thousands of passengers,

566
00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:49,280
it now carries electricity for
millions of people

567
00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:50,600
throughout this region.

568
00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:02,440
As I reach the last 20 miles of my
journey on the Woodhead line,

569
00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:06,600
I find out how the railways changed
the way we set our clocks.

570
00:33:15,500 --> 00:33:17,700
I'm walking the Woodhead line

571
00:33:17,700 --> 00:33:20,900
from Sheffield Victoria to
Manchester Piccadilly.

572
00:33:20,900 --> 00:33:22,540
I'm trying to pick up the old track

573
00:33:22,540 --> 00:33:25,300
that cuts through the Pennines
just beneath me,

574
00:33:25,300 --> 00:33:29,220
so I can finally get to see the exit
of this three-mile tunnel.

575
00:33:41,380 --> 00:33:42,780
Oh, brilliant!

576
00:33:44,500 --> 00:33:46,100
Absolutely fantastic.

577
00:33:47,300 --> 00:33:49,780
You've got all three
tunnel entrances.

578
00:33:49,780 --> 00:33:54,140
Two tunnels from the middle of
the 19th century

579
00:33:54,140 --> 00:33:56,820
and then 100 years later.

580
00:33:56,820 --> 00:33:59,340
Look at the detail that
goes into it.

581
00:33:59,340 --> 00:34:01,500
You know, each one of these stones
has been cut

582
00:34:01,500 --> 00:34:03,140
and then properly finished. Look.

583
00:34:05,700 --> 00:34:09,380
All this work to finish off
these stones.

584
00:34:09,380 --> 00:34:12,700
So you've got this rough finish here
and then around the edges of

585
00:34:12,700 --> 00:34:16,260
each and every one of these stones,
it's all been finished beautifully.

586
00:34:17,860 --> 00:34:19,900
Back in the middle of
the 19th century,

587
00:34:19,900 --> 00:34:22,540
there was a real kind of...
almost an opulence about their work.

588
00:34:22,540 --> 00:34:24,620
It wasn't just functional.

589
00:34:24,620 --> 00:34:27,260
But I want to point out
specifically -

590
00:34:27,260 --> 00:34:29,980
look, you've got
pretty much what look like

591
00:34:29,980 --> 00:34:34,500
castle towers with all the
castellations across the top.

592
00:34:34,500 --> 00:34:37,540
And that's all been removed now,
but that's what I mean about

593
00:34:37,540 --> 00:34:39,700
that opulence of civil engineers
back then.

594
00:34:41,060 --> 00:34:44,300
You had beautifully functional,
built to last.

595
00:34:44,300 --> 00:34:46,140
Why not make it look great as well?

596
00:34:50,180 --> 00:34:54,860
And right here, only a few yards
away, another forgotten gem -

597
00:34:54,860 --> 00:34:57,820
the station platform that served
this magnificent tunnel.

598
00:34:59,940 --> 00:35:03,660
It kind of saddens me in a way that
it's now no longer used.

599
00:35:03,660 --> 00:35:05,620
Well, not for the railways, anyway.

600
00:35:06,940 --> 00:35:10,540
That something that was, well,
that still is so impressive,

601
00:35:10,540 --> 00:35:15,580
that really, so many people paid
the ultimate sacrifice for.

602
00:35:17,500 --> 00:35:19,140
We don't get to see it any more.

603
00:35:19,140 --> 00:35:21,900
It's a very lost part of
this lost railway.

604
00:35:28,980 --> 00:35:31,900
Only a few hundred yards away
from the tunnel exit,

605
00:35:31,900 --> 00:35:35,420
the landscape suddenly opens up
and you can visualise

606
00:35:35,420 --> 00:35:39,220
just how dramatic a journey it would
have been on board a train.

607
00:35:39,220 --> 00:35:42,500
This looks like probably
the railway cutting here.

608
00:35:42,500 --> 00:35:45,300
Really, all that's missing
is the tracks.

609
00:35:46,780 --> 00:35:49,260
Look at these views, though.

610
00:35:49,260 --> 00:35:52,660
This must have been one of the most
beautiful train journeys

611
00:35:52,660 --> 00:35:54,940
in the whole of the country.

612
00:35:54,940 --> 00:35:58,580
I think there's something about
the colour of the hills,

613
00:35:58,580 --> 00:36:03,140
the kind of dark,
rough texture all around.

614
00:36:08,900 --> 00:36:11,060
Hello. Hello. Morning.

615
00:36:11,060 --> 00:36:12,100
Where are you headed?

616
00:36:12,100 --> 00:36:14,340
We're just going to go further on
towards Hadfield.

617
00:36:14,340 --> 00:36:17,180
We might not get that far
but that's where we're headed.

618
00:36:17,180 --> 00:36:18,260
Very nice.

619
00:36:18,260 --> 00:36:21,220
We usually do a little while then
turn around and come back.

620
00:36:21,220 --> 00:36:23,860
Well, do you remember
when railway was open

621
00:36:23,860 --> 00:36:26,020
and it still came through here?
I remember it. Yes.

622
00:36:26,020 --> 00:36:27,340
Oh, yes, I remember it, yeah.

623
00:36:27,340 --> 00:36:31,100
And the goods trains were still
running in 1981. Yeah.

624
00:36:31,100 --> 00:36:35,420
But passenger trains, that finished
in about 1970 this way. Yeah, OK.

625
00:36:35,420 --> 00:36:36,820
Yeah.

626
00:36:36,820 --> 00:36:39,460
You can imagine what it would have
been like on the railway here.

627
00:36:39,460 --> 00:36:41,260
Especially when it first opened,
you know,

628
00:36:41,260 --> 00:36:43,100
suddenly opening up all of this.

629
00:36:43,100 --> 00:36:46,460
Yeah, to open all this to people who
were down mines, who were,

630
00:36:46,460 --> 00:36:49,540
you know, in factories and things,
to be able to come out

631
00:36:49,540 --> 00:36:51,860
into this countryside,
amazing, really.

632
00:36:51,860 --> 00:36:54,060
Must have been just amazing
for them.

633
00:36:54,060 --> 00:36:56,860
Behind the house just on
the side of the road there,

634
00:36:56,860 --> 00:36:58,140
just behind it is the chapel.

635
00:36:58,140 --> 00:37:00,580
You can just see the bell tower
and the cross now, you can see.

636
00:37:00,580 --> 00:37:02,620
Oh, yeah, you can see the cross
on the top, yeah.

637
00:37:02,620 --> 00:37:05,540
And that's Woodhead Chapel.
And in the graveyard there

638
00:37:05,540 --> 00:37:07,380
are a lot of the people,
the navvies,

639
00:37:07,380 --> 00:37:11,940
who were employed to build
the tunnels. Oh, wow.

640
00:37:11,940 --> 00:37:15,860
So, maybe sad in some ways that
the railway's not there any more,

641
00:37:15,860 --> 00:37:20,100
but, goodness me, it's left just a
great bit of legacy here with trail,

642
00:37:20,100 --> 00:37:21,940
hasn't it?
It has. Absolutely. Yeah.

643
00:37:21,940 --> 00:37:24,300
Well, I'm heading on,
carrying a long way.

644
00:37:24,300 --> 00:37:25,580
I'm going up to Hadfield.

645
00:37:25,580 --> 00:37:27,780
Well, listen, thank you very much.
You're welcome.

646
00:37:27,780 --> 00:37:29,980
It's been a pleasure.
Very nice to meet you all.

647
00:37:29,980 --> 00:37:32,300
Enjoy the rest of your walk.
Enjoy the rest of your walk, yeah.

648
00:37:32,300 --> 00:37:33,660
Thank you. Thank you very much.

649
00:37:33,660 --> 00:37:36,500
Who knows if it will be sunny
or raining or cloudy?

650
00:37:36,500 --> 00:37:39,260
Four seasons in a day round here.

651
00:37:39,260 --> 00:37:41,620
Thank you very much, ladies.
Bye-bye. Cheerio.

652
00:37:52,940 --> 00:37:57,180
I'm not sure it's the right word,
but there are remnants of the line

653
00:37:57,180 --> 00:38:00,460
and what used to be here littered
everywhere around here,

654
00:38:00,460 --> 00:38:02,700
and I say that because
I quite like it.

655
00:38:02,700 --> 00:38:05,220
And this is the old station
house at Crowden.

656
00:38:06,500 --> 00:38:10,660
Just sat up there on its own now,
looking pretty dilapidated.

657
00:38:12,740 --> 00:38:15,860
I'm sad to leave this beautiful
landscape now,

658
00:38:15,860 --> 00:38:19,060
because I'm heading on further up
the line to Hadfield

659
00:38:19,060 --> 00:38:22,300
where I'm coming back into much more
urban civilisation.

660
00:38:23,980 --> 00:38:25,580
Sorry to leave all this behind.

661
00:38:25,580 --> 00:38:27,340
It's been a heck of a journey.

662
00:38:36,940 --> 00:38:39,860
After what really does feel like
a good few miles,

663
00:38:39,860 --> 00:38:44,420
especially in the legs,
of that stunning rural landscape,

664
00:38:44,420 --> 00:38:47,940
things are becoming a little bit
more built-up here.

665
00:38:47,940 --> 00:38:49,740
Slightly more urban environment.

666
00:38:49,740 --> 00:38:52,660
I'm still following
the Woodhead line

667
00:38:52,660 --> 00:38:54,780
on my approach now into Hadfield.

668
00:38:56,140 --> 00:38:58,740
That beautiful bleakness
is behind me.

669
00:39:00,260 --> 00:39:03,500
When the Beeching cuts of the 1960s
were implemented,

670
00:39:03,500 --> 00:39:06,820
little attention was paid to
the social impact it would have

671
00:39:06,820 --> 00:39:08,420
on the small communities

672
00:39:08,420 --> 00:39:11,140
that were suddenly deprived of their
access to the big cities.

673
00:39:12,260 --> 00:39:14,180
After a successful campaign,

674
00:39:14,180 --> 00:39:16,900
this section of the line was saved.

675
00:39:16,900 --> 00:39:19,780
Hadfield, and subsequent stations
down the line,

676
00:39:19,780 --> 00:39:22,860
were allowed to continue to be part
of the commuter belt

677
00:39:22,860 --> 00:39:25,380
that still serves Manchester today.

678
00:39:28,060 --> 00:39:30,260
Behind me there
in all the overgrowth

679
00:39:30,260 --> 00:39:32,780
is where the Woodhead line
comes in to here,

680
00:39:32,780 --> 00:39:36,300
but I've arrived at
Hadfield Station, and look...

681
00:39:36,300 --> 00:39:37,980
..it's all change.

682
00:39:37,980 --> 00:39:39,580
We've got railway tracks back.

683
00:39:39,580 --> 00:39:42,900
We've got infrastructure.
We've got the overhead power lines.

684
00:39:42,900 --> 00:39:45,860
Well, this is the start of
the last few miles

685
00:39:45,860 --> 00:39:47,940
of the line into Manchester.

686
00:39:47,940 --> 00:39:51,340
My walking journey
has come to an end,

687
00:39:51,340 --> 00:39:54,100
because from hereon in
the Woodhead line

688
00:39:54,100 --> 00:39:55,740
is very much open for business.

689
00:40:05,820 --> 00:40:09,100
I get talking to local resident
Carys Kaiser -

690
00:40:09,100 --> 00:40:11,300
one of thousands
of regular commuters

691
00:40:11,300 --> 00:40:15,300
who use this service into Manchester
Piccadilly almost every day.

692
00:40:16,980 --> 00:40:20,300
Do you think that these towns would
be different without the line?

693
00:40:20,300 --> 00:40:21,540
Oh, definitely.

694
00:40:21,540 --> 00:40:24,460
I don't think they would be as
vibrant as they are now.

695
00:40:24,460 --> 00:40:27,780
The shops and the boutiques
and the art galleries,

696
00:40:27,780 --> 00:40:30,020
because there's lots
of places where...

697
00:40:30,020 --> 00:40:32,420
Along this line, you'll find
that there's a lot of people

698
00:40:32,420 --> 00:40:35,620
that are, you know, photographers,
painters, writers.

699
00:40:35,620 --> 00:40:37,820
So, the transformation of
those towns,

700
00:40:37,820 --> 00:40:40,100
like Glossop and Hadfield and
Dinting just there,

701
00:40:40,100 --> 00:40:42,780
almost has happened because
the railway is here.

702
00:40:42,780 --> 00:40:44,100
Yeah.

703
00:40:44,100 --> 00:40:45,980
So, have you enjoyed your trip?

704
00:40:45,980 --> 00:40:47,260
I've absolutely loved it.

705
00:40:47,260 --> 00:40:50,100
The people you meet are fantastic,
and they've all got stories.

706
00:40:50,100 --> 00:40:51,580
A lot of them remember the line when

707
00:40:51,580 --> 00:40:53,780
it was running all the way,
Sheffield to Manchester.

708
00:40:53,780 --> 00:40:57,340
And just put so much
kind of colour into,

709
00:40:57,340 --> 00:41:00,860
maybe, the black-and-white story
that I had in my mind.

710
00:41:00,860 --> 00:41:05,060
I think I've got a really good
flavour of the Woodhead line,

711
00:41:05,060 --> 00:41:07,340
both how it was...

712
00:41:07,340 --> 00:41:08,820
..and how it is now.

713
00:41:11,420 --> 00:41:12,860
Manchester Piccadilly.

714
00:41:12,860 --> 00:41:14,620
Oh! I know.

715
00:41:14,620 --> 00:41:17,220
I'm done now. I'm here.
I've finished the line. Yeah.

716
00:41:19,180 --> 00:41:21,100
See you again. Bye. Bye.

717
00:41:29,340 --> 00:41:32,940
If I were to have stepped off
this train in 1845,

718
00:41:32,940 --> 00:41:35,100
when the Woodhead line
was first opened,

719
00:41:35,100 --> 00:41:37,460
I would have had to adjust my watch

720
00:41:37,460 --> 00:41:40,500
because there was no
standardised time across Britain.

721
00:41:40,500 --> 00:41:44,300
Leeds, for example,
was about six minutes behind London.

722
00:41:44,300 --> 00:41:46,940
So, with the arrival of
the railways,

723
00:41:46,940 --> 00:41:51,420
there was a need for a uniformity of
time across the nation

724
00:41:51,420 --> 00:41:55,020
and the decision was taken to base
standardised time on London time,

725
00:41:55,020 --> 00:41:56,780
or Greenwich Mean Time.

726
00:41:56,780 --> 00:41:58,220
But it wouldn't surprise you

727
00:41:58,220 --> 00:42:00,620
that there was a fair amount of
local resistance

728
00:42:00,620 --> 00:42:05,180
and so, for a while,
certain towns and train stations

729
00:42:05,180 --> 00:42:08,740
had clocks showing
two sets of time -

730
00:42:08,740 --> 00:42:11,020
local and London.

731
00:42:11,020 --> 00:42:13,100
And it wasn't until 1880,

732
00:42:13,100 --> 00:42:16,100
a good 50 years after
the railways had arrived,

733
00:42:16,100 --> 00:42:19,860
that standardised time
became a legal requirement.

734
00:42:28,500 --> 00:42:31,060
Next time,
me and my miniature self...

735
00:42:31,060 --> 00:42:32,420
He was made over the weekend.

736
00:42:32,420 --> 00:42:34,700
..will be thrashing our way through
the undergrowth...

737
00:42:34,700 --> 00:42:35,780
Ouch!

738
00:42:35,780 --> 00:42:38,780
..in search of the lost Plymouth
to Exeter line.

739
00:42:38,780 --> 00:42:41,180
I'll be hanging around...
Woohoo!

740
00:42:41,180 --> 00:42:42,980
..sampling local delicacies...

741
00:42:42,980 --> 00:42:45,220
That's put a whole new bent
on meat pies for me.

742
00:42:45,220 --> 00:42:47,940
I'm really excited about this.

743
00:42:47,940 --> 00:42:51,700
..and I'll discover how trains
can be useful as target practice.

744
00:42:51,700 --> 00:42:53,500
GUNSHOT

745
00:43:16,300 --> 00:43:19,020
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