DURING the 1960s, the axe fell on 4,000 miles of Britain’s rail network.
Now, decades later, engineer and presenter Rob Bell is uncovering those lost railway lines in Walking Britain’s Lost Railways on Channel 5.
Every week Rob explores a different line, experiencing the hidden landscapes, lost infrastructure and forgotten worlds that disappeared when the line closed.
In tonight’s episode at 9pm, Rob starts his journey in Sheffield and will follow the Woodhead line through the Pennines to Manchester.
Heading out of Sheffield, Rob takes a short ride on a freight train towards Wortley, where he’s thrilled by a miniature railway run by local engineering enthusiasts.
The trains are big enough to ride, and Rob ruminates on why men of a certain age love trains so much and why scaled down versions are so popular.
“What struck me in this episode was the harshness of the landscape the railway was built through, and nothing personifies that more than the Woodhead Tunnel itself,” said Rob.
“The Thurgoland tunnel is also an extremely interesting feature along this line.
“Because of the horseshoe profile and the curve along its length, it has an amazing echo, which we found out more about with an acoustic engineer.
“It’s very strange when you can clearly hear the conversation of people a hundred meters away at the entrance to the tunnel but you can’t even see them because of the curve.”
Further along the lost line Rob considers Penistone’s reputation as an accident blackspot.
“Today, Penistone is a quiet station, but back in the heyday of the line, it was an important junction with lots of goods and passenger trains coming through regularly.
“Because of the number of accidents that happened there it became known as one of the unluckiest places in the Pennines.
“It’s likely that many of the accidents occurred because of the steep gradient approaching the station.”
Rob continues his journey to Manchester over the bleak Pennines tracing above ground the route of the Woodhead Tunnel, once the longest tunnel of its kind in the world.
Rob said he particularly loved the walk, but his favourite part of the episode was his visit to the Penistone Paramount to see and hear the Compton Organ being played.
He said: “It’s the same organ that’s entertained locals for decades and it’s a sight and sound to behold. I highly recommend a visit.”
More on the organ: See #Local in this week’s Chronicle Living supplement.
