Worsbrough Branch, Silkstone Tunnels

Continuing our disused railway series of videos around the Lost Woodhead route - the UKs first electrified mainline railway, now abandoned. We've made our way eastwards on what was a busy freight route and major coal superhighway between the coalfields of Yorkshire and the power stations in the West.

We're on the Barnsley avoiding line, or the Penistone to Wath line. Or the Worsbrough branch as it was also known. The line to Penistone was opened by the Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway in 1880, before becoming part of the Great Central Railway. In the 1950s, it was electrified all the way between Wath and Sheffield to Manchester...more on that on our Woodhead videos.

We leave the Barnsley line at West Silkstone Junction. Here our trains join what was known as the Worsbrough Bank, or Worsbrough incline. We're going down it today, but wetbound trains had some serious gradient work to content with - but more on that in the next episide in this series.

Shortly after the the junction, we would pass through two short Tunnels - Silkstone Tunnel 1 and 2. Now closed off for access to the public. Just as impressive as the two tunnels is the deep cuttings that envelope the tunnels.

This line only really served freight traffic and was littered with collieries along the way - the majority with the own branch lines. However, the line closed in 1981 when the full Woodhead route was closed. It is now part of the Trans-Pennine Trail. A long distance network of cycle paths.

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