Dated the 4th June of 1981 this scene would be gone forever by the end of the following month as freight workings across the Woodhead line came to an end on Friday 17th July, 1981, passenger services having ended in January of 1970.
There's still coal to be taken from the South Yorkshire coalfields to the industrial centres of Lancashire, however, and a number of the wagons here seem to be well filled with the black stuff, although its use in the mills, factories and foundries was in decline hastening the demise of the Trans Pennine line which had been so dependent on coal traffic since its inception.
This image shows the pantographs of the two locomotives raised to their upper limits, the overhead catenary through Penistone being at a high level in order to clear lineside fitments.