The Woodhead route linking Sheffield and Manchester is arguably one of the most grossly miscalculated closures in British Railway history. It was also a dreadful waste of public money taking into account the cost of electrifying the line in 1953 and the building costs of the electric locomotives and all the supporting infrastructure to keep them maintained. Once out of Woodhead tunnel, the beautiful Longdendale valley brought the line into Derbyshire and 26001 is heading a westbound freight in the early 1950s.

© Raymond McCarthy-Eddie Johnson Archive