The Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway was an early British railway company which opened in stages between 1841 and 1845 between Sheffield and Manchester via Ashton-under-Lyne. The Peak District formed a formidable barrier, and the line's engineer constructed Woodhead Tunnel, over long. The company amalgamated with the Sheffield and Lincolnshire Junction Railway and Great Grimsby and Sheffield Junction Railway companies, together forming the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway in 1847.George Dow, Great Central: volume I: The Progenitors, 1813–1863, Locomotive Publishing Co Ltd, London, 1959, , page 84
In the twentieth century the line carried an exceptionally heavy freight traffic, and it was electrified in 1954; at that time a new Woodhead Tunnel was driven. In 1974 the major part of the route was closed to passenger trains, leaving passenger operation continuing only on the Manchester–Hadfield section, and in 1981 the line east of Hadfield closed completely. The Manchester–Hadfield–Glossop section and a branch to Stalybridge remain in use.
Origins
At the end of the 18th century, the need for improved transport links between Manchester and Sheffield, only apart but separated by the upland Peak District, was increasing. The canal route involved a long northwards detour through the Pennines, and the journey took eight days.Dow, Great Central, pages 1 to 17
In 1826 a land surveyor in Sheffield, Henry Sanderson, put forward a line to Manchester via Edale and a prospectus for a "Sheffield and Manchester Railway" was published in August 1830, with George Stephenson appointed to be the engineer.George Dow, The First Railway Across the Pennines, published by the London and North Eastern Railway, York, 1945, page 5
There were concerns about the severity of the gradients on this line, which would involve rope-worked inclines. He suggested an alternative route, via Penistone, that would involve less tunnelling, and have gentler gradients which could be worked by locomotives, but this scheme too failed to attract support.
In 1835 Charles Vignoles was asked to examine another route, again via Woodhead and Penistone; and a new provisional company, the "Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway" was formed. This line could be worked by adhesion, and required only a tunnel. Vignoles and Joseph Locke were asked to make independent surveys, and in October met to reconcile any differences, at which time they decided that a longer tunnel at a lower level would reduce the approach gradients involved.Dow, Great Central, pages 18 to 37Dow, First Railway, page 7
After parliamentary expenses of £18,000 (), the line obtained its authorising act of Parliament, the (7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. xxi) on 5 May 1837. The only opposition came from the Manchester and Birmingham Railway, with whom it was agreed that the line from Ardwick would be shared as it entered a joint station in Manchester at Store Street.Dow, First Railway, page 9Donald J Grant, Directory of the Railway Companies of Great Britain, Matador Publishers, Kibworth Beauchamp, 2017, , pages 499 and 500
Construction and first opening
The first sod was cut near the western end of the Woodhead Tunnel site on 1 October 1838. The following year the line had been marked out, land purchase was proceeding well, and construction had begun with Thomas Brassey as contractor. However a number of shareholders were defaulting on their payments, and there were concerns about the cost of construction. The Woodhead Tunnel would be built as a single-track bore to reduce costs. The relationship between the board and its engineer, Vignoles, was becoming strained, and Vignoles resigned. Joseph Locke agreed to act as engineer in a consultative capacity only, if the board would appoint resident engineers for the day-to-day supervision of the work.Dow, Great Central, pages 25 to 37
In 1841 Locke reported that construction of the tunnel would probably cost £207,000 (), about twice the original estimate. Considerable volumes of water were encountered in the headings and more powerful pumps were acquired. In late 1841 the line was ready as far as Godley Toll Bar, a distance of , and the directors made an experimental trip over it on 11 November 1841. The Board of Trade inspecting officer, Sir Frederick Smith, passed the line as safe, and it was opened to the public on 17 November 1841. There was no opening ceremony, but each shareholder was sent a free ticket for travel on that day. The Manchester and Birmingham Railway's temporary station at Travis Street, Manchester, was used, pending the readiness of the Store Street terminal. The route was single track throughout as an economy measure, at first without any intermediate passing places. It shared the final approach from to Travis Street with the M&BR trains, on the M&BR track. Nearly 40% of gross passenger receipts were payable to the M&BR for the use of the short section of their line.Dow, Great Central, pages 37 to 39 Goods traffic was developed much more slowly.Dow, Great Central, page 42
The arrangements for safe working at the junction seem to have been lax, and the Manchester Guardian observed that
Some caution will be requisite here to prevent two trains... coming into contact at this point. This, of course, may be done by arranging the times, or by keeping the rails separate, which is indeed to be the case when the line is completed to the new Manchester station, but at the present, the proper precaution seems to be to stand a watchman there to keep a look-out on both lines, and see that when a train is arriving on one line, there is no train arriving on the other, or if there be, to make the signal to one of them to slacken speed.Manchester Guardian, 20 November 1841, quoted in Dow, First Railway, page 14
Permanent way maintenance was put to contract.
Completion of the line, and a cancelled alliance The M&BR and SA&MR opened the jointly owned Store Street station in Manchester on 10 May 1842. The initial opening of a single line only proved impossibly constraining, and installation of double track was ordered early in 1842, together with construction on from Godley to Glossop. The line from Godley to was opened on 10 December 1842, and on to a "Glossop" station, later to be renamed , on 24 December 1842. There were six daily trains to Glossop supplemented by four to Newton & Hyde station. There were four to Glossop on Sundays. By November 1842 the stations were Manchester (Store Street), Ardwick, Gorton, Fairfield, Ashton, Dukinfield, Newton & Hyde, Broadbottom and Glossop. The Dukinfield station (called Dog Lane) was closed in 1845; another station, named simply was opened nearby in 1846, closing in 1847. There was also a Dukinfield station on the Stalybridge branch.Quick, page 152 and map 53
The main line was opened as far as Woodhead in 1844, with stations at Hadfield and Woodhead.Dow, Great Central, page 46 Construction of Woodhead Tunnel was the next hurdle, but improved pumping machinery had been installed, enabling better progress.
Alliances and extensions of the network were in the minds of the directors. Encouragement was offered to a proposed Sheffield and Lincolnshire Junction Railway, to run from the SA&MR at Sheffield to Gainsborough.Dow, Great Central, pages 46 and 48 At the same time (1844) friendly relations with the Manchester and Birmingham Railway were further developed, and at length this led to a proposal by the M&BR with the Midland Railway to lease the SA&MR, giving those companies better access to Manchester. This seemed to be going well, and an authorising Act was passed, but the proposal was voted down in May 1845 by shareholders, who were persuaded that their line would be merely a remote satellite of the Midland Railway.Dow, Great Central, pages 48 to 50
A branch line was being built from Ashton to . However disaster took place: on 19 April 1845 a nine-arch viaduct under construction collapsed: 17 workmen were killed.Dow, Great Central, page 50
On 9 June 1845 a short single line branch to was opened; powers were obtained in the 1846 parliamentary session to take it over from the Duke of Norfolk, who had caused it to be built. The branch joined the main line facing Manchester some distance to the east of the original Glossop station, now renamed Dinting.
The (unconnected) eastern section of the main line was opened on 14 July 1845; there were stations at Dunford Bridge, Penistone, Wortley, Deepcar, Oughty Bridge, Wadsley Bridge and a Sheffield station at Bridgehouses.Dow, Great Central, pages 51 and 52
Finally on 22 December 1845 Woodhead Tunnel was ready and a ceremonial opening of the entire line, including the Stalybridge branch, took place; the following day it opened to the general public. The tunnel was at the time the longest in the country, at . Two extra stations were added at the site of previous coal sidings at and at .Dow, Great Central, pages 57, 59 and 60
Besides Woodhead, there were short tunnels at Audenshaw Road, Hattersley (two), Thurgoland and Bridgehouses. Among the bridges the two most notable were the Etherow Viaduct and the Dinting Viaduct, the latter with five central and eleven approach arches.
The completed network consisted of of main line, on the Stalybridge branch and on the Glossop branch.Dow, First Railway, page 20
1845: Expansion The state of the money market considerably improved in 1844–45, and the Railway Mania took hold. The directors of the SA&MR saw that expansion was the way forward for the company. On 15 April 1845 a shareholders' meeting approved the submission of bills for the Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Railway, which would connect the line to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and the Barnsley Junction Railway, which would run from near Penistone to Barnsley and connect with the North Midland Railway at Royston. The Sheffield and Lincolnshire Junction Railway, from Sheffield to Gainsborough, was already approved. Supplementing this list were proposals for lines from Wortley through Thorncliffe to Chapeltown, and from Dukinfield to New Mills and on to a junction with the Buxton line of the Manchester and Birmingham Railway. The Barnsley Junction Railway might be extended to Pontefract, and exploratory meetings were opened with the promoters of a Boston, Newark and Sheffield Railway, and of a Hull and Barnsley Junction Railway. Not all of these lines were later authorised.Dow, Great Central, pages 46, 75, 77, 80 and 81
Of greatest significance was a meeting on 5 September 1845 between the SA&MR, the promoters of the Sheffield and Lincolnshire Junction Railway, and the Great Grimsby and Sheffield Junction Railway; the Grimsby Docks Company was included. The outcome was agreement to amalgamate the three concerns, forming a single railway connecting Manchester to Grimsby on the North Sea coast. The idea was developed and approved by Parliament on 27 July 1846, to be effective on 1 January 1847. The combined company would be named the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway.Dow, Great Central, pages 80 and 81
Part of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
On the first day of existence of the new company, a connecting line from Bridgehouses station to the Sheffield station of the Midland Railway. It had originally been opened as the terminus of the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway; it was known as Sheffield Wicker station from 1852.Quick, page 362 The short steeply graded line was enclosed within a tunnel for almost its entire length, and was known locally as the Fiery Jack. It was used for wagon transfer purposes.Dow, Great Central, page 71
The through line required a better Sheffield station: a station was built, and opened on 15 September 1851, and named Victoria station.Dow, First Railway, page 39