| Electric Trains - Manchester to Sheffield, retired to the Netherlands Posted by grahame at 17:36, 14th June 2026 |     |
There used to be an electric railway between Manchester and Sheffield. Then railways were rationalised and modernised and the redundant electric locomotives were shipped off to the Netherlands where they were used for a further number of years.
On 14th June 1986 - that's 40 years ago - a final tour was run to bid them farewell. That tour is recorded at https://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/80s/860614em.htm
| Re: Electric Trains - Manchester to Sheffield, retired to the Netherlands Posted by IndustryInsider at 23:13, 14th June 2026 | |
There were only a small number of those Class 77s (EM2's) built, which were sent to the Netherlands long before that farewell tour and were used on passenger trains for only a few years until the late 1960s with the passenger service stopping very shortly after.
The real purpose of the line was freight, which was in the hands of a much larger batch of Class 76s (EM1's), largely successfully, for several decades until the turn of the 1980s when dwindling traffic led to the line closure.
If I could go back in time 50 years and visit one railway line as it was then, it would be The Woodhead Line. It was so unique.
| Re: Electric Trains - Manchester to Sheffield, retired to the Netherlands Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 00:03, 15th June 2026 | |
Thanks for that rather nostalgic - and informative - post, II.
| Re: Electric Trains - Manchester to Sheffield, retired to the Netherlands Posted by Oxonhutch at 08:30, 15th June 2026 | |
The first locomotive was built in 1941 prior to the electrification of the Woodhead Route which was put on hold due to WWII. The prototype was lent to the Dutch Railways from 1947 until the completion of the electrification in 1952. The Dutch railwaymen gave it the name of "Tommy" after the British soldiers that served in the Netherlands during the war.
