PPM Jul 11 - Picture Postcard Monthly

making better roads, with
proper drainage, but not
all roads received the best
treatment.
The Leeds & Liverpool
Canal, which took 50
years to build, was opened
over its full length of 127
miles in 1816. The outstanding
feature of the
Huddersfield Narrow
Canal, which connected
Huddersfield with Ashtonunder-Lyne,
was Standedge
Tunnel, 3 miles in
length, where boats were
propelled by
men ‘legging’ against the
roof. At Sowerby Bridge,
the Calder & Hebble Navigation
connected with the
Rochdale Canal to provide
a further route to Lancashire.
The multiplicity of
trans-Pennine rail routes
from the West Riding to
Lancashire consisted of
two from Manchester to
Leeds and two from Man-
chester to Sheffield. The
London & North Western
Railway took its route
from Leeds via Huddersfield,
up the Colne Valley
and through its 3 mile long
Standedge Tunnel, before
descending via Stalybridge.
Slightly earlier, the
Manchester & Leeds Railway
(later the Lancashire
& Yorkshire) completed its
route in 1841. It used the
upper reaches of the
Calder Valley and involved
construc-
Summit Inn was
reached by tramcar on 10 August 1905. The
extension ran close to and parallel with the Rochdale Canal
and Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway. The railway went into
a tunnel ½ mile short of Summit, the nearest station being
at Littleborough. Single-deck car No.1, new in 1902, was
captured on the first day of service or shortly after.
tion of Summit Tunnel,
south of Todmorden and
north of Littleborough.
The Great Central
Railway (formerly Manchester,
Sheffield & Lincolnshire
Railway) route
from Sheffield via Penistone
included the 3 mile
long Woodhead Tunnel.
Although electrified by
1954, the line was closed
to passengers in 1970 and
(left) The Rossendale’ motor bus (name on side) is seen on
Rossendale Road at Crawshawbooth. The former Forest of
Rossendale, edging the Pennines south of Burnley,
remained partly moorland but in part became industrialised.
Tramcars ran along the road shown, but the
omnibus had the freedom to penetrate the hills. Behind
the young men is the workshop of William Hoyle, shoe
and clog maker.
The
tramway extension from
Smallbridge to Littleborough was officially opened on
30 May 1905. The first passenger carrying car, new in 1902
is shown against a background of sturdy Littleborough
properties. Try to spot the differences between this tramcar
No.2 and car No.20.
freight in 1981. The other
route from Sheffield to
Manchester was the Midland
Railway’s Hope Valley
line, some of which
traversed Derbyshire.
Further north, the
Midland Railway network
included a line from Leeds
and Bradford to Skipton
and Clapham, and then
Lancaster and Morecambe.
Bradfordians
made good use of this
when they took holidays in
Morecambe. From Skipton,
a lesser known Midland
spur joined the East
Lancashire Railway at
Colne, thus providing
another trans-Pennine
route.
The period from 1900
to the outbreak of the
Great War in 1914, was a
golden age for electric
trams. Motorbuses came a
little later, although the
halcyon days of their predecessors,
the horsedrawn
wagonettes and
horse buses, coincided
with those of the tramcars
to a large extent. The Pennines
and their western
and eastern slopes engendered
some remarkable
engineering exploits. The
early journeys, such as
‘First tram to Summit’
were a must for photographers
and became the
content of superb realphotographic
postcards.
Some of them accompany
this article.
It was never possible to
cross the Pennines entirely
by tramcar. But as an example
of a journey which must
have been quite remarkable
in 1908, I take the excursion
from Manchester to Halifax
(page 10 of Where to go by
Car). Starting in Manchester
High Street, you boarded a
Manchester Corporation
tramcar to Middleton, fare
3d, and changed to a tram
for Sudden, fare 3d. Three
further changes of cars,
belonging to Rochdale Corporation,
delivered you to
Summit Inn. You then had
to walk 300 yards to catch a
continued....
(above) The last lap of the Where to go by Car jaunt from
Manchester to Halifax began at Hebden Bridge. The Halifax
Corporation car, at the terminus on New Road, is about to
begin a long but picturesque journey to Cow Green, Halifax.
The postcard was published by Crossley Westerman,
photographer, Hebden Bridge.
Picture Postcard Monthly July 2011 27