Train Simulator: Woodhead Electric Railway in Blue Route Add-On

A rich history of modernisation and refinement awaits you on the Woodhead Electric Railway – see for yourself how advances in power and route design gave new life to a struggling operation. From the first days of this route steep and unforgiving gradients combined with heavy coal trains to make it a challenge for steam trains, so even as far back as the GCR days, discussions of electrification were taking place…

Words were turned into actions by the LNER in 1936, who planned out the electrification of the line between Sheffield and Manchester, including the branch line to Wath, and even had a majority of the overhead gantries in place before the start of the Second World War. While the conflict halted the project, it was reinstated as soon as the war ended, however one big change to the line was added into the plan.

To traverse the Pennines, the Woodhead Line when built bored through the landscape with tunnels stretching to 3 miles long.