The Yorkshire 'ghost station' you can still see behind the modern platforms

Penistone Station is a station of two halves.
The old platforms can be seen behind the main Penistone Station buildingThe old platforms can be seen behind the main Penistone Station building
The old platforms can be seen behind the main Penistone Station building

Passengers can access modern platforms to catch Northern services between Sheffield and Barnsley on the Penistone Line.

But behind the station buildings are the crumbling remains of a second railway station that has been abandoned since 1970.

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The platforms and the trackbed are still visible, overgrown with foliage, as is the frontage of the station building it shared with the part of the facility that remains operational.

Trains on the Penistone Line arrive just metres away from the old platformsTrains on the Penistone Line arrive just metres away from the old platforms
Trains on the Penistone Line arrive just metres away from the old platforms

The reason for the unusual throwback is that Penistone was originally the junction where two routes met - the Woodhead Line, between Sheffield and Manchester Piccadilly, and the Penistone Line between Huddersfield and Sheffield via Barnsley. Passengers could catch trains on either line, but from separate platforms on opposite sides of the station site.

The Woodhead Line fell victim to the Beeching axe. Although the period of 1960s rail cuts is synonymous with the fate of rural branch lines, Beeching also targeted duplicate routes, where more than one line served the same destinations. These were relics of the Victorian age of competitive railway building, when rival companies ran their own separate lines and competed directly for passenger and freight revenue. Beeching surmised that under nationalisation, these duplicate routes were unnecessary and inefficient. There was already another route between Sheffield and Manchester that traversed the Peak District, and the Hope Valley Line was saved instead.

Beeching had initially recommended the Hope Valley's closure instead of the faster, modernised Woodhead's, but it was argued that the Hope Valley was a vital service for the rural communities it served, and was capable of coping with passenger usage between the two cities.

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The Woodhead platforms at Penistone closed in 1970, when passenger services stopped running, although the line's later history is more complex and initially ignited hopes that it could be revived.

Trees now grow in the old trackbedTrees now grow in the old trackbed
Trees now grow in the old trackbed

The line was considered unique by many of its supporters, as it had been electrified as early as 1953 and ran through a series of distinctive tunnels beneath the moors.

It remained operational for more than a decade as a freight route, and was particularly useful for trans-Pennine coal traffic. The western section of the route, between Glossop and Manchester, also still had passenger trains.

As coal trains declined in number and it became clear that upgrading the line to modern standards would be costly, it was decided in 1981 to mothball the remainder of the route between Penistone and Hadfield. The track was lifted completely and part of it became a cycle trail.

Nowadays, the old Woodhead platforms can be easily glimpsed by passengers using Penistone, who can observe how this 'ghost station' has gradually been reclaimed by nature for the past 50 years.