Between Sheffield and Huddersfield runs the meandering and picturesque Penistone line. To take a journey along the line is, as the Penistone Community Rail Partnership claims, ‘much more than a train ride!’ It boasts 17 stations along its 27-mile route serving cities, market towns and quaint hamlets alike – via no fewer than seven tunnels and three viaducts – I’d say that’s quite some train ride indeed! The ‘I Spy’ card produced by the CRP for families travelling the route even suggests you can see llamas too which, if true (I didn’t spot any on my most recent visit), would grant the Penistone line truly legendary status.
At the northern terminus you’ll find Huddersfield station, home to a verifiable railway legend, and something you can easily spy standing just adjacent to platform 2: a Pacer train carriage from unit No 144001.
This is one of three retired Pacers now rehomed as part of the Government’s ‘Transform a Pacer’ competition, which invited organisations across the North of England to submit ideas for how they would repurpose this network staple to the benefit of their community.
Like the units themselves, the competition was not without its controversy – many questioned how something long c…
