Photo: Tom Page, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsThrough the mill towns of the Calder valley, Hebden Bridge, Todmorden and the Summit Tunnel, on the first railway across the Pennines.
The Manchester and Leeds Railway of 1841 was the first trans-Pennine line and its 1.6-mile Summit Tunnel was briefly the longest in the world. From Leeds trains run via Bradford Interchange or Dewsbury and Brighouse to Halifax, then drop into the narrow Calder valley at Sowerby Bridge and Mytholmroyd.
Hebden Bridge, with its double-decker terraces and canal, is the best-known stop, followed by Todmorden, whose town hall straddles the old Yorkshire–Lancashire border, and Walsden. The line then enters Summit Tunnel and emerges at Littleborough for Rochdale and Manchester Victoria. The Rochdale Canal keeps the railway company for most of the valley.
Northern Class 195 and 158 units work the line. Hebden Bridge (for Hardcastle Crags and Heptonstall) and Todmorden are the stops; the South Pennines Day Ranger covers the whole route.
The river and Rochdale Canal weave either side of the line up the valley; Stoodley Pike is on the left.
Sides are given facing the direction of travel. Miles are approximate from the start of the journey.
A 2,885-yard tunnel opened in 1841 between Walsden and Littleborough; it was closed for eight months after a petrol train fire in 1984.
Some trains run through from Leeds via Manchester to Blackpool North or Chester.
Northern's South Pennines Day Ranger at £31.20.
Scenic lineEngland's most celebrated main line, climbing from the Yorkshire Dales over Ribblehead Viaduct and Ais Gill summit into the Eden Valley.
Scenic lineThrough the Peak District from Sheffield to Manchester via Totley and Cowburn tunnels, Hathersage, Castleton's Hope Valley and Edale under Kinder Scout.
Scenic lineAcross the Pennines from the Dales to Morecambe Bay by way of Giggleswick, Clapham and the Three Peaks, on the old Little North Western.