Cromford and High Peak Railway

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Following Jessop's untimely death in 1826, he was replaced by Thomas Woodhouse who became the resident engineer for its construction. This line features a 1 in 27 gradient and there are two operational passenger locomotives as well as two works locomotives and others are under restoration. Two extensions to this line are being studied, one is to the There are a variety of buildings from the former Cromford and High Peak Railway - one of the first long-distance railways which were built on canal principles. This Is Ladmanlow,” ventures the driver, shutting off the steam. The information anticipates my query, for there are no name boards on any of the stations to indicate your whereabouts. The stations, indeed, are but sheds; but they sometimes seem to be the only erections within miles of anywhere.

The heyday of this line was in the 1930s when it was extensively used by ramblers because of its proximity to Dovedale. For a time, there was also a through service between London (Euston) and Peak Forest Canal when the upper level opened for trade on the 31 Aug 1796. German had disappeared from Bugsworth by 1805 to reappear in 1808 as the person in charge of the self-acting incline on the The Cromford and High Peak Railway (C&HPR) was completed in 1831, to carry minerals and goods between the Cromford Canal at Cromford Wharf and the Peak Forest Canal at Whaley Bridge.

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previously in use; and justly so, as whether we consider it with reference to its cost, its regularity and despatch, the perfect ease with which it is controlled, or its never-tiring energies, we are compelled to Upheaval surrendered to stability by the turn of the 20th Century. Traffic levels were consolidated and, during autumn and winter months, the line ran at capacity as local limestone – known for its purity – was guzzled by East Anglia’s sugar beet refineries. near Wirksworth. This 18-inch gauge railway was built in 1985 on part of the former Killer's Branch to Middleton Quarry from Steeple House Junction on the Cromford and High Peak Railway. Josias Jessop, the son of William Jessop was asked to survey the route. He, his father and their former partner Benjamin Outram had gained wide experience in building tramways where conditions were unsuitable for canals.

He tried to show that a railway – unyielding, noisy, repellent, and dirty – had in its hard reality an intimate connection with poetry, music tenderness, sentiment, and art; that pictures are to be seen in trains; that aching tragedies and diverting comedies are ever to be beheld on busy railway platforms, and at little wayside country stations. I am at Whaley Bridge this July morning; and before half the world has breakfasted, and while housemaids, drowsy and slovenly, are yawningly lighting the fire to prepare the matutinal meal, the through ‘up’ train to Whaley Bridge is off and away. Minninglow is somewhere that makes you think and ask questions,’ says Simon Corble, who created this Discovering Britain trail. ‘You can trace patterns of human activity here spanning thousands of years.’ Part of the route included the Hopton Incline. This was a very steep section of the railway about a mile north of the small village of Hopton. It was originally worked by a stationary steam engine but was modified later to be adhesion worked by locomotives. At 1 in 14 (7%), it was the steepest in Britain and trains frequently had to be split and pulled up a few wagons at a time.

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White Peak limestone formed 340 million years ago from the shells and bones of creatures compressed on the bed of a tropical sea. The stone’s origins proved ironic when the Cromford and High Peak Railway became steam-powered. ‘Steam engines need large amounts of water,’ Corble continues, ‘but porous Peak District limestone doesn’t have many water sources. Supplies had to be hauled here, 1,000 feet [305 metres]above sea level, from further away.’ More ironic still, the railway was a mineral line built to carry coal and quarried limestone between two busy canals. ‘There was a token passenger service,’ says Corble, ‘but it was so slow and uncomfortable that there was only one train per day.’ The railway’s remote, difficult and thirsty route saw the line close in 1967. It was a spiral of decline. Sheep Pasture Incline closed temporarily whilst a new electric engine was installed. “It was a white elephant” according to Hubert. “Traffic from the quarries was diverted down to Wirksworth by lorries and taken to Derby on trip trains. They’d found a cheaper way of doing things and the High Peak Railway had had it!” The purpose of this was to gather together a quantity of related information to help forthcoming management decisions about their appropriate preservation and suitable presentation to the public.

Aug 1899The new line between Parsley Hay and Ashbourne opened (southern section of the LNWR Ashbourne Line). Traffic – by now almost exclusively from local quarries – was slowly decreasing during the Beeching era, the first section of the line being closed in 1963. This was the rope worked 1 in 8 Middleton Incline. The rest of the line was fully closed in spring 1967, including the 1 in 8 Sheep Pasture Incline and the Hopton Incline.

And now the landmarks are lost, and we are running with a rattle and roar over the moors on the top of the world. Steeper the gradients, and ‘a caution’ are the curves. The engineman treats his iron-horse as if he were driving a living animal. He knows her faults and her good points. He can tell at what part of the road she wants whip and loose rein, and when he must hold her in with tight hand.