Each incline was equipped with a stationary steam engine – to haul and lower the wagons – whilst horses did the donkey work on the flatter intermediate sections. It was not an express service. When the line fully opened in 1831, a journey from one end to the other typically took two days. Another locomotive to take the train to High Peak Junction at Whatstandwel. The unique ‘Oozly bird’* came over to this country, it is well known, in two ships; but to get over the High Peak Line involves at least half-a-dozen locomotives. June 16th. At the meeting Samuel Oldknow was the Chairman and eighteen (named) persons attended including William Jessop. As no person attended from Macclesfield the branch to that town was dropped from the peoposal. [2] [3] A locomotive met us at the summit of the incline, and working tender first, is taking on our train of some twenty wagons: a cargo that is a curious all a podrida of grains, barrels of beer, bags of beans, coal, cans of paint, boxes of tea, and agricultural implements.

usual (three feet in diameter), placed with their centres as near to each other as was considered consistent with preserving a sufficient base, the soles being at the same time turned a little circular. Where is the stout old lady who is always so anxious about her luggage: three boxes, a carpet-bag, and a basket, all with a bit of red flannel tied to the handles? And where is the crimson apoplectic person, with umbrella and carpet-bag, who rushes up to the train just in time to behold it pass away without him? Denis Kay took his place under this sword of Damocles in 1955. The first rung on his career ladder was as a ‘taker-off’ at Sheep Pasture Bottom – removing the chains and liberating the wagons for transit to High Peak Junction. Promotion followed to head shunter, taking charge of movements on the incline, and becoming a ‘hanger-on’.

Black Rocks at Wirksworth

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 C&HPR was leased by the London and North Western Railway in 1862, being taken over fully in 1887. By 1890 permission had been obtained to connect the line directly to Buxton by building a new line from Harpur Hill the two or three miles into the town centre, thus frustrating the Midland Railway's original plans for a route to Manchester. From Whaley Bridge, it is a one-mile walk along the towpath of the Peak Forest Canal to visit the Ancient Monument of Bugsworth Basin at the terminus of the main line of the canal. There are ‘in steam’ days open to the public throughout the year or you can book this for your group.

Past Diamond Hill; past the wooded slopes of Solomon’s Temple; past Harpur Hill with the tall, insolent, ugly, ubiquitous chimney which threatens the vision of its Buxton visitor wherever he may be, whether on the top of Corbar, or on the slopes of Axe Edge, at the Cat and Fiddle, or at Fairfield. its powerful aid. We were not at all surprised, therefore, that an attempt was made in the beginning of last year by the enlightened engineer, Mr. Leonard, who has long and successfully superintended the working

Great Views and Harboro Rocks

Class 2F 0-6-0T locomotive (LMS Nos 7527 & 25527, BR No. 58860) ascending Hopton incline, 4 May 1934. 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.

The locomotive is an unidentified Class J94, 0-6-0ST. This class was introduced in 1943 and they were bought from the Ministry of Supply in 1946. 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.

Parking

The first part of the line from Cromford Wharf, by the Cromford Canal, to Hurdlow opened in 1830. From the canal it climbed over a thousand feet in five miles, through four inclines ranging from 1 in 14 to 1 in 8 - Cromford, Sheep Pasture, Middleton and Hopton, above Wirksworth. The line then proceeded up the relatively gentle Hurdlow incline at 1 in 16 . The second half from Hurdlow to Whaley Bridge opened in 1832 descending through four more inclines, the steepest being 1 in 7. The Cromford and High Peak was at the cutting edge of a transport revolution, delivered by rail during the 19th Century. Wagons no longer rumble, but the inclines survive as a memorial to an era of great substance and the awesome resolution of those who built them. More Information Derbyshire County Council

The Cromford Canal can be explored between Cromford Wharf and Ambergate, a distance of just over 5 miles. The High Peak Trail starts here at High Peak Junction and continues for 17.5 miles to Dowlow near Buxton. The visitor centre and shop will remain open other than the weekend of 11 to 12 November 2023 and 18 to 19 November 2023, where this will be closed. Audio tours The train, indeed, might be Charon’s boat; and the driver, standing so statuesque and silent in the broad, blinding circle of white light, with his eye strained in earnest watchfulness, and his band fixed with decisive bold on the cold glistening regulator, might be Dante’s infernal ferryman.In the distance, however, there is hope. The day ran to a script written by the Traffic Inspector – an intricately woven plot featuring water, coal, stone and timber. Shunts here, run-arounds there. Quarry loads to marshal and weigh. Crippled wagons to sort. Down to the junction, return with empties. Drop off corn at Cromford Goods. The ups and downs of the incline. It was a mundane existence, offering little satisfaction and even less money. But laughs were plentiful. The train is the only moving thing in sight, save when a grouse, wild on the wing, rises with a sharp startled cry. Then just as Buxton is seen, with its white houses lying in the hollow, and shining like a pearl in a setting of emerald, a sudden scream from the engine takes the startled air, and darkness shrouds the feeding train.

Build a bird box with Santa's Elves

Two small reservoirs – one at the top and one half-way down – provided water for the steam engines and pulleys. The middle one is difficult to spot amongst the undergrowth, but the one at the top provides an excellent spot for picnics – and was used as a winter ice rink during Victorian times. But the freight business blossomed and efficiency gains were sought. Cromford and Sheep Pasture Inclines were amalgamated to form a ¾ mile long plane with a gradient of 1 in 8. Hopton Incline entered the record books in 1887 when the stationary engine was withdrawn and, at 1 in 14, it became the steepest section of railway worked, without assistance, by conventional locomotives. And in 1892, with the London and North Western Railway now in charge, the line was diverted via a two-mile route into Buxton, rendering the original northern section – and its inclines – largely redundant. The High Peak Trail and part of the Tissington Trail (see below) are now also designated as part of the Pennine Bridleway, a leisure route that starts at Middleton Top, near Cromford, and includes 73 miles (117km) through Derbyshire to the South Pennines. So life had a predictable routine to it when, in 1939, Hubert Doxey stepped onto the lowest rung of the railway career ladder, as engine cleaner and steam riser. Start at midnight and away by nine, six days a week with Sunday off. But each shift began and finished at Rowsley depot, an eight mile cycle ride from home. Despite his protestations, there was no dispensation when he was assigned a six-week stint at Middleton Top, a stone’s throw from his front door. “This is your bloody depot – you sign on here” insisted the foreman. Common sense prevailed after a couple of days. Hubert Doxey And the iron Bucephalus responds as if sensitive to his will, and the slightest movement of the regulator is as a touch of spur, and makes her spring on like a creature of blood and nerves.