Cromford & High Peak- The Almost 200 Year Old Railway

In part 8 of this series on one of the world's oldest railway line - The Cromford & High Peak Railway. We start at Minninglow close to the limestone embankments. We continue our journey West towards the High Peak canal. Shortly into our journey we encounter the Gotham curve. An almost 90 degress bend, the Gotham Curve was once the sharpest curve on any standard gauge railway line in the UK.

We continue to cross the limestome uplands of the Derbyshire Countryside and Peak District. Crossing Newhaven level crossing before coming to the brick works at Friden.

The other notable feature on the line we'll see today is the short Newhaven tunnel which passes under the A515 Buxton to Ashbourne road. Almost 200 years old, there are stones which date the tunnel to 1825.

Bursting out through the cutting, we come to the junction with the later built LNWR line to Ashbourne - now known as the Tissington Trail. Built to a more modern standard, from here the High Peak Railway was altered to allow faster trains - more on this in later episodes. We can see the impressive cutting as the line heads off towards Hartington.

We then arrive at the site of the former Parsley Hay station. Not a lot of evidence remains of either of the original station sites. The original C&HPR and later LNWR stations. It was originally opened in 1833 for goods by the Cromford and High Peak Railway (which ran from Whaley Bridge to Cromford). It opened for passengers in 1856 but closed in 1877. The line was acquired by LNWR and extended to Buxton in 1894 and the station was reopened. In 1899 the LNWR built a junction just south of the station for a line to Ashbourne and built a new station.


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On this series we'll be following the disused railway line the 33 miles from Cromford in the Derbyshire Dales over to Whalley Bridge in the High Peak. In the first part we look at the section of the railway that was extended to meet with the main railway line.


During the conception of the Cromford and High Peak Railway, canals were in fashion and railways hadn’t really taken off yet. The line exists as there was a desire to connect the Peak Forest canal (Manchester's industry in the West) to the Cromford Canal and the various industry in the East Midlands. A canal was considered but the number of locks to cross the peak district would be enormous.


So instead, a tramroad, or tramway was decided to be the way forward. Horse drawn with rope inclines at several locations to pull the wagons up the steep gradients.


An extremely ambitious venture at the time coming only a handful of years after the Stockton and Darlington railway. This makes it one of the world oldest railways. The 33 mile long line opened at the turn of the 1830s connecting the two canals and shortly after the horses were replaced with steam engines. The inclines were powered by static steam engines that we will see in later episodes.


We’ll see as we progress down the line, various challenges that ultimately led to the line's closure. Apart from a few quarry lines, the railway closed in stages up to 1967.


These days a large portion of the line is accessible as the High Peak Trail.


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