Our Local Railways

 Mark Lomas has sent us some photographs from his collection, featurning some local railway scenes. 

 

An unidentified loco arrives in 1938 from Buxton with a train of six coaches.
 

This photograph of Chapel-en-le-Frith South is undated.  The signage and style of dress would suggest early 20th century.

Locomotive 2382 passes Fairfield Halt on its journey to Manchester. The 2-6-4 Tank engine was built in 1932 by the L M S. The station, just outside of Buxton, only had one platform. It was built in 1907 to serve the nearby golf club. Trains arriving from Manchester would call to set down passengers but nobody was allowed  to board  the train. There was no service in the other direction. The station closed in 1939.

A train emerges from Cowburn Tunnel in 1953. The loco appers to be number 40672, an L M S 2P Class 4-4-0 built in 1932.  The tunnel takes the Hope Valley line under the moors between Chinley and Edale and is just over 2 miles, 3.3 km in length. The photograph appears to be at the eastern end of the tunnel, near to Barber Booth.
 

Chee Tor Tunnel near Millers Dale carried the Midland Main Line through Derbyshire's Wye Valley. The line operated between 1863 and 1967. The locomotive number 1274 had been built in 1881 at the Midland Railway's Derbys Works. It is seen here hauling a local train in 1937,  possibly the shuttle service between Buxton and Millers Dale. The locomotive was withdrawn in that same year.

On the same line as Chee Tor, but near to Peak Forest is Great Rocks. The railway here is still operational and serves various quarries to the east of Buton. The locomotive is probably a class 4F,hundreds of whch were built between 1911 and 1941.

Buxton once had four railway stations.  That at Higher Buxton was on the line to Ashbourne and had opened in 1894. It was never busy and closed in 1951 although passenger trains on this line continued to operate until 1954. The bridge in the background carries Clifton Road across the railway. Out of viewto the left was a goods yard.  The railway is still operational, carrying limestone traffic from Dowlow Quarries. The locomotive 6899, is one of 300 built by the LNWR from 1881.

Hayfield Station at the end of the branch from New Mills. The photograph is either from the 1950s or early 1960s, before the introduction of diesel trains. On the right, a locomotive waits outside the engine shed.  The railway closed in 1970.