Building the Midland Railway through Derbyshire

 In the early years of the 1860s, the Midland Railway commissioned a series of photographs recording the construction of its new line between Rowsley and New Mills in Derbyshire. Later in the decade, building of the extension to London was photographed including St.Pancras Station.

The Science Museum has now released around 100 photographs under a creative commons licence and these may be viewed or downloaded from its website: https://bit.ly/3RrXqBN

Below is a selection of pictures from locations in Derbyshire.

                                                New Mills Viaduct, about 1864

Building Bugsworth Viaduct in about 1862

Building the tunnel at Chapel en le Frith, about 1862

 

Dove Holes Tunnel, Pit Bank, Shaft No 5, about 1862 

 

Peep O' Day Bridge, Peak Forest Station, about 1862 

Monsal Dale Viaduct, about 1864 

Construction of a railway bridge, about 1862. Location unknown.

The River Wye, Derbyshire, about 1862

 

 

Steaming through Whaley Bridge

 Mark Lomas has kindly sent some photographs from his collection, of railway scenes around Whaley Bridge. Many of these pictures are from the early part of the 20th century when the railway was operated by the London, North Western Railway Company. 

Engine, crew and platelayers. 0-6-2 Locomotive 1590 was built in 1898 to the design of F Webb. It was withdrawn from service in June 1928

An arrival from Manchester. The unidentified engine is a "Precursor" class 4-4-2 locomotive built by the LNWR between 1906 and 1909. The last of this class was withdrawn in 1940.

 A Manchester bound train approaches. The full length women's dresses suggest that this photograph is from the first decade of the 20th century. 

The water tower was at the northern end of the station spanning a siding. The Locomotive a Webb designed "Coal Tank" was built in December 1881. It remained in service until 1955.

Water supply for the tank came from a small reservoir higher up the hillside. Not the brazier to prevent the water from freezing in frosty weather.

The water tower and, on the left, the small goods shed. Most goods traffic at WhaleyBridge was handled at the Shallcross Yard at Horwich End.

The station staff pose for the cameraman. 

 Whaley Bridge Station in the 1950s. The view from the signal box.

The view from the footbridge as a Buxton bound train arrives.
 

Posing by the weighbridge
 

A mixed goods and passenger train heads towards Buxton. The engine is either class G or G1 0-8-0 built at Crewe betweeen  1912 and 1918.

An early version of containerisation.

 A goods train heads south in 1959.

Manchester bound in 1959

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.

The Railway Age

 In the mid nineteenth century, there were many proposals to construct new railways.  Some of these were overly ambitious and never saw the light of day, others were superceded by revised schemes. In this article we will look at some of those planned railways as announced in the regional newspapers.

                                                         Dukinfield Station
 

In November 1845, The Sheffield, Ashton-Under-Lyne and Manchester Railway was seeking Parliamentary powers to construct a railway from Dukinfield to Bradshaw Edge, Whaley Bridge or at some intermediate point. A branch from New Mills to Hayfield was also proposed.

In December 1846, special trains from Manchester and Sheffield carried directors and shareholders of the Sheffield and Manchester Railway to the Dog Lane Station at Dukinfield.  The occasion was the ceremony of cutting the first sod of the new Whaley Bridge branch. Having arrived at Dukinfield, the guests had to walk about a mile along the tracks to Flowery Field where the event was to take place. A polished steel spade was provided and carried various inscriptions including the arms of the company and the names of the directors. The shaft was adorned with a profile of the Queen.  The spade was presented by the Chairman, Mr John Chapman, to F.D.Astley Esq who then cut a large sod which he then wheeled away. Returning he called for three times three cheers for the Whaley Bridge Branch. After each of the directors had cut a sod, it was the turn of the navvies who had soon made a pretty large opening.  The company then returned by train to Manchester where they were entertained to dinner at the Albion Hotel.

In August 1847 it was reported that 80,000 cubic yards of earthworks had been raised, five bridges had been built and four others in hand. The foundations for the viaduct at Marple were about to be commenced. Much of the route from Dukinfiedl to Hyde was ready for ballasting. Possession of the land between Marple and Whaley Bridge had not yet been obtained but the whole of the line had been staked out.

The company had spent some £85,000 on the line and it had been completed as far as Hyde. When the company wanted rails for use elsewhere, they found the price to be too high and did not think it expedient to buy them at that time. They therefore lifted them from the Whaley Bridge branch.

In February 1849, the company announced that works on the Whaley Bridge branch had been entirely suspended.

In 1854, at a meeting of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Company, it was stated that the North Western Company was supporting the proposed line from Stockport to Disley and Whaley Bridge and this was considered an unfriendly gesture. The company already had parliamentary powers to build their own line from Newton near Hyde, to Whaley Bridge and had already purchased land for the purpose.  it was now proposed to seek powers to complete the railway in opposition to that now proposed. They also considered it advantageous to build a line from Woodley to Stockport and branches to Hayfield and Bugsworth.

The railways linking Hyde, Marple, New Mills and Hayfield were of course subsequently completed. There is still visible evidence, near to the site of Gow Hole sidings, of the earthworks including a bridge, which would have taken the line towards Whaley. Construction of the Midland line throught the valley took over much of those workings. The dotted red line on this map shows the proposed alignment.

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Another proposal in November 1845 sought to link Sheffield with Macclesfield.  The line was to commence close to the Sheffield Station of the Sheffield, Ashton-under-lyne and Manchester Railway and terminate in or near the town of Macclesfield either at it's own station or by forming a junction with the Manchester and Birmingham Railway.  
The precise route was not given in the newspaper report although it appeared to pass through the Hope Valley and Whaley Bridge.
Application was about to be made to Parliament for the necessary powers.

The Buxton Train

This digitally coloured photograph shows a Buxton train arriving at Furness Vale in 1959. At this time, diesels had taken over most services although a few steam trains survived.  The locomotive is No 42365
Despite the nostalgia for "better times" we have to remember that until the coming of the diesel railcars, services were much poorer than today.  The 1947 timetable below shows a 4 hour period between afternoon trains to Buxton and only a two hourly service to London Road.

Chinley 150, The Birth of a Station, the Growth of a Village

Chinley Railway Station celebrated its 150th anniversary in February of this year.  John Benson's book "Chinley 150, The Birth of a Station, the Growth of a Village" has just been published to commemorate the event.
Copies are available from Chinley Post Office, Green Lane; from the Chapel-en-le-Frith bookshop, Reading Matters of 48 Market Street and from the Brierlow Bar bookshop. The price is £4 .50.
The book can be obtained by mail order from Reading Matters for £6.00 including post and packing. Telephone 01298 938166 or email readingmatterschapel@gmail.com

THE RAILWAY MYSTERY OF AUGUST 1908

Unknown Lady's Death
An inquest was held last evening at Furness Vale touching the death of a well-dressed unknown woman who was found dead on the Buxton branch of the London and North Western Railway between Furness Vale and New Mills early on Tuesday morning.
Frank Wm. Green son of the Furness Vale station master and a porter at Disley, said he was walking along the line to his work when he found a lady's hat in the sixfootway about 150 yards from Bank End Bridge. Twenty yards lower down he noticed what he took to be a bundle of rags, but which proved to be the dead body of a woman, which he lifted into the six-foot. He did not notice if there was any sign of a struggle. There was no public footpath or crossing near the spot, and he did not see much blood.
Joseph Wood, who went to see the body, said the grass in a meadow between Buxton Road and the railway had been trampled down, and the woman must have climbed a wall four foot high, separating the meadow from the railway. Some coping stones had been thrown off at the end of the track. Witnesses wife found two artificial roses near the wall.
Police sergeant Sandbach said the woman had been dead several hours. There was nothing on the body that would lead to identity. The woman wore a wedding ring and carried a satchel-purse containing 5s 2d, a latch-key and some hair pins. She was about 30 years old. She had wounds on the head, her back was broken, and the toes of the right foot were cut off. No blood had been found on any of the engines that had passed that way. There were blood spots for a distance of about 20 yards along the line. He thought it was impossible for her to have fallen out of a train, she had no ticket on her. A photograph of her had been taken.
The Coroner said if the woman was identified the witnesses could go to his office and make their statements to him. He was of the opinion that she had either deliberately taken her like or come to her death accidentally. He advised an open verdict so that the police could prosecute their inquiries, and the jury returned a verdict of "Found dead on the railway"

 A Strange Funeral
The mystery attending the finding of a dead body of a well-dressed woman on the London and North Western Railway between Furness Vale and New Mills is as great as ever and the prospect of unravelling it is made more and more remote by the burial of the body.
After lying five days, the internment took place on Saturday and as no one came forward to identify the unfortunate lady, the internment had to be taken in hand by the relieving officer of the Hayfield Union, Mr. James Taylor, New Mills, but this could not be done until the body had been brought back from the Furness Vale Station waiting room in another union. It was accordingly taken back and placed in a workman's hut on the line near the spot where it was found, and from this place the funeral took place. The only persons present were the relieving officer, the Union undertaker, the assistant overseer, the sexton and the driver of the dog-cart that had conveyed the coffin, and for a distance of two miles, this little party accompanied the corpse to Disley Church where Canon Slatterthwaite, the vicar, officiated.
The theories of suicide or accident are not shared by everybody. Several policemen who were on Bank End Bridge at four o'clock on Tuesday morning declare there was nothing on the line at that hour, and the body was found shortly after six o'clock. There was no trace of blood or anything else on the wheels of any engines and close to the wall separating the railway from a field near the spotlight where the body was found were two artificial roses - one pink and the other white - from the lady's hat.

Over The Hills

In January 1883 The Derby Mercury described one of the last journeys taken by a passenger on the Cromford and High Peak Railway.

It was in August 1877 and thinking I should like to see the country through which it passed, I went to Stonehouse, generally called "Stonnis", just by the Black Rocks where the railway crosses the Wirksworth Road and enquired of a man in the office for the train.  "Do you mean the Fly" was the reply, "Yes", but the official, not knowing whether the "Fly" had passed or not, went out to enquire and brought back word that it had gone, but that if I followed it up the line, I might catch it at the siding; and if not, I should be sure to overtake it at "Middleton Run".  I accordingly gave chase, and at length caught site of it being drawn up the incline by a rope and a stationary engine.

R. E. Knowles Siding

Furness Clough Colliery, the Brickworks and the canal wharf were all linked by a narrow gauge tramway.  There is no record of the date of construction although it was certainly in existence in 1810.  

The History Society has acquired a plan  by the London North Western Railway of a the railway siding constructed to provide a link with the tramway.  The map is dated 1918 and was perhaps the time of construction of the siding.  Trucks were hauled between the brickworks and siding by a cable system and carried firebricks and firebacks for onward transport by goods train. 

There had been an earlier siding at Furness Vale operated on behalf of Levi and Elijah Hall, earlier owners of Furness Colliery. This was sited slightly further north and had a spur which  ran back as far as Station Road.

Tickets Please

Today, the return train fare to Leeds is £24.20.  In 1945 it was just 11shillings (55p)