Cromford & High Peak Railway - The 1853 Extension

Welcome to part 1 of my Cromford & High Peak Railway 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.

**the 1853 extention**
By the mid nineteenth century, railways were starting to take over and canals were on the decline. The nearby Midland Railway (or Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Railway as it was known then) passed through Cromford, arriving in 1849 and given the Cromford & High Peak Railway didn’t connect to any other railways, it was decided to extend soutwards by a few miles to join the two together. And this is where the high peak junction where we start this video connected in 1853.

So onto this video, we will look at what is left on this connection between High Peak Junction and the Cromford Wharf.


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#cromford_and_high_peak_railway #peak_district #abandoned_railway #disused_railway #high_peak_junction #peak_district_national_park #peak_district_walks #cromford_canal #LNWR #Matlock #Lost_Railway #Cromford_Wharf #Goods_Wharf #Railway_Extension #CHPR #C&HPR #wobbly_runner #high_peak_trail #cromford_&_high_peak #peak_railway #derbyshire_dales #old_railway

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