The Y Files

The line was then level for a stretch from Hopton to Parsley Hay, where a junction was made with the London & North Western Railway (LNWR) line from Ashbourne to Buxton, part of which is retained to service the stone quarries in the area, the traffic now leaving the district from the Buxton end. The Cromford & High Peak Railway (C&HP) route then leaves the Buxton line, and wends its way over the moors to Harpur Hill.

There, a former mines research establishment in a very remote spot has become the British Approvals Service for Electrical Equipment in Flammable Atmospheres (BASEEFA). This establishment is the main testing base for things like industrial and mining hazardous area electrical equipment, explosion suppression systems and the like. Its remote location protects the general populace from the fires, pops and bangs that occasionally happen there. The now-out-of-use expression "Buxton certified" relating to electrical equipment originated from here.

From Harpur Hill the route winds its way down the valley to Whaley Bridge, where a final rope-worked incline lowered the vehicles down to the canal wharf, while pulling others up, and provided another rail connection with the Buxton lines.

Steam Locomotives

The motive power for the C&HP was for many years an ancient collection of steam locomotives that would have done any museum proud! Small types from the former LNWR stable were used for a while, and then some beefy 0-6-0 side tank locomotives originating from the former North London Railway took over. In the 1960s, the "Austerity" 0-6-0 saddle tanks in turn sent the North London tanks packing – the Austerities were a standard industrial design and the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) inherited a few following cessation of world-wide hostilities in 1945.

Locomotive water supply was always a problem in this district, and for many years locomotive and indeed domestic water was transported along the line in surplus tenders from withdrawn LNWR tender locomotives, often with the centre of three wheel-sets removed to enable the vertical curves at the ends of the inclines to be passed without incident.

One of the North London tanks has been saved for posterity and is active from time to time on a heritage railway in southern England.

Several representative Austerities have also been saved and are still in use in Britain, though all of these are the ones used by industry, as compared to the ones used by the LNER, none of which survive.

Diesel Locomotives

Diesel locomotives were tried on several occasions, though none could really do what the steam engines did with ease, combining power that could be mortgaged on the inclines and paid back on the level together with a short, flexible wheelbase.

A goods line to the end, the route saw a number of "enthusiasts' specials" during the middle-to-late 1960s, as it was clear that this anachronistic and anarchic railway could not have lasted much longer.

The line closed in sections up until 1968, along with a number of other lines in this remote part of Derbyshire.

Today, the route passes through an area designated as the Peak District National Park, an area of much natural beauty where development is heavily protected. Much of the line is now a protected cycle path and bridle path, and passes along of some of the inclines. Middleton, Hopton and several others can all be walked, ridden or cycled upon. There is a visitor centre at Middleton Top, a picnic area both at the top of Hopton and at Parsley Hay, and much of the route is still clearly visible from the A5012, A515 and A5004 main roads that pass through the district. The transshipment shed at Whaley Bridge still stands, though its function has changed since the line closed.

Though the track has been lifted long ago, the notoriety, and indeed the romance, of the Cromford & High Peak Railway remains!

Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank PWSlack for this series. Click here if you missed Part 1, which ran earlier today.