A Balancing Act

It’s easy to take for granted the awesome endeavours of 19th Century railway pioneers which thread us seemlessly through, round or over the nation’s natural barriers. It was an age of speculative adventure, built on innovation, will power and elbow grease. But many magnificent creations were abandoned during the industrial vandalism of the fifties and sixties. In this series of articles, Graeme Bickerdike celebrates some of them. Forgotten Relics of an Enterprising Age A Balancing Act Some saw them as heroes, others With a canal across the moors as fools. Either way, trail-blazing impractical, an early ‘iron railway’ was railway pioneers had courage proposed which, to reach its northern in abundance and were rarely terminus at Whaley Bridge, would have thwarted by the undulations of our to climb the hill and then descend it. landscape. Valleys were crossed Arguably Jessop Senior fathered the by embankments or bridges. modern railway. In 1789 he brought Hills were cut or tunnelled. And, together edged rail and flanged wheel in between, the permanent way on a line at Loughborough and, fourteen would cling to the contours like years later, opened the world’s first a politician to power. So states public railway in South London, with conventional wisdom. horses providing the motive power. But Josias Jessop discarded his engineering manual as he fashioned Triumph of ingenuity plans for a link between the Cromford The 33-mile Cromford & High Peak Canal, built by his father William, and Railway received Royal Assent in 1825. Sheep Pasture engine house today. the Peak Forest, a creation of Benjamin It was a triumph of ingenuity, featuring Outram. These two waterways served the nine steep inclines and, at Gotham, an Isolation was not-so-glorious for the industrial engine rooms of Lancashire 80 degree curve which was the tightest C&HPR. Trade did not roar, certainly and the East Midlands. Connecting them on the railway network - just 55 yards not loud enough to scare away the bean would speed the flow of Derbyshire coal radius. The estimated construction cost counters. Horsepower slowly retired, and open up markets for cotton, minerals of £164,000 proved wildly inaccurate - a replaced by steam, but salvation truly and other sundry goods. tradition faithfully carried on by today’s arrived in 1853 when a connection was If the concept was sound, the reality engineering companies - and set the tone secured with the main line at High proved daunting. Towering a thousand for the line’s immediate financial future. Peak Junction. Prospects brightened feet above the southern trans-shipment Each incline was equipped with a overnight. Quarrying companies gorged point at Cromford Wharf was the stationary steam engine - to haul and on local limestone and despatched it limestone barrier of lower the wagons - whilst horses did the along the line to hungry, distant markets. the High Peak. donkey work on the flatter intermediate sections. It was not an express service. When the line fully opened in 1831, a journey from one end to the other typically took two days. A queue of wagons wait to descend Sheep Pasture Incline. (Left) The 708 yard Middleton Incline pictured in 1930, as two loaded descending wagons pass two empties on the way up. (Right) A contemporary view looking down from the midpoint. There was a human cargo too, So life had a predictable routine to it The High Peak’s hub travelling in the brake van. Wheatcroft & when, in 1939, Hubert Doxey stepped Goods came in and went out through Son, a Cromford coal merchant, offered onto the lowest rung of the railway career Cromford, the High Peak’s hub. A couple a daily passenger service across the ladder, as engine cleaner and steam riser. of dozen were on the payroll there and moorland plateau, though the inclines Start at midnight and away by nine, six Hubert joined their ranks in 1941. By had to be tackled on foot. It was grim days a week with Sunday off. But each now he’d been passed-out for firing and unreliable, not least when footplate shift began and engines and was installed as fireman/ staff stopped to refuel in the Jug and finished at Rowsley shunter - a unique grade, not to be found Glass - a hostelry at Longcliffe. Lack of depot, an eight anywhere else on the network. “There trade brought the shortlived service to a mile cycle ride from were two fireman/shunters on British screeching halt in 1874. home. Despite his Rail” he boasts. “One was Bill Lowe at But the freight business blossomed protestations, there Sheep Pasture and the other was me at and efficiency gains were sought. was no dispensation Cromford.” But this was a revelation Cromford and Sheep Pasture Inclines when he was to the Superintendent from Derby were amalgamated to form a ¾ mile assigned a six-week stint at Middleton and, following a minor spat, Hubert long plane with a gradient of 1 in 8. Top, a stone’s throw from his front door. was confined to his loco as dedicated Hopton Incline entered the record books “This is your bloody depot - you sign on shunters appeared on the scene. “It was in 1887 when the stationary engine was here” insisted the foreman. Common a bit boring then and the days seemed withdrawn and, at 1 in 14, it became sense prevailed after a couple of days. longer.” the steepest section of railway worked, without assistance, by conventional locomotives. And in 1892, with the London and North Western Railway now in charge, the line was diverted via a two-mile route into Buxton, rendering the original northern section - and its inclines - largely redundant. Routine and stability Upheaval surrendered to stability by the turn of the 20th Century. Traffic levels were consolidated and, during autumn and winter months, the line ran at capacity as local limestone - known for its purity - was guzzled by East Anglia’s sugar beet refineries. North London tank engine 27505 sits at Cromford Goods by the weighbridge. They were indeed longer. Prior to High Peak that, shifts rarely lasted much into the Junction afternoon. “There were a certain number Workshops, of wagons to get down each day” Hubert built in 1826, sit recalls. “You’d finished as soon as they at the bottom of were away. It didn’t matter about the Sheep Pasture clock. Nearly all the chaps had part-time Incline and are jobs so, the quicker they got the job done, now a visitor the quicker they were off. I was in the centre. fire service. Two or three were school caretakers. There were even a couple of poachers!” Intricate plot The day ran to a script written by the ganger to cut his hair, a service which he ducked down between the wagons as Traffic Inspector - an intricately woven often provided in one of the wagons. An they hit the catchpit.” Concern for Fred’s plot featuring water, coal, stone and appointment was made for Friday. At the welfare soon gave way to relief. Luck was timber. Shunts here, run-arounds there. end of the shift, men used to ride up the on his side - he’d missed the ride. Quarry loads to marshal and weigh. incline on the last wagon - saving a hard Crippled wagons to sort. Down to the walk - and half way through his trim the Catastrophic consequences junction, return with empties. Drop off stationary engine driver rang down to Runaways were rare but always corn at Cromford Goods. The ups and say the final run was ready to go. Hubert spectacular. Shortly after dark on downs of the incline. It was a mundane witnessed the scene. “The ganger got up 1st March 1888 - before the catchpit existence, offering little satisfaction with old John Bell still in the chair - he’d had been dug - a chain broke with and even less money. But laughs were only cut one side. ‘What about my hair?’ catastrophic consequences. A wagon plentiful. he said. ‘I’ll finish it on Monday! I’m full of lime and brake van containing Hubert reported for duty one morning not missing a ride up for the sake of the gunpower hurtled down the incline, to find the engine shed was smokeless. sermons.’” reaching a speed calculated at 120mph. The overnight cleaner, who should have Hubert travelled up the incline on the At the bottom they derailed, launched prepared the loco, was barricaded in same run as Fred Warren, steam riser at themselves over the canal and the cabin, adamant that he’d seen a Sheep Pasture Top, used to head down. disintegrated, scattering remains across ghost - “summat white with a clanking On one occasion Hubert’s wagon came to the main line. chain behind it”. A short while later, a stand next to the catchpit, dug to stop Incline staff, no matter how diligent, Sparrow Bond arrived from his nearby runaways. He suddenly feared for his life, were hostages to fortune. Wagons would smallholding, looking for a goat which and Fred’s. “These wagons were coming arrive from the quarries and, prior to had escaped in the night. down like hell - I’ve never seen owt move their descent, were fastened by chains John Bell, one of the like them. The chain was flailing around to a continuous wire rope. But the knots platelayers, wanted to look like a whip and sparks were could slip, lose tension or come undone. his best for the sermons coming off. Sleepers were Denis Kay took his place under this on Sunday and asked the flying all over the place. I sword of Damocles in 1955.

Load more