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 The Right Hand Man To some, he was the saviour of Usually this uphill struggle proved the Midland Railway’s Buxton branch the railways; to others, he was insurmountable but, at the western edge bowed to the inevitable. But of greater their butcher. Whatever your of the Peak District, one famous victory significance was the loss of its feeder standpoint, it’s beyond debate was recorded over officialdom. route - part of the St Pancras-Manchester that Richard Beeching’s report main line - which cut a spectacular on ‘The Reshaping of Britain’s Acrimonious protestation course across the Peaks. Railways’ did exactly what it said A stronghold of Manchester commuters, on the cover. There were no small Buxton and its road network regularly measures. Over six years, 200,000 surrendered to the vagaries of old- railwaymen joined the dole queue; fashioned winters. So, in 1963, when the doors were locked on 2,300 BR announced its intention to sever stations; 4,000 miles of trackbed both routes into the town, a deluge were plundered for scrap. A once- of acrimonious protestation rained weighty public service took on a down on the Transport Users leaner form. Consultative Committee, which It was in 1845 that the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway (there were no small measures when it came to company names either) placed plans before Parliament for a link into Lancashire from a junction on the North Midland Railway at Ambergate. Hasty return to the drawing board Engineer George Stephenson deemed that, through the hills, the new line would follow the Wye valley via Bakewell. His scheme did not pass muster with A mixed goods service heads south over Millers Dale’s new viaduct. landowner the Duke of Rutland whose disapproval prompted a hasty return to Though vigorous campaigns were acted as arbiter on such issues. With a the drawing board. An alternative plan often mounted, the fight to reprieve well-marshalled opposition, the plan’s was fashioned, taking the tracks north deserted platforms was futile. Emotional fragile foundations were soon exposed, from Rowsley through the estate of the attachment could never conquer British prompting arguably the most significant receptive Duke of Devonshire. Faced Railways’ skewed economics. Felled climb down of the Beeching era. with a future bypassed by the railway, branch lines littered the countryside. Of course, one battle does not win a Bakewell’s anxious townsfolk appealed To successfully challenge a closure war. Falling passenger revenues could to the Duke of Rutland for a change of proposal, objectors had to establish not support the local network. When the heart. He relented, but too late - Royal that community hardship would result. axe was raised again three years later, Assent was granted in August 1848. As it transpired, these aristocratic manoeuvres were nothing more than a sideshow. The main event was now being played out in banks and boardrooms - the railway bubble had burst. A modest line was laid from Ambergate to Rowsley, welcoming customers in June 1849, but the route into Lancashire remained untouched for more than a decade. Financial considerations aside, the ambitious Midland Railway longingly eyed the land of plenty which lay across the hills - domain of the London & North Western. These two rivals became embroiled in a tactical chess- like battle, each attempting to block any territorial expansion by the other. The LNWR enjoyed the upper hand, initially thwarting the Midland’s efforts to secure a main line through to Manchester. Taken around the turn of the 20th Century, this view records the scene before the second viaduct emerged from the river between 1903-05. A 15-mile extension Instead the pair descended on Buxton into Lancashire. Although geological Buxton and the main line. The junction - the former constructing a line south troubles at Dove Holes Tunnel slowed itself was a mile-and-a-half to the west, from Whaley Bridge whilst, in May progress to a crawl, the four-year slog through three tunnels. 1860, the Midland received the go- eventually paid off and the signals were The interchange was a sprawling affair, ahead for a 15-mile extension of the cleared in October 1866. Within weeks, built on a man-made ledge and boasting Rowsley line, entering the town from an immense landslide consumed half-a- a main building with two platforms, the east. This would serve Bakewell and mile of track, restyling a viaduct. It was signal box, goods facilities and sidings. entailed the excavation of seven tunnels, not until February 1867 that remedial It was approached from the south over totalling 2,133 yards. Trains first rolled work was finished and the Midland’s a high, elegant viaduct comprising three in May 1863, two weeks ahead of the first London express hurtled towards iron arches. competition. Manchester. Crippling congestion Traffic levels soared - expresses, stoppers, coal, goods. More sidings materialised. A bay was built for Buxton trains. Refreshments satisfied the appetite. And yet none of this treated the crippling congestion which grew from a mix of conflicting passenger, freight and local quarry services. Something had to give. And it did. In 1903 powers were granted for the formation of a double track loop, allowing slow and fast trains to run separately through the station. The project devoured £90,000 - £6.6million in today’s terms. A second viaduct rose from the river; the main building was demolished and moved north; the goods yard sprawled. On the Under construction - the new northerly viaduct. 1st April 1906, a new Millers Dale opened for business. The balance of power was shifting. Nestling in the valley two miles south Around 40 trains per day paused Much to the LNWR’s fury, in 1862 the of Tideswell was Millers Dale, a village to collect and set down. Although the Midland had joined forces with the of no great importance until the railway station itself generated relatively little Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire arrived. Bestowed upon it was the income, this was a vibrant place where Railway to construct its missing link honour of hosting the junction station for passengers traded main line speed for the branch’s more sedate progress. The goods yard bustled with merchants for coal, milk and livestock. Tideswell’s travelling public was ferried to the station by coach from the George Hotel. They were carried up and down to Buxton on a push-and-pull service, introduced in the mid-30s. Its serene approach went undetected by one platelayer who paid the ultimate price for his error. The spirit was very good Wartime arrivals at the branch terminus were greeted by Wilf Oven whose first turn of duty at Buxton, as a porter/ guard, drew to a close in 1943. Postings to Burton-upon-Trent and Derby Wilf Oven today and (right) pictured with a colleague at Millers Dale. followed, before Buxton beckoned once again. “The spirit there was very good” Water for the toilets was pumped and do it, others would say ‘do it your he remembers. “You could do anyone’s up from the river. The inlet had to be bloody self’!” When the lamp went out in job and anyone could do yours.” cleared daily. Drinking water came from the signal on platform 3, Wilf instructed In 1957, Wilf was installed as foreman the spring at a nearby farm. Wilf enjoyed a porter to go and sort it out. He refused, at Millers Dale - the Station Master’s the luxury of his own office but the only stating that a lampman was still on duty. right hand man. His day followed a phone sat with the booking clerks. This was true, but he lived in Tideswell familiar routine. At seven o’clock, he’d so Wilf did the job himself. Some weeks unlock the station, light the fires and Close-knit community later, the lamp was out again. “When I see to the Manchester engine which had Home was in Tideswell, as it had been asked this chap to sort it out he told me to be run around for the journey into throughout his adventures further afield. that he couldn’t climb ladders, so I had Buxton. Meantime the Station Master, The railway families formed a close-knit to do it myself again! It was the route of who acted as sub-postmaster, would community. Parties and outings were least resistance!” deal with the mail before heading off arranged, including one to the Festival Early diesels were put through their for breakfast. Millers Dale was the of Britain. But there was little free time paces on the climb across the hills. The last station to have a Post Office on for the foreman - just one Sunday per first test runs took place in the late forties. the platform. fortnight. Late shifts finished when the By Wilf’s time, regular services were still last train had gone. in their infancy and engines often failed. Team spirit was “a bit lacking. If I said Steam locos would be sent from ‘go and do something’, Rowsley on rescue some would go missions. The northerly viaduct is fenced off but the original crossing now carries the Monsal Trail across the Wye.