Shallcross Incline Remains on the Cromford & High Peak Railway
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- Welcome to part 16 on this Cromford & High Peak Railway. The almost 200 year old railway that sits abandoned across the county of Derbyshire. We're fast approaching the end of the series as we drop quickly down the series of inclines towards Whaley Bridge and the Peak Forest Canal.
We're picking up at Fernilee again and some remains of the trackbed, including a burried bridge under the Whaley Bridge to Buxton road, where we see the top of the arch peeking through. As we follow the line of this lost railway, we encounter the top of the Shallcross incline. Long closed and disused back in the 1890s, but evidence of the inclines engine house and workings still remains.
We head down the Shallcross plane at a gradient of 1 in 10.25 towards the Shallcross yard area at the bottom. Remains for the gas works and railway yard can still be seen, despite being surrounded by new housing developments. The base of a crane, narrow gauge tracks around the gas works, an old wall and decorative stone can be found.
Next time out we will pick up the remaining section to the trans-shipment warehouse in Whaley Bridge basin, right through the heart of the town.
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On this 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.
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.
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.
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Thanks
Thank you so much Andrea
@ anytime 😊👍
Fantastic journey along here nice to see the incline preserved 👍
Thanks Andrew. I wonder if everyone who uses it know it was an old railway incline.
Happy new year Paul & members! Ah it is sad the penultimate video of high peak 😢 part 16 epic. Beautiful old bridges have to be some of the oldest train bridges in the world when built Its amazing what you find when you rummage around the infilled bridge was a cool find Paul. Lovely walking explore especially the Shallcross incline. See you on the last one Paul. ❤😊👍
Thanks very much Carol. Happy new year.
One more episode to go 🙂
Thanks! back in the 70s I had schoolfriends in Whaley, but I never knew any of this existed, now I'm hundreds of miles away, but I'll be sure to follow (some) of your footsteps next time I'm "back home". Great research with all the old photos mixed with the modern shots and drone views.
Thanks very much Vernon
Another interesting video and you had the weather for it too. Really appreciate all the series and looking forward to the finale.
Thanks very much Nick. Glad you enjoyed it
At Whaley Bridge in the 1950s there was a narrow guage railway that serviced the Toddbrook Reservoir.
It has long since disappeared without trace.
I loved to see it operating when I was a kid.
I'm fascinated by former narrow gauge stuff like that :)
Shall cross yard has changed significantly since we walked there in the 1970s. Just over the wall where the gas works were situated, used to be the offices of Dorothea Restoration engineers. Named from the 80 inch Cornish engine which still exists at Dorothea Slate quarries in North Wales, the engineers were once tasked with the (failed) restoration of this engine. I knew one of their officers who had a wealth of knowledge of stationary steam engines. They also had in hand the initial restoration of the vertical winder at Bestwood colliery near Nottingham. One of their last jobs was renovating the Buxton ironwork over the main street there. The company has now morphed into Dorothea Restorations in Bristol. You will know of the photo of a large BR steam loco under the bridge you are about to walk beneath I guess. A nice series on the whole line chaps, with excellent drone footage. Cheers
Thanks very much Richard.
Very interesting about the Dorothea place. I was wondering if it was related to the Welsh version, so that answers my question 👍
great vlog lads ...you`ve got footage of the most inaccessible part of the railway ..tried walk it myself but gave up past the shady oak pub ..could never work out where the the bridge under the road was before the pub 🙂have to get you a coffee 🙂
Thanks for the coffee Peter. Much appreciated. Glad you enjoyed the video. Had such a great time making this series.
Great episode of my local area! Love cycling the incline will look out for some of these hidden items next time I ride!
Cheers Ryan
Great one really enjoyed the series and the catchy intro music keep up the good work for 2025 and Happy New Year Paul.
Thanks very much Chris. One more episide to go :)
Happy new year Guys .... wonderful content throughout the year... Cheers and all the Best for 2025
Thanks very much John. Thanks for all the support over the year. Happy new year. See you in 2025.
That's amazing Paul that so much is still there considering how long ago it closed
It's great isn't it. It just makes you realise what history you could be driving over, burried without ever realising.
❤
Paul: At 5:00 in this next to final episode of a fantastic series, you should have had your partner along because she carries a torch for you. 😳
😄 hahaha love it
Remember the concrete coal storage bunker for the gas works but at the time I thought it was for locomotive coal. I think it was taken down in the late 60's or mid 70's when coal gas was replaced by natural gas. As where many village coal gas plants in North Derbyshire.
Thanks Brian. I bet it's changed beyong recognition since then
I remember visiting Errwood Hall or the remains of it a few years ago. Very spooky.