Peak Forest Tramway
Encyclopedia
Industrial railway
An industrial railway is a type of railway that is not available for public transportation and is used exclusively to serve a particular industrial, logistics or military site...
(or tramway) system in Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Opened for trade on 31 August 1796, it remained in operation until the 1920s. Much of the route and the structures associated with the line remain. The western section of the line is now the route of the Peak Forest Tramway Trail..
The tramway was originally planned to be about 4 miles (6 km) long from Chapel Milton
Chapel Milton
Chapel Milton, in the heart of England's Peak District, is a hamlet on the outskirts of Chapel-en-le-Frith on the road leading from there to Chinley and to Glossop. It is notable for two major features....
to Dove Holes
Dove Holes
Dove Holes is a village in the High Peak district of Derbyshire, England. It has a population of about 1,200. It straddles the A6 road and it lies three miles from Buxton and three miles from Chapel-en-le-Frith. Trains run from Dove Holes railway station into Manchester.Residents of the village...
. However, it was decided to start the tramway at Bugsworth (now called Buxworth
Buxworth
Buxworth is a village in the High Peak of Derbyshire, England. The area, which was once an important centre for the limestone industry, became the terminus of the Peak Forest Canal. Its pub, the Navigation Inn, was once owned by Coronation Street actress Pat Phoenix...
) and, as built, it was about 6 miles (10 km) long. Its purpose was to carry limestone from the vast quarries around Dove Holes down to Bugsworth Basin
Bugsworth Basin
Bugsworth Basin is a canal basin at the terminus of the Peak Forest Canal. It is located at Buxworth in the valley of the Black Brook, close to Whaley Bridge...
via Chapel-en-le-Frith
Chapel-en-le-Frith
Chapel-en-le-Frith is a small town in Derbyshire, England, on the edge of the Peak District near the border with Cheshire, from Manchester. Dubbed "The Capital of the Peak District", the settlement was established by the Normans in the 12th century, originally as a hunting lodge within the Forest...
and Chinley
Chinley
Chinley is a rural village in High Peak Borough, situated on the western edge of the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire, England, with a population of around 2000. Before the railway, the area was economically dominated by agriculture and quarrying. Three textile mills were established in...
, where much of it was taken by boat along the Peak Forest Canal
Peak Forest Canal
The Peak Forest Canal, is a narrow locked artificial waterway in northern England. It is long and forms part of the connected English/Welsh inland waterway network.-General description:...
and the Ashton Canal
Ashton Canal
The Ashton Canal is a canal built in Greater Manchester in North West England.-Route:The Ashton leaves the Rochdale Canal at Ducie St. Junction in central Manchester, and climbs for through 18 locks, passing through Ancoats, Holt Town, Bradford-with-Beswick, Clayton, Openshaw, Droylsden,...
to Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and beyond. The remaining limestone was put into lime kilns at Bugsworth where it was converted into quick lime (or burnt lime).
Construction
Built by Benjamin OutramBenjamin Outram
Benjamin Outram was an English civil engineer, surveyor and industrialist. He was a pioneer in the building of canals and tramways.-Personal life:...
, the tramway was initially single-track, on a 4 ft (1.2 m) 2 in (1270 mm) gauge, constructed of stone sleeper blocks and L-section cast-iron rails that were fastened directly onto the blocks, in the same manner as his Little Eaton Gangway
Little Eaton Gangway
The Little Eaton Gangway, or, to give it its official title, the Derby Canal Railway, was a narrow gauge industrial wagonway serving the Derby Canal, in England, at Little Eaton in Derbyshire.- The Derby Canal :...
built for the Derby Canal
Derby Canal
The Derby Canal ran from the Trent and Mersey Canal at Swarkestone to Derby and Little Eaton, and to the Erewash Canal at Sandiacre, Derbyshire, England. The canal gained its Act of Parliament in 1793 and was fully completed in 1796...
. The rails, known as gang rails or plates, were provided by Benjamin Outram and Company who also supplied the mineral waggons.
From Bugsworth it rose 129 feet (39.3 m) to Whitehough, then proceeded to Chapel Milton on the level. It then climbed 56½ to the base of the inclined plane, which took the line upwards 192 feet (58.5 m) over a distance of 512 yards (468.2 m). After a more gentle slope to Barmoor Clough, and thence to the Dove Hole quarries.
To aid acceleration from the top, and braking at the foot, the inclined plane varied from 1 in 6 at the top to 1 in 12 at the base. It was intended to be, at least partly, self acting with descending wagons counterbalanced to some extent by partly loaded wagons being drawn up. Initially rope was tried, followed by a patent twisted chain, passing round a wheel, with a brake to control it, in a pit at the top. Eventually a chain with 5 inches (12.7 cm) links was purchased from Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, which proved more equal to the work. By the beginning of the twentieth century this had been replaced by a steel rope.
There was another small incline of 33 yards (30.2 m) within the quarry complex worked by a horse-gin at the top and a continuous rope.
The mineral waggons were originally similar to those used for the earlier Little Eaton Gangway
Little Eaton Gangway
The Little Eaton Gangway, or, to give it its official title, the Derby Canal Railway, was a narrow gauge industrial wagonway serving the Derby Canal, in England, at Little Eaton in Derbyshire.- The Derby Canal :...
, with a substantial wooden chassis with a wrought-iron body held in place by two wooden wedges. The axles were bolted onto axle trees and the cast-iron wheels (about 20 inches in diameter) were held on the axles by a linchpin (known as a lily-pin). Later the bodies were fixed with a door at the back, unloading by means of a tippler mechanism mounted on a turntable. Each waggon carried between 2 and 2.5 tons of limestone.
From the bottom of the plane to Bugsworth Basin, a team of four horses could draw up to twenty wagons. The ganger and nipper (apprentice), controlling a gang of waggons, rode on the axles and kept the speed at 4 to 6 miles per hour by spragging the wheels to make them skid.
History
In 1803 the tramway was made double-track, with the exception of Stodhart TunnelStodhart Tunnel
Stodhart Tunnel is a tunnel on the Peak Forest Tramway at Chapel Milton, Derbyshire. It is considered the earliest rail-related tunnel in the world. One portal was destroyed by a road re-alignment in 1949, but the other survives. It is Grade II* listed and on the Buildings at Risk Register....
and below Buxton Road Bridge, using the same method of fixing the rails.
Problems were experienced because the rails became loose, and to overcome these the main line was relaid between 1832 and 1837 using pedestals or saddles placed between the rails and the stone sleeper blocks. Over the years the design of the rails and saddles underwent many modifications and in circa 1865 much of the main line was replaced by L-section steel rails 9 and 12 feet (3.7 m) long rolled at the Gorton Works (Gorton Tank) of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway was formed by amalgamation in 1847. The MS&LR changed its name to the Great Central Railway in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension.-Origin:...
Company.
The most important surviving features of the tramway are the elevated tramway branch at Bugsworth Basin, Stodhart Tunnel
Stodhart Tunnel
Stodhart Tunnel is a tunnel on the Peak Forest Tramway at Chapel Milton, Derbyshire. It is considered the earliest rail-related tunnel in the world. One portal was destroyed by a road re-alignment in 1949, but the other survives. It is Grade II* listed and on the Buildings at Risk Register....
and the self-acting inclined plane at Chapel-en-le-Frith
Chapel-en-le-Frith
Chapel-en-le-Frith is a small town in Derbyshire, England, on the edge of the Peak District near the border with Cheshire, from Manchester. Dubbed "The Capital of the Peak District", the settlement was established by the Normans in the 12th century, originally as a hunting lodge within the Forest...
, known as the Chapel Inclined Plane
Chapel Inclined Plane
The Chapel Inclined Plane is an inclined plane immediately to the south of Chapel-en-le-Frith, High Peak, Derbyshire.-Purpose:The ground here rises sharply and the inclined plane was built to connect the lower and upper levels of the Peak Forest Tramway, which was built and initially operated by...
. The elevated tramway branch forms part of the Scheduled Ancient Monument of Bugsworth Basin. Stodhart Tunnel is the oldest railway tunnel in Derbyshire and it is a Grade II* listed building.
External links
- Map and aerial photo sources for: - Bugsworth Basin and - Dove Holes
- The Peak Forest Tramway, Peter J. Whitehead, IWPS, 2002.