The Great Rocks Line is a freight

railway line Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, England, that runs between the

Hope Valley Line The Hope Valley line is a trans-Pennine railway line in Northern England, linking Manchester with Sheffield. It was completed in 1894. Passenger services on the line are operated by Northern Trains, East Midlands Railway and TransPennine ...

Chapel Milton Chapel Milton is a hamlet on the outskirts of Chapel-en-le-Frith on the road leading from there to Chinley and to Glossop. Within the parish of Chinley, Buxworth and Brownside, it takes its name from the site of a medieval corn mill, Maynstonfi ...

and the stone quarries and sidings at

Peak Dale Peak Dale is a small village in Derbyshire, England, northeast of Buxton and southeast of Dove Holes. The population falls within the civil parish of Wormhill. The village is between Dove Holes Quarry (to the north) and Tunstead Quarry (to ...

and

Peak Forest Peak Forest is a small village and civil parish on the main road the ( A623) from Chapel-en-le-Frith to Chesterfield in Derbyshire. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 335. The village grew from the earlier settlement of ...

, before looping around to the town of

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

. It takes its name from the

Great Rocks Dale Great Rocks Dale is a dry valley in the Derbyshire Peak District, known for its extensive quarrying. Geography and geology The valley runs from Peak Dale down to Blackwell Mill at Chee Dale on the River Wye. The scenery is of limestone, whi ...

through which it runs. It was opened in 1867 as an extension to the

Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Railway The Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Railway ran from a junction with the Midland Railway at Ambergate to Rowsley north of Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock and thence to Buxton. In time it would become part of the Midland Railw ...

, allowing the passenger trains of the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...

a connection the whole way from London to Manchester for the first time. However, the rest of the former MBM&MJR was closed in June 1968 by the Labour Minister for Transport,

Barbara Castle Barbara Anne Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, (''née'' Betts; 6 October 1910 – 3 May 2002) was a British Labour Party politician who was a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament from 1945 United Kingdom general elec ...

, leaving the northern section now known as the Great Rocks Line open only for stone freight trains and as an emergency diversionary route for the passenger Buxton line. The most notable structure on the line is the bifurcated Chapel Milton Viaduct, just below the junction with the main line between Sheffield and Manchester. It also passes through the -long

Dove Holes Tunnel Dove Holes Tunnel is a tunnel built by the Midland Railway between Peak Forest Signal Box and Chapel-en-le-Frith in Derbyshire in 1860–64, now carrying the Great Rocks Line. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and ...

and the former Chapel-en-le-Frith Central and

stations. Both the viaduct and tunnel were designed by the Midland's Engineer-in-Chief,

William Henry Barlow William Henry Barlow (10 May 1812 – 12 November 1902) was an English civil engineer of the 19th century, particularly associated with railway engineering projects. Barlow was involved in many engineering enterprises. He was engineer ...

, known for designing the train shed at St Pancras at around the same time. File:Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Railway and connections (diagram).jpg, Diagram showing the relationship of the line, at the top, with the rest of the MBM&MJR File:Midland Railway Viaduct, Chapel Milton (geograph 3168084).jpg, The line crossing the viaduct at Chapel Milton File:Peak Forest railway station (site) (geograph 3389586).jpg, Passing through the former Peak Forest station, actually adjacent to the present-day settlement of Peak Dale File:Peak Forest (2996644558).jpg, A freight train on the line at the limestone sidings, Peak Dale

References

{{reflist Midland Railway Rail transport in Derbyshire Railway lines in the East Midlands

See also

References