page_title: Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Railway
section_title: To Manchester
hierarchical_section_title: Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Railway / To Manchester
caption_attribution_description: English: passenger trains had just been dieselised
context_page_description: The Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Railway ran from a junction with the Midland Railway at Ambergate to Rowsley north of Matlock and thence to Buxton.
  In time it would become part of the Midland Railway's main line between London and Manchester, but it was initially planned as a route from Manchester to the East of England, via the proposed Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway which would meet it a little further north along the North Midland line at Ambergate. The Act for a line from just south of Stockport to Ambergate was passed in 1846.
  Currently, the section north of Millers Dale is open as the Great Rocks freight line, Derby to Matlock still holds passenger services as the Derwent Valley line, Matlock to Rowsley is the Peak Rail heritage line, and Rowsley to Buxton has become the Monsal Trail for cycling, horse riding and walking.
context_section_description: In the shifting alliances and rivalries between the various companies, the   Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway also wished to keep the Midland away from the coalmines which it served and, in 1859, was planning a line from Hyde just outside Manchester to New Mills and Hayfield. The company was also being courted by the GNR that planned to run London trains through Retford. Meanwhile, the MS&LR's manager Edward Watkin had his own plans to reach London through Sheffield.
  It seemed the Midland's only chance was a circuitous route with the help of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, except that it transpired that latter had an agreement with the LNWR not to handle other companies' trains. In 1861, the Midland sent their manager James Allport and some of the directors on a scouting trip around the area, and came by chance upon a party of MS&LR directors riding in a dog cart. The upshot was that Allport who had previously worked for the latter company should arrange a deal. Since it was clear that the Midland was determined to go ahead, it would be better not to have two lines running side by side.
  On 7 November 1861 it was formally agreed therefore that the Midland would join the MS&LR partner's Marple, New Mills and Hayfield Junction line at New Mills, an agreement which was put into statutes, later including the Sheffield and Midland Railway Companies' Committee  in the "Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Act" of 6 August 1872.
  To do this, it built a junction at Millers Dale, which effectively left Buxton on a branch. Thus railway politics deprived what was (particularly at that time) the largest town in the Peak District of a through main-line station. The Midland's line proceeded to the east of, but parallel to, the LNWR's line until it reached a summit at Peak Forest. It then plunged under the LNWR through Dove Holes Tunnel with stations at Chapel-en-le-Frith, Buxworth and Chinley joining the MS&LR at New Mills to run into Manchester London Road, opening in 1867. This section of route is still open for stone freight trains serving the Buxton lime industry as the Great Rocks Line.
caption: A cement train running west towards Chinley in 1964
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