page_title: Whaley Bridge
section_title: Cromford and High Peak Railway
hierarchical_section_title: Whaley Bridge / History / Cromford and High Peak Railway
caption_attribution_description: English: The canal basin in Whaley Bridge on a summer's day Whaley Bridge Canal basin. Aug 2004, Bill Lionheart Captioned As { }
context_page_description: Whaley Bridge is a town and civil parish in the High Peak district of Derbyshire, England. It is on the River Goyt, 16 miles southeast of Manchester, 7 miles north of Buxton, 9 miles east of Macclesfield and 28 miles west of Sheffield. It had a population of 6,455 at the 2011 census, including Furness Vale, Horwich End, Bridgemont, Fernilee, Stoneheads and Taxal.
context_section_description: The Cromford and High Peak Railway was granted Parliamentary consent in 1825. It was fully opened for passenger and goods traffic on 6 July 1831. The railway linked the wharf at the head of the Whaley Bridge Branch of the Peak Forest Canal to the Cromford Canal at Cromford Wharf. It had seven inclined planes, the first being situated within the town of Whaley Bridge itself. Unlike the other six inclined planes, which were operated by stationary steam engines, this one was operated by a horse-driven gin, which remained operational until 9 April 1952. This plane was much shorter than the others, being only 180 yards (165 m) long and rising at 1:13.5. Approach to the top of the plane was under a very low bridge and, because of this, waggons had to be hauled to and from the top of the plane by horses.
  Horses also worked the bottom section of the line and the tracks ran onto a wharf and into two mills. Another notable feature on the bottom section is an iron bridge that carries the line across the River Goyt.
caption: The canal basin in Whaley Bridge
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