page_title: Cromford and High Peak Railway
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Cromford and High Peak Railway / Construction
caption_attribution_description: English: The track of the Middleton Incline of the Cromford and High Peak Railway.
context_page_description: The Cromford and High Peak Railway in Derbyshire, England, was completed in 1831, to carry minerals and goods between the Cromford Canal wharf at High Peak Junction and the Peak Forest Canal at Whaley Bridge. It dealt with the hilly rural terrain by using a number of inclines. It was closed by 1967, and the majority of the route, between Dowlow and Cromford, has become the High Peak Trail, a route on the National Cycle Network.
context_section_description: The first part of the line from the wharf at High Peak Junction, on the Cromford Canal, to Hurdlow opened in 1830. From the canal it climbed over one thousand feet (305 m) in five miles (8 km), through three inclines ranging from 1 in 14 (7.1%) to 1 in 8 (12.5%): Sheep Pasture incline near Cromford and Middleton and Hopton inclines above Wirksworth. The line then proceeded up the relatively gentle Hurdlow incline at 1 in 16 (6.25%). The second half from Hurdlow to Whaley Bridge opened in 1832 descending through four more inclines, the steepest being 1 in 7 (14.3%).  The highest part of the line was at Ladmanlow, a height of 1,266 feet (386 m). For comparison, the present-day highest summit in England is Ais Gill at 1,169 feet (356 m) on the Settle–Carlisle line.
  The railway was laid using so-called "fishbelly" rails supported on stone blocks, as was common in those days, rather than timber sleepers, since it would be powered by horses on the flat sections. On the nine inclined planes, stationary steam engines would be used, apart from the last incline into Whaley Bridge, which was counterbalanced and worked by a horse-gin. The engines, rails and other ironwork were provided by the Butterley Company. It would take around two days to complete the journey. Luckily it was laid to the Stephenson gauge of 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm), rather than Outram's usual 4 ft 2 in (1,270 mm).
  While its function was to provide a shorter route for Derbyshire coal than the Trent and Mersey Canal, it figured largely in early East Midlands railway schemes because it was seen as offering a path into Manchester for proposed lines from London. However, the unsuitability of cable railways for passengers became clear within a few years.
  Part of the route included the Hopton Incline. This was a very steep section of the railway about a mile north of the small village of Hopton. It was originally worked by a stationary steam engine but was modified later to be adhesion worked by locomotives. At 1 in 14 (7%), it was the steepest in Britain and trains frequently had to be split and pulled up a few wagons at a time.
  Dozens of small sidings were added along the length of the railway to accommodate the waggons that worked the line. Towards the Cromford, between Sheep Pasture Top and Friden there were over 15 sidings, mostly grouped between Sheep Pasture and Longcliffe, primarily serving quarries. One was built in 1883 from Steeplehouse to serve the Middleton Quarry north  of Wirksworth. The branch closed in 1967 but the trackbed was later used for the 18 in (457 mm) Steeple Grange Light Railway in 1985.
  Towards the Whaley Bridge end of the line, another profusion of sidings lay between Dowlow Halt and Ladmanlow, mostly serving quarries and limeworks.  This included some dozen sidings in the short section between Harpur Hill and Old Harpur.
  The following table lists the inclines as originally built:
caption: Middleton Incline today
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