Paul Steane's Photography Pages

Sunday 17/04/2020. A walk along much of the route of the Peak Forest Tramway from Dove Holes to Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire. I caught a Manchester Piccadilly to Buxton train as far as Dove Holes station (beware, only alternate trains call there), and returned on a Buxton to Manchester Piccadilly train from Whaley Bridge station. You can use a return ticket to Dove Holes or Buxton, effectively you're simply breaking your journey.
The Peak Forest Tramway opened in 1796 between Bugsworth Basin on the Peak Forest Canal and quarries near Barmoor Clough, but was extended into Dove Holes Dale by 1799, where there are still extensive quarries. The track was always 1270 mm (4 ft 2 in) gauge, with L-shaped rails on stone sleepers, and was always horse drawn - except for the inclined plane down to Chapel-en-le-Frith. The wagons had flangeless wheels. The line closed in the early 1920s. As the train I had intended to catch was cancelled, I also walked up the lower section of the Cromford & High Peak Railway before having a drink in one of the many pubs that are available.....