Hopton Incline

Until it closed in 1967 the Hopton Incline was the steepest stretch of conventional, adhesion-worked standard gauge railway running line in the UK.[1][2][3][4] The incline was situated in sparsely populated, exposed limestone uplands in the Peak District of Derbyshire, England.[5]

It is possible that steeper stretches were to be found in sidings, but the Hopton Incline was on the former Cromford and High Peak Railway's single-track main line as inherited by British Railways.

The incline in 1964

The line's inclines

The line as a whole opened in part in 1830, with the remainder following in 1831; Hopton Incline was in the first, southern part. The 33 mile route originally included nine inclined planes, which were often referred to as "planes" rather than "inclines"; staff who worked on inclines, for example, were formally known as "Planemen". Initially, all nine planes were double track. Trains were chain-hauled, eight were powered by a stationary winding engine at the summit, with ascending and descending wagons acting as counterbalances to ease the load. The Whaley Bridge incline was initially horse-drawn. At first trains were horse-drawn between inclines, with steam locomotives starting to appear in 1833, becoming universal by the 1860s except on the Whaley Bridge incline. Inclines were a means to cross hilly terrain, but they imposed significant costs in money and time.[6]

From south to north the inclines were:

Incline Length Gradient Notes
Cromford 580 yards (530 m) 1 in 9 Combined with Sheep Pasture in 1857,[7] combined name "Sheep Pasture Incline"
Sheep Pasture 711 yards (650 m) 1 in 8 Combined with Cromford in 1857,[7] combined name "Sheep Pasture Incline"
Middleton 708 yards (647 m) 1 in 8½
Hopton 457 yards (418 m) 1 in 14 Chain-hauled until 1877, conventional adhesion thereafter[8][9]
Hurdlow 850 yards (777 m) 1 in 16 Bypassed and abandoned 1869[10]
Bunsall Upper 660 yards (604 m) 1 in 17½ Combined with Bunsall Lower in 1857,[7] combined name "Bunsall Incline", abandoned 1892
Bunsall Lower 455 yards (416 m) 1 in 7 Combined with Bunsall Upper in 1857,[7] combined name "Bunsall Incline", abandoned 1892
Shallcross 817 yards (747 m) 1 in 10¼ Abandoned 1892
Whaley Bridge 180 yards (165 m) 1 in 13½ Abandoned 1952

The incline itself

By the 1870s Hopton Incline's winding engine had given 40 years' service and was life-expired. During that time locomotive power had moved on, therefore in 1877 Hopton incline's chains and engines were removed, after which the incline became a conventional adhesion railway; trains ascended the bank under their own power and descended using their own brakes. The more westerly line on the incline fell into disuse and was lifted at some time between 1889 and 1903.[11] In 1886 an inspector recommended the gradient be eased to allow greater loads, but nothing happened until 1903[12] when the trackbed at the foot of the incline was raised to ease the slope, which northbound trains approached at the gently downhill gradient of 1 in 1056. The top was also shaved to ease a short final stretch to 1 in 470. From the bottom the amended slope became progressively steeper in stages: 1 in 60 for 200 yards (180 m), 1 in 30 for 75 yards (69 m), 1 in 20 for 100 yards (91 m), then 200 yards (180 m) at 1 in 14, easing to 1 in 470 before levelling off.[2][13] The approach was gently downhill, but it included what in railway terms was a fairly sharp bend of 20 chains (400 m) radius, 160 yards (150 m) before the incline foot.

Gradient post in 1964

Traffic

The section of line including the incline was opened on 29 May 1830.[14] Initially, trains to and from the incline were horse-drawn, but the intention, as enshrined in the enabling legislation, was also to use steam locomotives, the first of which started work in 1833.[15] Horse-haulage finished by the mid-1860s.[16] Steam locomotives started to use the incline from 18 April 1877.[17] Diesel shunter 12006 was trialled in 1959, but was considered unsuitable, largely because it was barely able to climb the incline on its own, without any load.[18][19][20] A further trial took place in August 1966, using Class 08 diesel shunter D3778.[21] The locomotive was rostered to take over from steam from 31 August 1966, but for some reason it did not happen and steam monopolised the incline until closure the following spring.[22] Trains were conventional, but locomotives and rolling stock nevertheless had to be carefully selected. Only four-wheeled wagons, tenders and brake vans were permitted and few locomotives could negotiate Gotham Curve's extreme curvature without putting machine and track under unacceptable strain.[23] This led to a limited number of locomotive types using the curve for unusually long periods.[24] In 1931 several NLR 0-6-0Ts were moved from the London area to the line, remaining there until 1960, when they were displaced by a small fleet of J94 0-6-0STs, which worked the stretch until closure. Both classes of locomotive, despite having six-coupled wheels, were specifically designed for low-speed, high power dock and shunting work, where they could encounter severe curves and gradients. Not only was short wheelbase rolling stock necessary for the line's tight curves, but Hopton Incline imposed a severe limit as to what load could be hauled uphill, especially in wet or icy moorland conditions, when splitting trains down to two wagons at a time was not rare.

Passenger services ran up and down the incline from 1833 to 1876.[25] The line's rule book made it clear that passengers were not to stay on board on inclines, but this was not always observed. Loadings in this sparsely-populated upland area were very light.[26][27] Evidence of the forms of provision is patchy and inconsistent,[28] with the clearest sources being anecdotal.[29][30][31][32] Some horse-drawn provision appears to have been based on stage-coaches, with inside and outside provision similar to the 'Dandy' used on the service to Port Carlisle. Later, locomotive-hauled, passengers were accommodated by attaching a specially adapted guard's van to conventional goods trains; the adaptation consisted of putting some seating in the van's goods section. This was known on the line as a "Fly", though the term appears to have been used interchangeably to mean the vehicle and the train.[27]

Passenger traffic was slight and general goods was substantially less than the line's promoters foresaw,[33] especially after the line was effectively bypassed in the 1860s then truncated in 1892. The sparsely populated, largely agricultural area surrounding the curve meant that coal was the only significant inflow and milk the only significant outflow, except for the one traffic which dominated all – stone products, notably limestone and burnt lime. This traffic grew, and kept the line through the incline open despite its many operating obstacles, of which the incline was but one. Towards the end the incline's significance grew, as quarrying processes became more efficient and rail sought higher payloads the light trains of four-wheels-only limitations kept trains short and composed of small, slow-moving, obsolescent and uneconomic wagons.[34] There was one other traffic, a 19th century relic, whereby the line carried water. Limestone uplands drain naturally, so, despite the high rainfall, water supply to outlying properties was a problem. Some railway properties needed water, the railway itself needed water and in the 1960s Prestwich Intake Quarry needed water, so it was carried on trains using specially adapted former locomotive tenders.[35][36][37][38][39][40]

Operations

[41]

Fatal accident

On October 6, 1937, the 8:35 am freight train going from Middleton to Parsley Hay left the rails while running chimney first at the foot of the Hopton Incline. Traveling at a speed of around 45 miles per hour and consisting of four laden wagons and a 20-ton brake van, the engine, three of the wagons, and the brake van were impelled down a 25 foot embankment, coming to rest on a public road. The fourth wagon remained on the embankment, running off on the opposite side of the track.[42]

The High Peak Trail
Main article: High Peak Trail

In 1971 the Peak Park Planning Board and Derbyshire County Council bought the track bed from the site of Hurdlow station, near Buxton, through the Hopton Incline to High Peak Junction, near Cromford and turned it into the High Peak Trail, which is now National Route 54 of the National Cycle Network. The trail is popular with walkers, cyclists and horse riders.[43][44]

The High Peak Trail is also designated as part of the Pennine Bridleway, a leisure route that starts at Middleton Top, not far from the incline, and covers 73 miles (117 km) through Derbyshire to the South Pennines.

The incline was dramatic in railway terms. As part of an off-road trail it catches the public's eye, but not with the same impact as rope-hauled inclines, embankments, machinery, buildings and scenery. The adjacent road also diminishes the impact except for people "in the know". It is, nevertheless, preserved for all to enjoy.[45]

References
  1. Rimmer 1998, p. 58.
  2. Coleford 1996a, p. 10.
  3. Jones & Bentley 2001, pp. 20-21.
  4. Marshall 2011, p. 58.
  5. The incline on a 25" Edwardian OS map, with modern overlays National Library of Scotland
  6. Penalties of inclined planes, Locomotive Magazine, issue 491, 15 July 1933 pp.206-8 Steam Index
  7. Marshall 2011, p. 28.
  8. Jones & Bentley 2001, p. 17.
  9. Rimmer 1985, p. 14.
  10. Marshall 2011, p. 57.
  11. Marshall 2011, p. 42.
  12. Rimmer 1998, pp. 58 & 69.
  13. Marshall 2011, pp. 43-45.
  14. Rimmer 1998, p. 9.
  15. Rimmer 1998, pp. 7 & 12.
  16. Marshall 2011, p. 38.
  17. Rimmer 1995, p. 58.
  18. Coleford 1996a, p. 20.
  19. Coleford 1996b, p. 297.
  20. Miles 2013c, p. 359.
  21. Cooke 1966, p. 640.
  22. Coleford 1996a, p. 21.
  23. Coleford 1996a, p. 11.
  24. Jones & Bentley 2000, p. 36.
  25. Marshall 2011, p. 59.
  26. Moorsom and the Attempt to Revive the Cromford And High Peak Railway Derbyshire Archaeological Journal 1983 see Appendix 1
  27. Marshall 2011, p. 56.
  28. Quick 2009, pp. 433–4.
  29. Marshall 2011, pp. 53–55.
  30. A journey on the line in 1837 Manchester City News
  31. A journey on the line in 1854 Derby Mercury
  32. A journey on the line in 1883: Williams, Chap IV, p. 99 Google Books
  33. Marshall 2011, p. 21.
  34. Coleford 1996a, p. 28.
  35. Coleford 1996a, p. 26.
  36. Jones & Bentley 2001, pp. 15, 31, 35, 39 & 43–48.
  37. Rhodes 1967, p. 98.
  38. Marshall 2011, pp. 33, 47, 76 & 85.
  39. Rimmer 1998, pp. 24 & 84.
  40. Broome 1985, pp. 23, 24, 44 & 56.
  41. A journey along the line in 1958, Hopton at 1min from start YouTube
  42. http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docsummary.php?docID=1445
  43. The High Peak Trail Sustrans
  44. The High Peak Trail Derbyshire Peak District
  45. Attractions on the High Peak Trail Derbyshire County Council

Sources
  • Broome, Tony (1985). Cromford & High Peak Railway : picture album. Altrincham: Willow. ISBN 978-0-946361-01-4.
  • Coleford, I.C. (1996a). The Cromford & High Peak Railway. Clophill: Irwell Press. ISBN 978-1-871608-78-6.
  • Coleford, I.C. (October–November 1996b). Smith, Martin (ed.). "Over the Hills – A Miscellany". Railway Bylines. Clophill: Irwell Press Limited. 1 (6). ISSN 1360-2098.
  • Cooke, B.W.C., ed. (November 1966). "High Peak Power". Panorama. The Railway Magazine. Vol. 112 no. 787. London: Tothill Press Limited. ISSN 0033-8923.
  • Jones, Norman; Bentley, J.M. (2000). Railways of the High Peak: Whaley Bridge to Friden. Scenes from the Past. Stockport: Foxline. ISBN 978-1-902827-09-4. No.37 (Part 1).
  • Jones, Norman; Bentley, J.M. (2001). Railways of the High Peak: Onwards to Cromford and High Peak Junction. Scenes from the Past. Stockport: Foxline. ISBN 978-1-870119-67-2. No.37 (Part 2).
  • Kaye, Andrew R. (1987). North Midland and Peak District Railways in the Steam Age. Chesterfield: Lowlander Publications. ISBN 978-0-946930-06-7.
  • Kingscott, Geoffrey (2007). Lost Railways of Derbyshire. Newbury, Berkshire: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-84674-042-8.
  • Marshall, John (2011). The Cromford & High Peak Railway. Leeds: Martin Bairstow. ISBN 978-1-871944-39-6.
  • Miles, Keith (July 2013c). Hawkins, Chris (ed.). "The Cromford and High Peak, Home of the Hermits of the Hills". Railway Bylines. Clophill: Irwell Press Limited. 18 (8). ISSN 1360-2098. Part 3.
  • Nicholson, Christopher P. (1977). Branch Lines in the Peak District. Clapham, North Yorkshire: Dalesman Books. ISBN 978-0-85206-389-7.
  • Quick, Michael (2009) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway and Canal Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-901461-57-5. OCLC 612226077.
  • Rhodes, Josephine F. (March 1967). Kitchenside, G.M. (ed.). "The Cromford and High Peak line". Railway World. Vol. 28 no. 322. Shepperton: Ian Allan.
  • Rimmer, A. (1998). The Cromford & High Peak Railway (2nd ed.). Usk: Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-319-0. LP10.
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