It might come as a surprise, but Wirksworth was originally going to be a station on what would have been an intercity line linking London with Manchester.
Opportunities & Problems
In the mid-19th century, the Midland Railway had an opportunity and a big problem. The opportunity was simple: to crack the market in Manchester – Cottonopolis as it was called from 1870, due to the number of cotton mills across the city.
But, there was a problem: The London & North Western Railway and their chairman, ‘Captain’ Mark Hewish.
In 1849 the Midland Railway was a joint venture with the London & Birmingham Railway, which was planning to build a line to Rowsley, in the Peak District, as part of the route to Manchester.
There was bad news however – the day the Act of Parliament to build the railway was signed, the London & North Western took over the London & Birmingham, which caused the Midland Railway a problem: the London & North Western Railway didn’t want the Midland Railway anywhere near Manchester.
The Midland Railway’s Cunning Plan
1862 saw a Plan ‘B’ for Wirksworth. North beyond Rowsley, the Midland Railway was fairly safe; their engineers had a route surveyed through Bakewell and Chinley into Manchester, but south of Rowsley, a contingency was necessary and Wirksworth came into the frame.
The result of The Midland Railway New Lines and Additional Powers Act 1863 were twofold:
- A new railway from a junction with the Midland Railway at Duffield to Wirksworth
- A railway from a junction with the last mentioned intended railway in Wirksworth to terminate at a junction with the Cromford & High Peak Railway
The plan was to build a new line to Rowsley, via Wirksworth, to avoid the existing route, but there were two principal opponents to the Bill: The London & North Western Railway and John Shaw, a local quarry owner.
An early 20th century Midland Railway line diagram annotated to include the approximate path of the proposed continuation of the Wirksworth Branch to Rowsley. (Courtesy of the Midland Railway Society). Click on the diagram for a larger version.
Objections Overruled
In 1865 construction of the new line started, after The London & North Western and Mr Shaw were placated.
Ironically, Mr Shaw was concerned that his quarry would lose business from ‘foreign’ imports (including Leicestershire) and yet his business flourished as a direct result of the new line that was used for transporting his stone a few years later.
Just two years later, in 1867, the line opened to modest celebrations and services commenced. A service of three return trips a day from Derby set the pattern for the line’s passenger services, although freight would be the line’s primary source of income.
Next Stop Rowsley?
By the time the line to Wirksworth had opened, the LNWR had effectively pulled the plug of the planned route to Rowsley line and the extension was quietly dropped.
While the branch from Duffield to Wirksworth was comparatively lightly-engineered, running through the gentle valley of the River Ecclesbourne, the route north of Wirksworth would have been extremely expensive to engineer, which would have involved:
- Three tunnels, respectively 500, 980 & 1503 yards long
- Two viaducts 280 & 300 yards long
- Ten more miles of railway
- Upgrades to the route and signalling of the Duffield-to-Wirksworth section to support a through service
In 1897 a landslip at Whatstandwell (on the intercity line to Rowsley) led to the plan being briefly revived, but after that no more was heard.
Ascent & Decline
Over the next 75 years the line thrived and by the turn of the century, at the start of the Edwardian era, the Wirksworth Branch had settled-down into a humdrum existence.
The passenger service was popular and quite buoyant, but there were no services on a Sunday.
In 1906, the Midland Railway tried an experiment by running a service to Wirksworth in conjunction with services to Melbourne and Ripley, using a railmotor (a steam-powered carriage and the forerunner of the diesel multiple unit). However, the railmotor service didn’t last and was quickly replaced by a locomotive and Pullman carriage.
The Milk & Honey Line
Goods traffic was another matter and agricultural traffic was growing, especially transporting milk and other produce, leading to the branch becoming known as the Milk and Honey Line. Milk traffic would be collected at Derby and put on the milk train to London.
In 1900, Wirksworth supplied 800,000 gallons of milk to the nation’s capital, 10% of Derbyshire’s output. Cattle traffic peaked at nearly 450 truckloads a year, but by 1914 this had declined to 250 a year.
It was mineral traffic, especially limestone, which was becoming the staple of the line and which would ultimately secure the future of the line.
Mr Shaw’s concerns that limestone imported from Leicestershire would affect his business found instead that the new route to the main line was of huge benefit to the town’s quarries.
The Great War
Like all others, the Wirksworth branch line played its part during World War 1 and on 1 January 1917, in line with other railways, there were reduced passenger services. The line’s passenger services did well to survive, other lines were no so lucky, and many mainline stations closed and never re-opened.
The Interwar Shake-up
The first tentative step towards nationalisation took place in 1923 when the nation’s main railway companies were consolidated into “The Big Four”:
- London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMSR)
- London & North Eastern Railway (LNER)
- Great Western Railway (GWR)
- Southern Railway (SR)
The Midland Railway became part of the new LMSR and there was no immediate effect on the Wirksworth line, in fact at that time the demand for passenger services was strong, although there was still no Sunday service.
The Beginning of the End
At the time of the creation of ‘The Big Four’, demand for passenger services to and from Wirksworth was at its peak. By the 1930s there was a gradual, but subtle decline, across the network as railways started to compete with trams and buses, and private car sales were also starting to take off.
It was during this period that the Wirksworth line suffered a fatal train crash. On 20 February 1935, the 8:40pm Wirksworth-Derby derailed near Hazlewood, scalding the fireman but killing the driver, 63-year-old Mr. Frederick Gould.
The cause was the poor condition of the track with old and badly-worn rails that were due to be replaced. Other than slight injuries to the guard there were no more injuries because the train had no passengers on board – the writing was on the wall.
The second World War saw even harsher cuts to services than during WWI. By 1942 there were just two return trips to Wirksworth and still no service on Sunday.
Post-war Austerity & Nationalisation
The whole railway network emerged from the war in a state of dilapidation. Five years of constant use with minimal maintenance had taken its toll and combined with austerity and a national coal shortage, economies had to be made. With a regular bus service to Wirksworth and a minimal train service, the Milk and Honey Line was ripe for the chop and this came to pass.
The end came on Saturday, 14 June 1947, when the services to and from Wirksworth were suspended, never to be reinstated. Passenger services officially ended in 1949.
During the 1950s, the Wirksworth line was used by general freight trains and was also used for transporting limestone, which kept the line hanging on by a thread.
Ironically, the saving grace for the line wasn’t fare-paying passengers, but the transportation of limestone, which led to its designation as a strategic freight line.
Today, passengers once again are enjoying the delights of the railway as trains work their way through a countryside that has little changed since the line first opened.