For some reason, my addled brain is thinking Matlock. What I think I
remember is that the incline moved boats from one level in the canal
to another. I was coming down from Bradford via Sheffield, thus
Cromford was way past out of the way for a side trip.
Lyle Browning
On Sep 26, 2008, at 4:36 AM, Dickie Bird wrote:
>
>
> Re the High Peak Railway inclines, they were operated by beam
> engines (most,
> if not all built by the Butterley Company) which merely controlled
> ascent
> and descent on a double acting system. The water tank which Trevor
> refers to
> is, in fact, for filling the loco boilers and old loco tenders,
> which latter
> were transported along the line to the limestone uplands and used to
> supply
> adjacent cottages with domestic water, there being no piped supply
> to them.
> There were some nine inclines along the route to Whaley Bridge, the
> last
> short one down to the canal basin at Whaley was operated by horse
> capstan.
> One of the original steam beam engines remains in situ at the top of
> the
> Middleton Incline (second along the route from Cromford) and has been
> restored. It exhibits the original Cornish boilers outside which were
> supplied with waste wood (latterly) derived from the carriage and
> wagon
> works in Derby. When the Cornish boilers were condemned, steam was
> supplied
> by a static loco boiler outside. The Middleton engine can be visited
> on
> certain Sundays in the month and now runs on compressed air. It is
> well
> worth seeing.
>
> Dickie Bird.
>
>
>
>
>
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