RAIL CHRONOLOGY : ECCLESBOURNE VALLEY RAILWAY : opening

Page first uploaded: 21 January 2006.


The opening to passenger service of the erstwhile Midland Railway's line from Wirksworth towards the Cromford & High Peak line is going to cause confusion to future historians, unless the details are properly recorded now!

The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway / Wyvern Rail plan to reopen the Duffield - Wirksworth line, in stages. About half a mile from Wirksworth station towards Duffield was reopened for tourist operation on 24 August 2004. A report appeared on the Wyvern Rail website.

In 2005 it was the turn of the section beyond Wirksworth - which had never previously had a regular passenger service. The sequence of events, as explained by the railway itself, was:
  • Permission to operate received from the ORR on Wednesday 31 August 2005 and the first scheduled passenger train ran on Thursday 1 September.
  • The line of way itself was officially opened on Friday 2 September by Mrs Gwyneth Dunwoody MP, visiting a Trade Exhibition at the railway.
  • The Official Opening of the entire incline line and its associated platforms at Wirksworth and Ravenstor was on Saturday 3 September by Mr Geoff Carlile, in the presence of local dignitaries. An illustrated report appeared on the Wyvern Rail website.

    Richard Maund

    An earlier version of this article also appeared in Railway & Canal Historical Society Railway Chronology Group Co-ordinating Newsletter no. 45, January 2006.


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