Millers Dale railway station
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Millers Dale railway station was a station situated in Millers Dale in the Peak District. It was built by the Midland Railway on its extension of the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway from Rowsley.
It served an important junction where passengers for Buxton joined or left the trains between London and Manchester. It was originally to be called "Blackwell Mill", but, in the end, was named "Millers Dale for Tideswell". For such a rural location it was unusually large. Built on a shelf carved out of the hillside, it originally had two platforms, but a bay platform was added in 1905 to accommodate Buxton trains, plus the down platform became an island platform to serve the extra tracks. For a while, 'through' carriages for Buxton were attached to and detached from expresses. Part of the original Parliamentary Act, approving the line, considered the needs of invalids taking the waters at Buxton. This therefore alleviated the problem of changing trains. In addition, the two main platforms were connected by a subway.
The station was immortalised in the 1964 song "Slow Train" by Flanders and Swann. Since the railway was closed in 1967 the station has become a car park, although the main buildings remain. The older of the two viaducts forms part of the Monsal Trail.
[edit] External links
- Map sources for Millers Dale railway station
- Ingenious.org Millers Dale Viaduct, 1892
- "Picture the Past" Midland railway station 1964
- http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/
