WIRKSWORTH BRANCH
Built for: Midland Railway Terminus: Wirksworth Main line connection: Duffield (Midland main line) Opened: October 1 1867 Length of line: 9 miles Intermediate stations: 3 Closed: June 14 1947 (passenger); December 4 1989 (freight) Key locomotives you’ll need? ‘4F’ 0-6-0, BR Class 20 and Class 25 diesels Why’s the Wirksworth branch special? It’s a branch line terminus where function prevailed over form: passenger services finished just after the war and the delightful station was demolished, to be replaced by huge hoppers and loading facilities for stone. Ugly they might have been, but they ensured the branch’s survival. Wirksworth is also special for two further reasons: its proximity to Derby meant that official photographs of new trains were taken here, and it also forms the starting point for a second branch line, a former mineral railway that heads north for half a mile up a 1-in-27 gradient to Ravenstor. What’s left? Most of the railway infrastructure survives and passenger services have been resurrected, thanks to the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway. Where can I find out more? The Wirksworth Branch by Howard Sprenger (Oakwood Press).