Former Chee Tor Railway Bridge On The Monsal Trail - Chee Dale, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 15.302 W 001° 48.816
30U E 579147 N 5901298
This railway bridge carried the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Railway over The River Wye and now carries the rails-to-trails Monsall Trail route.
Waymark Code: WMRJ1B
Location: East Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/25/2016
Views: 1
The Bridge
The bridge is a tall single arch brick bridge and carried the former railway high over the river Wye.
The bridge is between two short tunnels that were constructed through a limestone outcrop. However this limestone outcrop was already cut through by the river Wye and so this bridge was necessary to cross the river and to connect the two tunnels.
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The Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Railway ran from a junction with the Midland Railway at Ambergate to Rowsley north of Matlock and thence to Buxton.
In time it would become part of the Midland Railway's main line between London and Manchester, but it was initially planned as a route from Manchester to the East of England, via the proposed Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway which would meet it a little further north along the North Midland line at Ambergate. The Act for a line from just south of Stockport to Ambergate was passed in 1846."
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Monsal Trail
"The Monsal Trail is a traffic free route for walkers, cyclists, horse riders and wheelchair users through some of the Peak District's most spectacular limestone dales.
The trail runs along the former Midland Railway line for 8.5 miles between Blackwell Mill, in Chee Dale and Coombs Road, at Bakewell.
Most of the route was opened to the public in 1981 but four former railway tunnels had to remain closed due to safety reasons, with public footpaths taking people around them. From 25 May 2011 the four railway tunnels - Headstone Tunnel, Cressbrook Tunnel, Litton Tunnel, Chee Tor Tunnel – opened for trail users. Each tunnel is about 400 metres long and is lit during normal daylight hours."
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