Day return to Edale

GBRf 66722 passes Edale with 4H73 from Washwood Heath to Tunstead Sidings

Two years after my last visit it is time to return to one of the finest spots along the busy and picturesque Hope Valley Line linking Manchester and Sheffield, and spend a few hours watching freight and passenger services passing the handful of semaphores at Edale in the heart of the Peak District.

Completion of a major £145m upgrade of the Hope Valley Line has been delayed until spring 2024, and among other changes will see closure of the signal box at Grindleford and the loss of semaphores there. But the route’s other three outposts of mechanical signalling – New Mills South Junction, Edale and Earle’s Sidings – will remain.

195119 departs Edale with 2S78 from Manchester Piccadilly (11.48) to Sheffield

Paying a return visit to Edale on 10 July 2023 in rather mixed weather conditions, I was reminded what a delightfully scenic location it is to watch trains, with a backdrop of the magnificent Peak District. This is a very remote spot, yet its station remains busy all day serving walkers tackling Kinder Scout (2,088ft) or joining the nearby Pennine Way.

185107 approaches signal EE19 with 1B74 from Liverpool Lime Street (11.56) to Cleethorpes

As I wrote in my June 2021 feature, four of the five semaphores arms that are controlled from the 1893-vintage Midland Railway signal box can be seen from the station platforms, with down home EE2 and up starter EE17 in view looking east, while the bracket housing down starter EE3 can be seen looking west, with section signal EE4 visible beyond, as the route heads towards the two-mile long Cowburn Tunnel.

158788/810 approach signal EE4 with 1R64 from Norwich (07.55) to Liverpool Lime Street

To reach the best vantage point, and a chance to see up home signal EE19, it is well worth taking a five-minute walk along a path south of the railway that is signed to Barber Booth and brings you to a farm track over-bridge, from where there is a great view looking east towards the station and west towards signals EE19 and EE4.

158812/856 pass Edale Signal Box with 1L10 from Liverpool Lime Street (10.51) to Norwich

In the quest for a different angle on the semaphores I later took a path to the north of the railway and heading towards the tunnel, which brings you to a second farm track over-bridge that is close to signal EE4 and gives you a view looking east towards EE19 and the first over-bridge.

195106 is about to call at Edale with 2S80 from Manchester Piccadilly (11.48) to Sheffield

There has been some change to the composition of passenger services passing Edale since my last visit, with all Northern Trains stopping services now in the hands of the smart Class 195 units, while Trans-Pennine Trains Class 185 units operate services between Cleethorpes and Liverpoool Lime Street and pairs of Class 158 units form EMR services between Liverpool Lime Street and Norwich/Nottingham.

GBRf 66722 passes signal EE3 with 4H73 from Washwood Heath to Tunstead Sidings

Freight action at Edale remains something of a hit or miss affair, with a large number of paths to and from the Peak District quarries shown on Realtime Trains as “runs as required”. I did, however, manage to see two of these workings, with GBRf powering 4H73 from Washwood Heath to Tunstead and later Freightliner 66419 with 6E13 from Tunstead to Peterborough West Yard.

185141/137 are halted at signal EE4 with 1B75 from Cleethorpes (10.26) to Liverpool Lime Street

Apart from closure of Grindleford Signal Box, key elements of the £145m Hope Valley Line upgrade are creation of a second platform at Dore & Totley station, capacity enhancements at the eastern (Sheffield) end of the route, and installation of an eastbound freight loop near Hathersage to allow passenger services to pass slower moving loaded freight trains from the Peak Forest quarries and from Earle’s Sidings (cement traffic from Hope Works).

Freightliner 66419 passes Edale Signal Box with 6E13 from Tunstead Sidings to Peterborough

Once again, for a break between trains, or to escape the rain, and a chance to get updates on freight workings via Realtime Trains using its Wi-fi (no mobile signal around Edale station), I can highly recommend the Rambler Inn, just north of the station, where I found a very pleasant pint of a local brew called Kinder Down Fall (4.5%/£4.60).