Monument record MDR7579 - Butterley Gang Road (route of), Crich and Ripley

The Butterley Gang Road was originally a horse-drawn tramway built as a 3ft 10inch gauge plate way in about 1800. It was later steam-worked and closed in 1933. It ran from Hilt's quarry (SMR 18421) and Warner quarry (SMR 18422) to limekilns and sidings at Bull Bridge (SMR 24732). (1) A railway existed from Bull Bridge Wharf, north to Warner Limestone Quarries. There was also a branch from the Hat Factory to Hills Quarry. It opened circa 1793 and was owned by the Butterley Company. The traffic was for limestone quarried material. The line was abandoned circa 1930. (2) The railway leading from Warner Quarry is interesting as the first of any length with which Outram was concerned. It was about a mile and a quarter long and ran steeply downhill south from the quarry. It was carefully graded, with a substantial embankment midway at Fritchley to maintain an even gradient, and a short tunnel in the same village, both faced with ashlar millstone grit. The line ended at a wharf immediately north of Bullbridge Aqueduct over the River Amber. (3) Original documentary sources make it clear that the tramway was built in 1793 and measured 3ft 6ins between the flanges. The line originally followed a winding course between the Hat Factory (SK 35705369) and Amber Wharf, passing through the tunnel at Fritchley. This early route is clearly shown on the Mineral Railway deposited plans for a Crich branch dated 1845 (Derbyshire Record Office Q/RP2/34). The line was re-aligned to its present course between 1845 and 1856, when steam traction was introduced and the rebuild to a conventional 3ft 9inch gauge mineral railway took place. The new alignment resulted in the substantial engineering features seen today. Short sections of the original alignment survive. (4) Documentary research by the Butterley Gangroad Project has allowed a detailed history of the railway to be developed: * Evidence that the railway was open in 1793. * Sleepers may have originally been wood; stone blocks replacing them early on. * The initial gauge was 3ft 6ins between the backs of the upright flanges and the later gauge was probably 3ft 10.5ins. * The early line had a gradient of 1 in 30 (30%) down from the quarry. The Hilt's incline had a gradient of 1 in 15 (6%) that extended beyond the double track section. There is no evidence for an incline on the approach to Amber Wharf. The gradient here is a relatively gentle 1 in 40 (2.5%) as a result of the bridge over Drover's Lane having been raised by about 15 feet c. 1900. The double track here was to separate incoming from outgoing wagons. * Remains exist of the mine that became a tunnel at the entrance to Warner Quarry (1802, not 1808 as previously thought). The top was removed c. 1900 but part of the sidewalls remain. * The land for the railway was leased originally and was eventually purchased except for one short stretch at Bowmer Lane. * Dimple Lane was diverted when the Hilt's Quarry branch was opened. The line used to run south of both the Hat Factory buildings and there is evidence suggesting that the old line passed under Dimple Lane originally by a bridge as well. * The route did change and made use of the alignment of the Midland Railway’s proposed Crich branch of 1844. * There are definite 'kinks' in the stone walls where the old alignment and new alignments met at two locations. At one the levels were also altered. * There is no evidence for any locomotive, other than Brunton’s 'Horse', before 1869. The builder of the first locomotive is probably Chaplins of Glasgow. This also dates the engine shed. * The incline to Hilt’s Quarry was singled and converted to locomotive operation in 1894 when 'Fitz' arrived. The branch had originally had stone sleeper blocks and light rails. These were replaced by timber sleepers and heavier rails. The rest of the line was relaid with this heavier rail by 1903. * The stone sleeper blocks used to construct a flight of steps at Amber Wharf c. 1900 are completely different to others found along the route. They may have come from another railway since they show evidence of having been used as walling stone at some time. * There was an extra siding, not shown on any map, on top of the old tip near to incline cottage. * Disposing of waste became a major problem. The 'island' of land in the middle of Hilt’s Quarry is actually waste dumped there when that area was worked out. (5) The first of the railways that Outram probably designed, apart from short railways feeding the works themselves, ran between a limestone quarry that the Butterley Company had established at Crich and a wharf at Bullbridge on the Cromford Canal; a distance of about one mile. It was in operation from 1793. Unlike most of his later lines it had the narrow gauge of 3ft 6in. In Fritchley village it passed under a road junction by means of a tunnel that emerged in the field a few yards beyond. This tunnel has survived and is now officially recognised by the Guinness World Book of Records as the world's oldest railway tunnel [see SMR 18486]. William Brunton, who was working as an engineer for the Butterley Company in 1813, was allowed to use the company facilities to build and test a steam locomotive. Called the 'Mechanical Horse' or 'Traveller', this technology solved the problem that other early locomotives had experienced of breaking the fragile cast iron rails. It appears to have operated successfully on the Crich Railway for several months pulling empty wagons back up to the quarry at a steady walking pace. This was quite an achievement given the ruling gradient was about 1 in 35, and it was many years before conventional steam locomotives were built that could tackle such grades. The railway was subsequently rebuilt as a conventional narrow gauge steam mineral railway and operated as such until 1933. The Butterley Company was slow to sell off the old infrastructure and it remained intact until the 1970s; in fact most of the route survives untouched but overgrown and derelict to this day. (6)