Dove Holes railway station serves the village of

Dove Holes Dove Holes is a village in the High Peak district of Derbyshire, England. It has a population of about 1,200 (2001), shown in the 2011 Census as being included in the population of Chapel-en-le-Frith. It straddles the A6 road approximately thre ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, England. The station is on the

Buxton line The Buxton line is a railway line in Northern England, connecting Manchester with Buxton in Derbyshire. Passenger services on the line are currently operated by Northern Trains. History The line has its origins with the Stockport, Disley and W ...

between

Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. Opened as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchester Piccadilly in 1960. Located to the south-east of Manchester city ...

and

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.

; it is situated south-east of Piccadilly. It is managed and served by

Northern Trains Northern Trains, branded as Northern, (legally Northern Trains Limited) is a State-owned enterprises of the United Kingdom, publicly owned train operating company in England. It is owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT) ...

History

It was opened in 1863 by the

LNWR The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lond ...

, at the summit of its line between

Whaley Bridge Whaley Bridge () is a town and civil parish in the High Peak district of Derbyshire, England. It is situated on the River Goyt, south-east of Manchester, north of Buxton, north-east of Macclesfield and west of Sheffield. It had a population ...

and Buxton. Originally, the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

had hoped that the LNWR would join it in extending the line that they jointly leased between

Ambergate Ambergate is a village in Derbyshire, England, situated where the River Amber joins the River Derwent, and where the A610 road from Ripley and Nottingham joins the A6 that runs along the Derwent valley between Derby to the south and Matlock ...

and

Rowsley Rowsley () is a village on the A6 road in the English county of Derbyshire. The population as at the 2011 census was 507. It is at the point where the River Wye flows into the River Derwent and prospered from mills on both. The border of the P ...

. The LNWR declined, then built this one from Buxton to meet its line to Manchester. Later, the Midland built a line from

Millers Dale Millers Dale (Ordnance Survey: Miller's Dale) is a valley on the River Wye in Derbyshire, England, where there is also a hamlet of the same name. It is a popular beauty spot in the Peak District of England, much of the area being preserved a ...

, via

Chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

, to

Chinley Chinley is a rural village in the High Peak Borough of Derbyshire, England, with a population of 2,796 at the 2011 Census. Most of the civil parish (called Chinley, Buxworth and Brownside) is within the Peak District National Park. Historicall ...

, passing 183 feet beneath it in

Dove Holes Tunnel Dove Holes Tunnel is a tunnel built by the Midland Railway between Peak Forest Signal Box and Chapel-en-le-Frith in Derbyshire in 1860–64, now carrying the Great Rocks Line. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and ...

Facilities

The station is unmanned and has no ticket facilities, so all tickets must be bought on the train or prior to travel. There are no permanent buildings other than waiting shelters on each platform; train running details are provided by telephone and timetable poster boards. Step-free access is available to both platforms via ramps.

Accident

In 1957, the steep gradient north of here down towards

Chapel-en-le-Frith Chapel-en-le-Frith () is a town and civil parish in the Borough of High Peak in Derbyshire, England. It has been dubbed the "Capital of the Peak", in reference to the Peak District, historically the upperland areas between the Saxon lands (belo ...

was the scene of a serious accident, in which the driver of a runaway freight train,

John Axon John Axon GC (4 December 1900 – 9 February 1957) was an English train driver from Stockport (Edgeley Depot) who died while trying to stop a runaway freight train on a 1 in 58 gradient at Chapel-en-le-Frith in Derbyshire after a brake failu ...

, remained at his post and died when it ran into the back of a preceding train. Axon was awarded a posthumous

George Cross The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, has been ...

for his actions.

Service

There are services every two hours Monday-Saturday towards Manchester Piccadilly northbound and Buxton southbound (other trains pass through without calling); some extra calls are provided at peak times. On Sundays, the service frequency in both directions from the station is also two-hourly.

References

External links