The Train Disaster
After so many years there is not a great amount of detail available about what happened on that Winter's night in 1885.
It happened on February 17th at 10.03 pm. Frozen signals were the cause of the accident it was decided.
The train left the line and ended up in Wharf Road, both the driver and the guard were killed.
There were three men on the engine, the driver, the stoker and the guard. Robert Bagshaw is named as the driver and he was 29 and lived with his parents at Ivy Cottage in Chapel-en-le-Frith.
After the train left the rails the stoker jumped to the ground and escaped with a severe shaking, he was James Morten who resided in Buxton.
William Moores, the guard, was one year younger than Robert Bagshaw, married and living at Edgeley in Stockport.
Both men who died did so at the scene although they didn't die immediately, one did not regain consciousness and the other was able to speak a few words, both were dead within 15-20 mins.
There is now talk about whether there should be a plaque, or another means, of remembering the two men who died that night many years ago.
The following was added by forum member Buggyite, 16th March 2013.
The engine number was 163, and was known as a "DX goods" class locomotive.
I have often wondered how a loco can fall off the rails on a bridge, and land right-way up in the road below. The photos show that it hasn't been upside down at all as the chimney and dome are undamaged.
Close study of the maps show that the shallcross branch continued towards the station as a headshunt or siding, on the western side of the mainline, and this headshunt ended just before the bridge over Wharf Road. I strongly suspect that the loco must have travelled along the headshunt, through the buffers at the end, and this way ended up in the road below.