The Railway History

These two photos were taken on the 26th May 1989 by Gordon Edgar.

Gordan explained ‘The Wilmslow operation demanded two sets of four wagons, one rake being propelled to the moss empty after discharge, and a loaded rake made up on the moss in the intervening time, subsequently being drawn back to the mill’s tippler, with just one loco required in use at any given time’ 😱

In 1997, the current owners bought the site from Middlebrook Mushrooms and the railway finally closed in October 2000. Despite being granted permission to extract peat until 2042, due to pressure from several groups including Transition Wilmslow , all peat extraction ceased in 2018 and in June 2020 the locomotives and wagons were removed and sent to Apedale Heritage Centre!

You can read more about the removal of the railway here . You can see more of Gordon's photos here.

📷 - Photos used by kind permission of Gordon Edgar