striking low bridges on the route. Piccadilly to Hazel Grove services used Class 323 electric multiple units up until 2008. Class 319 and Class 331 units are now used for the Blackpool to Hazel Grove service. Passenger information systems have been installed at most stations on the line since 2011, including the terminus at Buxton, Hazel Grove, New Mills Newtown and Whaley Bridge. Route At Edgeley Junction the branch leaves the West Coast Main Line south of Stockport and curves sharply east. At the end of the curve a spur (opened to goods on 12 December 1883 and to passengers on 1 July 1884) linked it to Cheadle station and the Stockport, Timperley and Altrincham Junction Railway until the 1960s. Just beyond Hazel Grove, from Edgeley Junction, a 1986 (originally planned in 1933) junction links the line with the Hope Valley Line through Disley Tunnel. The line then climbs at 1 in 60 for to Disley. At Middlewood there was a junction (from 26 May 1885 to 1954) to allow trains to run between Buxton and Macclesfield via the Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway. East of that junction the line passes in a short tunnel under the Macclesfield Canal. east it runs in a cutting across the edge of Lyme Park, home of Thomas Legh, first Chairman of the Stockport, Disley and Whaley Bridge Railway. Just east of Disley station the line runs through another short tunnel into the Goyt valley, which it gently drops down to Furness Vale, running close to and parallel to the Hope Valley Line, Peak Forest Canal and A6. At Whaley Bridge the line joined the Cromford and High Peak Railway, the link to Shallcross Yard remaining until January 1965. Here the line leaves the Goyt valley to climb at 1 in 60 or 1 in 58 to Dove Holes. The line runs near Combs Reservoir, through the Barmoor Clough Tunnel, beside the former Peak Forest Tramway, descends (mostly at 1 in 66), passes the site of (a platform on the up side only, from Buxton, closed in September 1939) and the junctions to the Ashbourne and Midland lines, reaching its destination at Buxton railway station. References Pixton, B., (2000) North Midland: Portrait of a Famous Route, Cheltenham: Runpast Publishing Bentley, C., (1997) British Railways Operating History: Volume one, The Peak District, Carnarvon: XPress Publishing. External links 1947 map showing former junctions Line Rail transport