the old building remaining in use a plans store. This third and final station was the famous triangular one, reputed to be one of only three in the country. On Monday 20 March 1899 a fire broke out on the down platform for the North which destroyed 30 yards of platform, together with the booking hall, stationmaster’s office and waiting rooms. The fire brigade from Belper were summoned as well as the Midland Railway company brigade from Derby. Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Ambergate was an important railway interchange with 28,207 tickets sold in 1872 rising to 90,157 by 1922. In 1931 the line across Broadholme approaching from the south was upgraded to four tracks. Longlands Tunnel was opened up to form a wide cutting and the junction with the Manchester line was moved south of the river. A new modern steel bridge for the Manchester line was built alongside the original viaduct over the River Derwent and the A6 main road. The line through Matlock, then the 'main line', carried London to Manchester expresses such as the Palatine and the Peaks. It also carried coal trains from Nottinghamshire, for a while with Garratt locomotives, which would be split at Rowsley for the long climb to Peak Forest. Grouping and Nationalisation Having gathered in the Midland Railway, the lines through the station became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The station then passed on to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. On 5 April 1950 there was another fire at the station which destroyed a waiting room on platform 1 which carried the up line to Manchester. Two painters were working on the waiting room at the time. When Sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by Regional Railways until the Privatisation of British Railways. Decline The stopping service on the former North Midland route to Chesterfield & Sheffield (using the eastern platforms on the slow lines) was withdrawn in January 1967, when the other local stations on this section were closed. Most of the trackwork on the Derwent Valley line was lifted in 1968, soon after the closure of line from Rowsley to Buxton & Manchester whilst the line eastwards from Crich Junction to & Pye Bridge closed completely in December that year. The station buildings were removed in 1970. Although