Up until 1967, carrying water by rail was once a daily occurrence on the Cromford & High Peak (C&HP) and the Buxton to Ashbourne sections of the LNWR.

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These lines ran over the hills of the Derbyshire Dales, and whilst the area was well watered, the water trickled through the fissures in the many limestone deposits in the area until it was caught in pockets in the limestone and was not easy to extract for use by the local people.

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The northern section of the C&HP from Buxton (Ladmanlow) to Whaley Bridge ran where water was more accessible to the point where the water was used for locomotives supplied by the Ladmanlow water tank by rail until the opening of the Buxton to Parsley Hay line in 1894.

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Another spring located at Cromford Wharf supplied around 100 tanks a month to several places.

These include:

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• Sheep-pasture Top and Middleton Top for the locomotive sheds and the winding engine for the incline.

• Industrial use at Intake Quarry

• The incline winding engine at Hopton Top up until 1880 and for domestic use.

• Domestic use at Parsley Hay, Hurdlow Bottom, Hartington and Alsop-en-le-dale

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The railway houses at Parsley Hay and Hartington were some of the last places to require water. A set of ramps at Longcliffe and Hurdlow Top were used by the water tankers which would enable them to supply water to the locomotives there. Water trains ran until 5th September 1967 after all other traffic had stopped on the 2nd January 1967.

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Water tanks were either specially built on old tender frames or else were actually old tenders which were suitably adapted. Tender frames which initially were fitted with six wheels had the middle set of wheels removed. Those locomotive tenders which were operated by the Midland railway did not have their middle pair of wheels removed until the early 1960s. At the front end of these tenders, a buffer beam with buffers and draw hook was fitted along with a handrail for shunters.

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Originally there were a series of tanks which were numbered between 1 and 19. This was then discontinued when all subsequent tanks which were adaptations of locomotive tenders all bore either their LNW or LMS tender number plates which they were know by.