Middleton Top Engine House operated to haul waggons up and down Middleton Incline on the Cromford and High Peak Railway. It is the world’s oldest working reciprocating winding engine still in its original engine house.
The Cromford and High Peak Railway was one of the first long distance railways in the world, with the Act of Parliament in 1829. It linked the Cromford Canal with the Peak Forest Canal at Whaley Bridge, crossing the Pennine hills. Steam winding engines hauled waggons on the inclines, horses were used to transport waggons on the flat sections of track.