[2] It is for this reason that all of the bridges along the line, including the one which simply has a head shunt under it (Cemetery Lane), are built to the double-tracked grand Midland Railway style.

Under the original scheme, it would have descended from Wirksworth to Cromford using a 1,503-yard (1,374 m) tunnel and a 280-yard (260 m) long viaduct, then proceed parallel to the existing line, but on the west side of the river through Matlock to Rowsley.

However, when the lease expired on the original Ambergate line, the LNWR withdrew and the Midland acquired complete control; thus the section beyond Wirksworth was never built.

The presence of the line allowed Wirksworth's limestone business to develop, the carriage of which was its mainstay until the middle of the 20th century.

Howevet, by 1939, milk was carried instead by road and, during World War II, passenger travel was severely curtailed.

An hourly (five on Sundays) direct bus service (Trentbarton route 6.1) still operates (2014) between Wirksworth and Derby with a journey time of 50  minutes.

In the early 1950s, people near the line were treated to the eerie sight of a railway carriage ghosting along, apparently by itself – the test vehicle for the new diesel railcars being designed in Derby – nothing more than a standard coach with the mechanism fitted and a windscreen cut in each end for the driver – that presaged a major change in British rail travel.

On 25 August 1981, a rail accident occurred when a fully laden freight train partially derailed 300 yards (270 m) south of Wirksworth.

[4] Although most of the goods had transferred to the roads, limestone traffic continued, including that formerly hauled by the Cromford and High Peak Railway, when it closed in 1967.

Though the amount of traffic justified the installation of some continuous welded rail in the 1980s, production was increasingly of aggregate carried by road.

Although its sidings, and the station goods yard, at Wirksworth are still listed by Network Rail, the connection to the main line at Duffield has been severed and fenced off, There is hope that one day the EVR could "once possible funding would be made" purchase and reuse both the goods yard and the sidings for further/extra space for some rolling stock and train storage.

[10] In July 2005, WyvernRail adopted Duffield station under a scheme promoted by the Friends of the Derwent Valley Line.

The interlaced section of track was operated by a manual tight point, but still came under the control of the Wirksworth-Ravenstor train token.

It is believed that this signal was permanently lit for nearly forty years, before being swept away in the reconstruction of the platform ready for the reopening.

Changes to the structure of the industry following privatisation meant that, for several years during the mid-1990s, WyvernRail often experienced difficulty in maintaining a consistent relationship with the authorities responsible for the line.

For WyvernRail, progress began at accelerate in the summer of 2000, when Railtrack management not only took an interest in the firm's activities but provided a proactive and imaginative basis for negotiations, including granting the company's volunteers access to the line.