The main problem had been that of carrying passengers on the series of cable operated sections (see Derby station) In the next few years the route of the line was hotly contested by the three major railways of the time.
The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway had gained approval in 1848 for an extension of the Whaley Bridge branch of the Peak Forest Canal, which it owned, from Bugsworth to the tramway, with the eventual aim of reaching Buxton.
[2] When the bill was put before Parliament there was opposition from both the MS&LR and the LNWR, however the Stockport, Disley and Whaley Bridge Railway Act 1854 (17 & 18 Vict.
The line was opened on 28 May 1857 and a special train left Stockport for Whaley Bridge where on the return a celebratory dinner was held in the schoolroom at Disley.
The actual first service was on 9 June, the intermediate stations being Hazel Grove, Disley, New Town (south of New Mills) and Furness Vale.
Both the MS&LR and the Midland proposed that no one of the three companies should proceed alone with any scheme, but the meeting ended with them more than a little suspicious of the LNWR.
At the end of 1856, the Midland approached the LNWR with a proposal to extend the jointly leased MBM&MJR as a through route.
They offered to subscribe £200,000 and the Duke of Devonshire was willing to add £50,000, even allowing the line to pass through Chatsworth Park if necessary.
Additional capital of £200,000 was to be raised for the extension and, once again, the LNWR contributed the lion's share – £105,000 with the MS&LR providing up to £35,000.
As Allport put it "The proposed railway, for some reason which does not appear on the face of it" is run along the high country where there is little or no population; and instead of taking the valley with a gradually rising ascent, "it goes up the steep gradient out of Buxton, to fall down again.