The eye is inclined to be deceived

Even though I took this photo, and know the layout, it still looks to me as though the rails are sloping down; and the short tunnel is at the bottom.


Whereas in fact I'm looking UP to the tunnel, which is sloping, and the rails are level!

This is the bottom of Sheep Pasture Incline at the High Peak Junction end of the Cromford and High Peak Railway. Trains of open goods wagons complete with their steam locomotives were hauled up and lowered down the incline, initially by hemp rope and later by steel cable.


Compare the top photo with the one below. This is looking the other way to the tunnel, now more clearly on the incline. (That's the A6 going over the top.)


In the middle is the catch pit, which I talk about here.