This really was a tiny station for passenger traffic. A horse waits patiently for… There was a mine (headstock just visible) Putwell Hill Mine and a quarry, Monsaldale Spar Mine nearby which will have supplied materials to the siding which is on the other side of the far platform fence (some wagons visible). Because the ground drops away steeply on the left, a suspended wooden platform was built. This photo was taken from the Monsal Dale signal box. On maps before about 1900 the station was spelt as “Monsaldale”, and the hill behind the station was “Putty Hill”

This photo, looking westward past Monsal Dale Station is fascinating, there’s hardly a tree to be seen!