Churnet Valley Railway

Churnet Valley Railway
A steam-hauled train at Consall station
Commercial operations
NameBritish Rail
Built byNorth Staffordshire Railway
Original gauge4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Preserved operations
Owned by
  • Churnet Valley Railway (1992) plc
  • Charitable trust: North Staffordshire Railway Company (1978) Ltd
Operated byChurnet Valley Railway (1992) plc
Stations4
Length10+12 miles (16.9 km)
Preserved gauge4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Commercial history
Opened13 July 1849
Closed to passengers4 January 1965
Closed30 August 1988
Preservation history
30 October 1992Incorporation of "Goldenlaunch plc" (renamed "Churnet Valley Railway (1992) plc" 15 December 1992)
3 May 1996CVR granted light railway order[1]
4 July 1996CVR buys Leek Brook - Oakamoor trackbed[2]
24 August 1996First service train runs from Cheddleton to Leek Brook[3]
11 July 1998Consall station re-opened[3]
11 August 2001Kingsley & Froghall station re-opened[3]
13 August 2004Consall signal box commissioned, allowing two-train operation[4]
21 September 2008Track to Oakamoor Sand Sidings re-open for limited use[5]
12 November 2010Cauldon Lowe branch re-opened[6]
6 February 2014Ipstones Loop re-opened[7]
Website
http://www.churnetvalleyrailway.co.uk
Churnet Valley Railway
to Rudyard & Macclesfield
trackbed breached by supermarket
Leek
Birchall Tunnel
69 yd
63 m
Leek Brook
Cheddleton Tunnel
531 yd
486 m
Cheddleton
Consall
Kingsley and Froghall
Oakamoor Sand Sidings
497 yd
454 m
Oakamoor
Alton Towers
Denstone
trackbed breached by JCB Works
Rocester

The Churnet Valley Railway is a preserved standard gauge heritage railway in the Staffordshire Moorlands of Staffordshire, England. It operates on part of the former Churnet Valley Line which was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway. The railway is roughly 10.5 miles (16.9 km) long from Kingsley and Froghall to Ipstones. The land from Leek Brook Junction to Ipstones was opened by Moorland & City Railways (MCR) in 2010 after they took a lease out from Network Rail. This has subsequently been purchased by the Churnet Valley Railway. The main stations along the line are Kingsley and Froghall, Consall, Cheddleton and Leek Brook (which is only used as a run around loop). Work has begun to extend the line to the town of Leek which will act as the northern terminus of the line.[8][9] The line between Leek and Waterhouses has also been reopened as part of the heritage railway as far as Ipstones.

  1. ^ "The Churnet Valley Light Railway Order 1996". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  2. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ a b c "Churnet Valley Railway". Archived from the original on 7 September 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
  4. ^ "Photographic image" (JPG). 3.bp.blogspot.com. 13 August 2004.
  5. ^ "HOME". Brcw.co.uk.
  6. ^ "Moorlands railway woos passengers". BBC News. 7 October 2010.
  7. ^ "Slideshow of pictures - Winter Steam Gala 2014 at Churnet Valley Railway | Leek Post & Times". Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
  8. ^ "Rail line to Leek takes a major step forward". InYourArea.co.uk. 23 December 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  9. ^ Corrigan, Phil (16 December 2021). "Ghost railway to Leek to be brought back to life". StokeonTrentLive. Retrieved 27 October 2022.