North Staffordshire Railway

North Staffordshire Railway
1920 map of the railway
Overview
HeadquartersStoke-on-Trent
LocaleNorth Staffordshire
United Kingdom
Dates of operation1845–1923
SuccessorLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length220 miles 47 chains (355.0 km) (1919)[1]
Track length524 miles 20 chains (843.7 km) (1919)[1]
Route map
North Staffordshire Railway
Lines as in 1922
Macclesfield Hibel Road
Sandbach
Macclesfield (Central)
Sandbach (Wheelock)
Hassall Green
Waterhouses
Lawton
Caldon Low Halt
Up arrow
Grand Junction Railway
(LNWR) to the North West
Caldon Low Quarries
Crewe
North Rode
Radway Green & Barthomley
Winkhill Halt
Alsager
Bosley
Congleton
Rushton
Mow Cop and Scholar Green
Rudyard Lake
Biddulph
Rudyard
Harecastle
Kidsgrove Liverpool Road
Alsager Road
Newchapel and Goldenhill
Audley
Pitts Hill
Halmerend
Tunstall
Leycett
Black Bull
Chesterton Goods
Ipstones
Ford Green & Smallthorne
Chatterley
Bradnop
Pinnox branch (freight only)
Market Drayton
Burslem
Norton-in-Hales
Cobridge
Pipe Gate
Leek
Madeley Road
Waterloo Road
Longport
Leek Brook Heritage railway
Keele
Hanley
Silverdale
Wall Grange
Pool Dam
Endon
Stockton Brook
Newcastle
Milton
Etruria
Bucknall and Northwood
Stoke-on-Trent
Cheddleton Heritage railway
Fenton Manor
Consall Heritage railway
Fenton
Trentham
Caldon Low Tramway
Trentham Park
Longton
Barlaston and Tittensor
Oakamoor
Park Hall Colliery
Alton
Stone
Normacot
Denstone Crossing
Norton Bridge
Meir
Blythe Bridge
Cresswell
Aston-by-Stone
Sandon
Ashbourne
Weston and Ingestre
Clifton (Mayfield)
Leigh
Norbury and Ellaston
Bromshall
Tean
Cheadle
Hixon
Rocester
Great Haywood
Uttoxeter
Marchington
Colwich
Sudbury
Down arrow
Grand Junction Railway
(LNWR)   to Birmingham
Scropton
Tutbury
Egginton Junction
Rolleston-on-Dove
Stretton and Claymills
Midland Railway goods line
to Trent
LowerRight arrow
Horninglow
Burton-on-Trent
Some minor halts and non-public timetable stations omitted for clarity;
see List of North Staffordshire Railway halts for a listing of these locations.

The North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) was a British railway company formed in 1845 to promote a number of lines in the Staffordshire Potteries and surrounding areas in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire.

The company was based in Stoke-on-Trent and was nicknamed The Knotty;[2] its lines were built to the standard gauge of 4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm). The main routes were constructed between 1846 and 1852 and ran from Macclesfield via Stoke to Colwich Junction joining the Trent Valley Railway, with another branch to Norton Bridge, just north of Stafford, and from Crewe to Egginton Junction, west of Derby. Within these main connections with other railway companies, most notably the London and North Western Railway (LNWR), the company operated a network of smaller lines although the total route mileage of the company never exceeded 221 miles (356 km). The majority of the passenger traffic was local although a number of LNWR services from Manchester to London were operated via Stoke. Freight traffic was mostly coal and other minerals but the line also carried the vast majority of china and other pottery goods manufactured in England.

As the NSR was surrounded by other larger railway companies, there were in the 19th century several attempts emanating from other companies or proposals from NSR shareholders to amalgamate with one or more of the other companies that adjoined it. None of these came to fruition and the NSR remained an independent company up to 1923 when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company.

The main routes of the NSR are still in use today; the routes connecting Stoke-on-Trent with Macclesfield, Crewe, Stafford and Colwich Junction remain in use as important parts of the West Coast Main Line, whilst the Stoke to Derby route also remains in use, however most of the less important lines built by the company have since been closed.

  1. ^ a b The Railway Year Book for 1920. London: The Railway Publishing Company Limited. 1920. p. 233.
  2. ^ Manifold 1952, p. 10.