North Staffordshire Railway

North Staffordshire Railway

1920 map of the railway
Overview
Headquarters	Stoke-on-Trent
Locale	North Staffordshire United Kingdom
Dates of operation	1845–1923
Successor	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length	220 miles 47 chains (355.0 km) (1919)[1]
Track length	524 miles 20 chains (843.7 km) (1919)[1]
Route map v t e North Staffordshire Railway Lines as in 1922 Manchester and Birmingham Railway (LNWR)   to Manchester London Road Macclesfield Hibel Road Manchester & Birmingham Rly (LNWR) to Manchester London Road Macclesfield, Bollington & Marple Rly (GC/NSR Joint Line)   to Rose Hill Marple Sandbach Macclesfield (Central) Sandbach (Wheelock) Leek & Manifold Valley Lt Rly to Hulme End Hassall Green Waterhouses Lawton Caldon Low Halt 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 Nantwich & Market Drayton Rly (GWR)   to Wellington Pinnox branch (freight only) Market Drayton Burslem Norton-in-Hales Cobridge Pipe Gate Leek Madeley Road Waterloo Road Longport Leek Brook Keele Hanley Silverdale Wall Grange Pool Dam Endon Apedale Stockton Brook Newcastle Milton Etruria Bucknall and Northwood Stoke-on-Trent Cheddleton Fenton Manor Consall Fenton Adderley Green Colliery Trentham Kingsley and Froghall Caldon Low Tramway Trentham Park Longton Barlaston and Tittensor Oakamoor Park Hall Colliery Alton Stone Normacot Denstone Crossing Norton Bridge Meir Grand Junction Railway (LNWR)   to Stafford Blythe Bridge Cresswell Aston-by-Stone Ashbourne Line (LNWR)   to Buxton Sandon Ashbourne Weston and Ingestre Clifton (Mayfield) Leigh Norbury and Ellaston Bromshall Tean Stafford & Uttoxeter Rly (GNR)   to Stafford Cheadle Hixon Rocester Great Haywood Uttoxeter Grand Junction Railway (LNWR)   to Stafford Marchington Colwich Sudbury Grand Junction Railway (LNWR)   to Birmingham Scropton Tutbury Egginton Junction Derbyshire & Staffordshire Extn (GNR)   to Derby Friargate Rolleston-on-Dove Birmingham & Derby Jn Rly (MR)   to Derby Stretton and Claymills Midland Railway goods line to Trent Horninglow Burton-on-Trent Birmingham & Derby Jn Rly (MR)   to Tamworth Leicester & Swannington Rly (MR)   to Leicester 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+1⁄2 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.