Waterhouses branch line

v t e Waterhouses Branch Line
Legend
Leek & Manifold Valley Lt Rly to Hulme End Waterhouses Caldon Low Halt Caldon Low Quarries Winkhill Halt Ipstones Bradnop Churnet Valley Line to Leek │ to Cheddleton North Staffordshire Railway to Stoke-on-Trent

The Waterhouses branch line was a railway built by the North Staffordshire Railway to link the small villages east of Leek, Staffordshire with Leek, the biggest market town in the area. The railway opened in 1905 but closed to passengers in 1935. Freight continued on the line though until 1988, when the line was mothballed as the traffic from the quarries at Caldon Low ceased.

In 2009 a new company, Moorlands & City Railways (MCR), was formed with the intention of re-opening the line for commercial freight traffic, and contracted with the local Churnet Valley Railway (CVR) to hold a series of re-opening events in November 2010. Since 2011 an agreement has been reached between the two companies that sees the CVR operate a heritage service along the branch, with MCR continuing negotiations over the return of freight traffic.^[1]