Leek Brook | |
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![]() Leek Brook station, Churnet Valley in 2018 | |
General information | |
Location | Leek, Staffordshire, Staffordshire Moorlands England |
Coordinates | 53°04′48″N2°01′47″W / 53.0800°N 2.0296°W Coordinates: 53°04′48″N2°01′47″W / 53.0800°N 2.0296°W |
Grid reference | SJ981536 |
Platforms | 3 until 1956, now 1 |
Other information | |
Status | Used (Heritage Railway) |
History | |
Original company | North Staffordshire Railway |
Post-grouping | |
Key dates | |
1904 | Opened |
1956 | Closed |
24 August 1996 | reopened as a heritage railway station |
Leek Brook railway station is a passenger station in Staffordshire, Great Britain.
Leek Brook railway station was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) in 1904. [1] It consisted of an island platform with two faces on the line from Stoke-on-Trent and Leek and a single platform on the down (i.e. Leek bound) direction of the Churnet Valley Line. [2]
The railway station was a very quiet station not even advertised in timetables and was described by the NSR as a halt. [3] The Churnet Valley platform was mainly used as an interchange platform with the St Edwards Hospital tramway using the other side of the platform. Passengers to and from Stoke-on-Trent used the platforms on the Stoke–Leek line and walked over to the Churnet Valley platform to catch a tram to the hospital. Passengers wishing to head south on the Churnet Valley line towards Uttoxeter would have to catch a northbound train to Leek and then return through Leek Brook on a south bound train.
Leek Brook railway station closed to all traffic on 7 May 1956, [3] the hospital railway had already closed two years previously in November 1954. [4]
During the 1970s a railway preservation base was set up at nearby Cheddleton railway station. This was later to become the base of the Churnet Valley Railway (CVR). The CVR had slowly been progressing in preserving the line when in the late 1990s they had reached the site of Leek Brook station which, however, was not judged worthy of re-opening due to the large amount of other preservation projects being undertaken by the CVR at the time and the poor access to the site.
The first CVR passenger service to the station site was on 24 August 1996 and Leek Brook is currently the normal northern terminus of the CVR. Since November 2010, on special events some CVR trains continue beyond the site towards Cauldon Low.
There is no public access to the station, so neither boarding not alighting is possible there. Trains stop there only to detach the locomotive from one end of the train and run round to attach it to the other.
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 Churnet Valley Railway is a preserved standard gauge heritage railway to the east of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England, that operates along a part of the former North Staffordshire Railway's (NSR) Churnet Valley Line. Regular services travel between the two main stations at Cheddleton and Kingsley and Froghall. There is an intermediate station at Consall. Most trains also head beyond Cheddleton to Leek Brook Junction and on to Ipstones, but Ipstones station is not in use.
Uttoxeter railway stationpronounced (listen) (help·info) is a station serving the town of Uttoxeter in Staffordshire, England on the Crewe-Derby Line, which is also a Community rail line known as the North Staffordshire line. The station is owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Railway.
Cheddleton railway station is a former passenger railway station of the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) and is now a preserved station on the Churnet Valley Railway in Staffordshire, England].
Rushton Spencer railway station was a railway station that served the village of Rushton Spencer, Staffordshire. The station was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway in 1849 as part of the Churnet Valley line.
The Churnet Valley line was one of the three original routes planned and built by the North Staffordshire Railway. Authorised in 1846, the line opened in 1849 and ran from North Rode in Cheshire to Uttoxeter in East Staffordshire. The line was closed in several stages between 1964 and 1988 but part of the central section passed into the hands of a preservation society and today operates as the Churnet Valley Railway.
Macclesfield Hibel Road railway station was a railway station serving the town of Macclesfield in Cheshire, England. It was opened as a joint station by the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) and the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) on 13 July 1849, with the opening of the NSR route to Uttoxeter via North Rode and Leek and it replaced an earlier, temporary, LNWR station at Beech Bridge. Built right at the point where the track of the two companies made an end-on junction, the station was managed by a joint committee of the two companies.
North Rode railway station originally North Rode junction served the village of North Rode, Cheshire. The station was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) on 18 June 1849 and formed the junction of the Churnet Valley Line from the main NSR line between Stoke-on-Trent and Macclesfield.
Cliffe Park railway station was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) in 1905 on the Churnet Valley line to attract visitors to Rudyard Lake, which the NSR were trying to develop as a leisure and tourist attraction including a golf course. The station was originally named Rudyard Lake and was at the northern end of the lake. There were no settlements nearby and consequently the station had no goods facilities. There was one siding but this was used more for stabling excursion trains rather than freight vehicles.
Rudyard railway station served Rudyard, Staffordshire and was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) in 1850 on the Churnet Valley line. In the village the NSR also owned the Rudyard Hotel as part of the company's efforts to develop Rudyard Lake and its environs as a tourist destination.
Stockton Brook railway station is a disused railway station in Staffordshire.
Waterhouses railway station was a railway station that served the village of Waterhouses, Staffordshire. It was opened jointly by the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) and the Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway (L&MVLR) in 1905 and closed in 1943.
The St Edward's Hospital tramway was a tramway built for Staffordshire County Council for the construction of the St Edward's County Mental Asylum at Cheddleton, Staffordshire. Opened in 1899, the line ran until 1954 before being closed and scrapped.
Higher Poynton was a railway station serving the eastern side of the town of Poynton in Cheshire, England. It was opened in 1869 by the Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway (MB&M) - a joint line constructed and operated by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&L) and North Staffordshire Railways (NSR).
Ipstones railway station was a railway station that served the village of Ipstones, Staffordshire. It was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) in 1905 and closed to passenger use in 1935, but remained open to freight traffic until 1964.
Bradnop railway station was a railway station that served the village of Bradnop, Staffordshire. It was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) in 1905 and closed to passenger use in 1935, but remained open to freight traffic until 1964.
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.
Endon railway station is a disused railway station in Staffordshire.
Wall Grange railway station is a disused railway station in Staffordshire, England.
Leek railway station is the proposed and future terminus of the Churnet Valley Railway and is currently awaiting construction. It will be the second railway station in Leek.