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The Stoke to Market Drayton Line was a railway line that ran through Staffordshire and Shropshire that was built by the North Staffordshire Railway.[ citation needed ]
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The Stoke to Market Drayton Line was a railway line that ran through Staffordshire and Shropshire that was built by the North Staffordshire Railway.[ citation needed ]
The first part of the line to be built required the private Silverdale & Newcastle Railway, built in 1850 by ironmaster Ralph Sneyd, to become public. This was enabled by an Act of 1859 and passenger services from Stoke to Newcastle began in 1862. Silverdale was reached in May 1863. [1]
Meanwhile, the Great Western Railway was planning to reach Manchester and in an effort to block this, the Market Drayton extension was completed in February 1870. [1]
The early years of the 20th century were the busiest, there being thirteen trains daily from Stoke to Silverdale and five to Market Drayton. [2]
Railmotor services began in 1905 and several new halts were built. Running from Silverdale as far as Trentham, they were intended to compete with trams and were somewhat successful in this respect, although they only lasted until 1926. [1]
The section between Silverdale and Pipe Gate was reduced to single track in October 1934. [1]
Dwindling passenger numbers after World War II meant that there were only two trains daily from Stoke to Market Drayton, and services ceased on 7 May 1956 when they were cut back to Silverdale. [1] Passenger services to the latter ceased in 1964, a casualty of the Beeching Axe.
Express Dairies had a creamery with private siding access to Pipe Gate, allowing its preferred transport partner the GWR to provide milk trains to the facility, for onward scheduling to London.
Following nationalisation there was a very considerable increase in freight traffic on this route reaching a peak of 10,000 tons weekly in 1962–63. [1]
In 1962 a new "chord" line was opened at Madeley to provide a connection to the West Coast Main Line. This was used as a diversionary route when the Harecastle diversion line was being constructed and continued in use for freight workings once the latter was completed.
After closure of the creamery at Pipe Gate, the route between Market Drayton and Madeley Chord closed for good in 1966. [2] That same year, the line between Newcastle Junction (Stoke) and Brampton Sidings was closed and the junction severed in preparation for the West Coast Main Line electrification. [3] The Pool Dam branch survived until 7 October 1967. [1]
The last traffic on the line was coal from Apedale and Silverdale collieries, which ceased in December 1998 when the latter was closed.
As of 2020 [update] , the line remains extant but out of use between Newcastle and just west of Madeley Road station. The line is also extant from Silverdale Tunnel, and now a public footpath runs along the line, from its start in Stoke-on-Trent (Cockshot Lock/Newcastle Junction) to as far as Silverdale station.
The station at Norton-in-Hales is the only station still standing on the former route, as a private residence. The station site at Newcastle-Under-Lyme has been landscaped, and Market Drayton's has been demolished and built on by both a Morrisons store and an industrial complex.
In 2009 the platforms at Silverdale were cleared of vegetation and the derelict track from the former station site to the tunnel portal was lifted but the track remains intact between Silverdale and Pipe Gate via Keele and Madeley Road.
In January 2019, Campaign for Better Transport released a report identifying the line between Stoke and Wellington which was listed as Priority 2 for reopening. Priority 2 is for those lines which require further development or a change in circumstances (such as housing developments). [4]
Newcastle-under-Lyme is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. The 2011 census population of the town was 75,082, whilst the wider borough had a population of 128,264 in 2016, up from 123,800 in the 2011 Census.
Woore is a village and civil parish in the north east of Shropshire, England, of about 3,950 acres. It had a population of 1,004 in the 2001 Census, rising to 1,069 at the 2011 Census.
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.
Keele is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. It is approximately three miles (5 km) west of Newcastle-under-Lyme, and is close to the village of Silverdale. Keele lies on the A53 road from Newcastle-under-Lyme to Market Drayton and Shrewsbury. The village is the location of Keele University and Keele Services, a motorway service area on the M6.
Stoke-on-Trent railway station is a mainline railway station serving the city of Stoke-on-Trent, on the Stafford to Manchester branch of the West Coast Main Line. It also provides an interchange between local services running through Cheshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire.
Uttoxeter railway station serves the town of Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, England. It is 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.
Madeley is a village and ward in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, North Staffordshire, England. It is split into three parts: Madeley, Middle Madeley, and Little Madeley. Madeley Heath is also considered by many to be part of Madeley. In the 2001 census, the population was recorded as 4,386, decreasing to 4,222 at the 2011 Census.
The Derbyshire and Staffordshire extension of the Great Northern Railway was an English railway network built by the GNR to get access to coal resources in the area to the north and west of Nottingham. The Midland Railway had obstructed the GNR in its attempts to secure a share of the lucrative business of transporting coal from the area, and in frustration the GNR built the line. The line was forked: it reached Pinxton in 1875 and a junction with the North Staffordshire Railway at Egginton, approaching Burton on Trent in 1878. The line cut through Derby, resulting in considerable demolition of housing there.
Baldwin's Gate is a hamlet in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire. The population details for the 2011 census can be found under Whitmore. There is a pub in the centre of the village called The Sheet Anchor, along with a Post Office & General Store, a primary school and another small shop with a petrol station. There is also a Methodist church and just outside the village is Slater's Country Inn.
Whitmore was a station serving the village of Whitmore, Staffordshire.
The Nantwich and Market Drayton Railway was a standard gauge railway line which began as a single line branch in the early 1860s and rapidly became part of the Great Western Railway's (GWR) double track Wellington-Crewe line. It carried through freight and local passenger traffic until its closure in the 1960s. Market Drayton was renowned for the manufacture of gingerbread, hence the line acquired the nickname the "Gingerbread Line".
The Wellington and Drayton Railway was a standard gauge line in Central England which carried through freight and local passenger traffic until closure in the 1960s. It was part of the Great Western Railway's double track Wellington-Crewe line, linking the Midlands to the north and northwest.
Pipe Gate was a railway station on the North Staffordshire Railway's Stoke to Market Drayton Line.
Madeley Road railway station is a disused railway station in Staffordshire, England.
Keele railway station is a disused railway station in Staffordshire, England.
Market Drayton railway station served the town of Market Drayton in Shropshire, England, between 1863 and 1963. It was at the junction where three railway lines met: two of them, forming the Great Western Railway route between Wellington (Shropshire) and Crewe, were met by a line from Stoke-on-Trent on the North Staffordshire Railway.
Halmerend railway station is a disused railway station in Staffordshire, England.
Leycett railway station is a disused railway station in Staffordshire, England.
The Biddulph Valley line was a double tracked line that ran from Stoke-on-Trent to Brunswick Wharf in Congleton. The line was named after the town of the same name as it ran via the Staffordshire Moorlands and covered areas of East Staffordshire and Cheshire.
The Wellington to Nantwich Railway was a railway line that ran from the Wellington to Nantwich via Market Drayton. The line closed in 1967 to all traffic and the track was dismantled in 1970. The line also connected to the former Stoke-Market Drayton Line at Market Drayton which was a junction station for the line until the closure to Madeley Chord in 1956.