Market Drayton railway station

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Market Drayton
Market Drayton station (postcard).jpg
General information
Location Market Drayton, Shropshire
England
Coordinates 52°54′34″N2°29′21″W / 52.9095°N 2.4891°W / 52.9095; -2.4891
Grid reference SJ671348
Platforms4
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original company Nantwich and Market Drayton Railway
Pre-grouping Great Western Railway
Post-groupingGreat Western Railway
Key dates
20 October 1863 (1863-10-20)Station and line from Nantwich opened
16 October 1867Line from Wellington opened
1 February 1870Line from Silverdale opened
7 May 1956Line from Silverdale closed
9 September 1963 (1963-09-09)Station closed to passengers
1 May 1967complete closure

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. [1]

Contents

History

A 1903 Railway Clearing House Junction Diagram showing (left) railways in the vicinity of Market Drayton Market Drayton, Nantwich & Whitchurch Halesowen & Northfield RJD 21.jpg
A 1903 Railway Clearing House Junction Diagram showing (left) railways in the vicinity of Market Drayton

The Nantwich and Market Drayton Railway (N&MDR), which ran southwards to Market Drayton from a junction with the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) at Nantwich, was opened on 20 October 1863. [2] [3] [4] The new line was 10  miles 65  chains (17.4 km) long. [5]

Four years later, on 16 October 1867, the Wellington and Drayton Railway (W&DR) opened, which connected the N&MDR at Market Drayton to the Great Western Railway (GWR) at Wellington. The W&DR, which was 16 miles 12 chains (26.0 km) in length, had been absorbed by the GWR in 1866, the N&MDR had been worked by the GWR since opening (it was fully absorbed in 1897); and so the connection permitted GWR trains from Wolverhampton and the south to reach Crewe and Manchester (London Road) via the LNWR. [6]

On 1 February 1870, the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) opened a line to Market Drayton from Silverdale. With the arrival of the NSR, the station had to be enlarged and was rebuilt in a French Renaissance style with ornamental iron features and square-topped pavilions at each end. [7]

The opening of the NSR line was also accompanied by reciprocal running powers. The NSR gained running powers to Wellington (for goods traffic) and Hodnet (passengers and cattle) and the GWR had running powers for freight traffic to Stoke on Trent. [8] The NSR also built its own small engine shed at Market Drayton which lasted until 1931. [9]

The line from Silverdale closed on 7 May 1956, and the station closed when the line between Wellington and Nantwich closed on 9 September 1963. [10] [11] [3] [4] The line had been listed in Section 6 of the Beeching report as a line whose passenger services were under consideration for withdrawal before the formulation of the report, and Market Drayton station was listed in Section 7 as a passenger station already under consideration for closure before the formulation of the report. [12] Freight services continued to use the route for a further four years until 1 May 1967. [11] [13]

The station site, which was situated to the east on the A529 Adderley Road, near the present site of Morrisons supermarket, is now covered by a factory complex. [14] The idea of converting the trackbed of the Wellington to Nantwich line into a footpath was rejected by Cheshire County Council which considered it not "particularly attractive for walkers". [11] In 1994 the site was sold for supermarket redevelopment, but the Nantwich and Market Drayton Railway Society was able to dismantle some of the buildings and artefacts. [15]

Stationmasters

  • John Pearson Collett 1866 - 1875 [16] (afterwards station master at Salisbury, then Weymouth)
  • Richard Henry Lea 1879 - 1913 [17] (formerly station master at Hodnet)
  • Samuel Alfred Curtis 1914 - 1929 [18]
  • J.W. Thompson 1929 [19] - 1936
  • Mr. Griffen from 1936 (formerly station master at Berrington)
  • A.C. Weaver from 1942 [20] (formerly station master at Corwen)
  • Francis Burley ca. 1965
Preceding station Disused railways Following station
Adderley
Line and station closed		  Great Western Railway
Nantwich and Market Drayton Railway 		  Little Drayton Halt
Line and station closed
Terminus  North Staffordshire Railway
Stoke to Market Drayton Line 		  Norton-in-Hales
Line and station closed

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Market Drayton</span> Town and civil parish in England

Market Drayton is a market town and civil parish on the banks of the River Tern in Shropshire, England. It is close to the Cheshire and Staffordshire borders. It is located between the towns of Whitchurch, Wem, Nantwich, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Newport and the city of Stoke on Trent. The town is on the Shropshire Union Canal and bypassed by the A53 road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woore</span> Human settlement in England

Woore is a village and civil parish in the north east of Shropshire, England. The population of the village as recorded in the 2011 census is 633, and for the civil parish is 1,069. The civil parish extends to about 3,950 acres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Staffordshire Railway</span> Former British railway company

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 Potteries, Shrewsbury and North Wales Railway,, was a railway built between Shrewsbury, England, and quarry locations at Nantmawr and Criggion in Wales. It was initially opened in 1866; despite the extensive title it never reached further than those extremities. It had cost about £1.5 million to construct, but its financial performance was extremely poor, and economies resulted in near-suspension of maintenance, leading to dangerous conditions. The line rapidly became very run down as a result of low revenues and poor maintenance, and was closed at the instigation of the Board of Trade for safety reasons in June 1880. It lay derelict for 30 years but was revived when the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway re-opened it as a light railway in 1911.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hodnet</span> Human settlement in England

Hodnet is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. The town of Market Drayton lies 5.7 miles (9.2 km) north-east of the village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway</span> Railway in England

The Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway was authorised in 1846. It agreed to joint construction with others of the costly Wolverhampton to Birmingham section, the so-called Stour Valley Line. This work was dominated by the hostile London and North Western Railway, which used underhand and coercive tactics. The section between Shrewsbury and Wellington was also built jointly, in this case with the Shropshire Union Railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wellington railway station (Shropshire)</span> Railway station in Shropshire, England

Wellington railway station serves the town of Wellington, Shropshire, England. It is situated on the former Great Western Railway's London Paddington to Birkenhead via Birmingham Snow Hill line. Trains are operated by West Midlands Railway, Avanti West Coast and Transport for Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nantwich railway station</span> Railway station in Cheshire, England

Nantwich railway station serves the town of Nantwich, Cheshire, England. It is on the Crewe to Shrewsbury line 4+1⁄2 miles (7.2 km) south west of Crewe. Opened in 1858, it was the junction for the Great Western Railway route to Wellington via Market Drayton until 1963.

The Wellington to Craven Arms Railway was formed by a group of railway companies that eventually joined the Great Western Railway family, and connected Wellington, Shropshire and Shifnal, with Coalbrookdale, Buildwas, Much Wenlock and a junction near Craven Arms. Its objectives were dominated by the iron, colliery and limestone industries around Coalbrookdale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Audlem railway station</span> Disused railway station in Cheshire, England

Audlem railway station was a station on the former Great Western Railway between Market Drayton and Nantwich, opened in 1863.

The Bishop's Castle Railway was a railway company that constructed a railway line in Shropshire, from near Craven Arms to Bishop's Castle. It opened in 1866 but was continuously short of money, and was unable to complete its originally-planned route, nor to provide more than the most basic level of equipment. It closed due to bankruptcy in 1935.

The Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway was an English railway company that built a standard gauge line between those places. It opened its main line in 1853.

Adderley railway station was a station serving the village of Adderley in the English county of Shropshire.

The Stoke to Market Drayton Line was a railway line that ran through Staffordshire and Shropshire that was built by the North Staffordshire Railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nantwich and Market Drayton Railway</span>

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 to Nantwich Railway, which had through trains to Crewe. 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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wellington and Drayton Railway</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wollerton</span> Human settlement in England

Wollerton is a small village within the civil parish of Hodnet in Shropshire, England. It lies approximately three miles to the south west of Market Drayton and sits on the old A53 and adjacent to the new Hodnet bypass which forms the new route of the A53.

Halmerend railway station is a disused railway station in Staffordshire, England.

Leycett railway station is a disused railway station in Staffordshire, England.

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.

References

  1. ↑ Conolly, W. Philip (January 1976). British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas and Gazetteer (5th ed.). Shepperton: Ian Allan. p. 15, section D2. ISBN   0-7110-0320-3. EX/0176.
  2. ↑ MacDermot, E.T. (1931). History of the Great Western Railway, vol. II: 1863-1921. Paddington: Great Western Railway. p. 7. OCLC   55853736.
  3. 1 2 Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 155. ISBN   978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC   60251199. OL   11956311M.
  4. 1 2 Quick, Michael (2009) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway & Canal Historical Society. p. 267. ISBN   978-0-901461-57-5. OCLC   612226077.
  5. ↑ MacDermot 1931 , p. 595
  6. ↑ MacDermot 1931 , pp. 7, 43, 596
  7. ↑ Oppitz, Leslie (2006) [2004]. Lost Railways of Shropshire. Newbury: Countryside Books. p. 145. ISBN   978-1-85306-866-9.
  8. ↑ Christiansen, Rex & Miller, Robert William (1971). The North Staffordshire Railway. Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles. pp. 210–211. ISBN   0-7153-5121-4.
  9. ↑ Jeuda, Basil (2010). The North Staffordshire Railway in LMS days. Vol. 1. Lydney, Gloucestershire: Lightmoor Press. p. 160. ISBN   978-1899889-48-8.
  10. ↑ Oppitz 2006 , p. 147
  11. 1 2 3 Christiansen, Rex (1988). Severn Valley and Welsh Border. Forgotten Railways. Vol. 11. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. p. 129. ISBN   978-0-946537-43-3.
  12. ↑ Beeching, Richard (1963). "The Reshaping of British Railways" (PDF). HMSO. pp. 129, 132.
  13. ↑ Clinker, C.R. (1988) [1978]. Clinker's Register of Closed Passenger Stations and Goods Depots in England, Scotland and Wales 1830-1977. Bristol: Avon-Anglia Publications & Services. p. 93. ISBN   0-90546-619-5.
  14. ↑ Siviter, Roger (2001). Shropshire. British Railways Past and Present. Kettering: Past & Present Publishing. p. 45. ISBN   978-1-85895-159-1. 35.
  15. ↑ "Nantwich & Market Drayton Railway Society - Home Page". 24 November 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  16. ↑ "1838-1876 Clerks Vol.3". Great Western Railway Operating, Miscellaneous Depts: 57. 1835. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  17. ↑ "Stationmaster Killed" . Bridlington Free Press. England. 24 October 1913. Retrieved 14 July 2022– via British Newspaper Archive.
  18. ↑ "This Week" . Dundee Evening Telegraph. Scotland. 14 February 1929. Retrieved 14 July 2022– via British Newspaper Archive.
  19. ↑ "New Stationmaster for Market Drayton" . Staffordshire Sentinel. England. 15 March 1929. Retrieved 14 July 2022– via British Newspaper Archive.
  20. ↑ "Corwen's New Stationmaster" . Liverpool Evening Express. England. 29 October 1942. Retrieved 14 July 2022– via British Newspaper Archive.

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