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Churnet Valley line

e Churnet Valley line was one of the three original routes planned
and built by the North Staffordshire Railway. Authorised in 1846, the line Churnet Valley line
opened in 1849 and ran from North Rode in Cheshire to Uoxeter in East Overview
Staffordshire. e line was closed in several stages between 1964 and Type Heavy rail
1988 but part of the central section passed into the hands of a
System North Staffordshire
preservation society and today operates as the Churnet Valley Railway.
Railway
Status part disused
part in heritage use
Contents
Locale Staffordshire, England
Origins Termini North Rode
Construction Uttoxeter
Operation Stations 14
London Midland Scottish years Operation
Wartime services Opened 1849
British Railways Closed 1988
Preservation Technical
Notes Line 27 miles 54 chains
References length (44.54 km)
Track 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
gauge standard gauge
Origins Route map

Various proposals were put forward for a line through the Churnet
Valley in the 1830s and in 1841 plans were published by the Manester
& Derby Railway (Churnet Valley) Company for a line from Macclesfield
to Derby via Leek, Cheadle, Rocester and Uoxeter. At Macclesfield the
line would connect with the Grand Junction Railway and at Derby with
the North Midland Railway and would result a direct route between
Manester and London.[1] In 1844 the company by now renamed simply
the Churnet Valley Railway Company laid out its prospectus for
construction of the line in 1844 and following approval of the plan by the
Board of Trade preparation was made for the necessary approval of
Parliament to be sought.

As the dra bill was being considered by the House of Commons the
directors of the company agreed an amalgamation with the Trent Valley
Railway and the Staffordshire Poeries Railway to form the Churnet,
Poeries and Trent Junction Railway soon to be called the North
Staffordshire Railway (NSR). e Churnet Valley bill was withdrawn and
in 1846 a new bill was submied to Parliament entitled the North

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Staffordshire Railway (Churnet Valley Line) Bill.[2]

e merger of the three companies had not been without opposition and Stafford to Manchester Line
to Macclesfield
many shareholders of the Churnet Valley company were worried that
North Rode
the Churnet Valley line would become a small adjunct to the other NSR Stafford to Manchester Line
lines between Derby–Crewe and Macclesfield–Colwi. Aer to Congleton
Bosley
negotiation it became a stipulation of the bill that the dividend of the
Rushton
NSR could not exceed 5% until the Churnet Valley line was fully open.[3]
Cliffe Park
With this concession granted the bill proceeded through Parliament and
Rudyard
received Royal Assent on 26 June 1846.[2][4] Allocated capital for the
Leek
lines was £1,200,000.[2]
Waterhouses branch line
Leek Brook
Construction Stoke-Leek line
Tramway
to St Edward's Hospital
e tender for construction of the line was let in 1847 to J & S Tredwell Cheddleton
for a price of £330,218. Construction began in September 1847 and in Consall
November 1847 a ampagne party was held 40 feet (12.2   m) Kingsley and Froghall
underground to celebrate the laying of the first bri in Nab Hill tunnel Oakamoor tunnel
near Leek.[5] Work on the section south of Leek involved diverting the Oakamoor
River Churnet at Consall[5] and also one of the first instance of a canal Alton Towers
being converted into a railway with closure of the Uoxeter Canal and it Denstone
being used as the tra bed between Froghall and Uoxeter. e Ashbourne Line
conversion had been made possible by the acquisition of the Trent and Rocester
Mersey Canal and its subsidiaries, the Caldon Canal and the Uoxeter Crewe to Derby Line
to Marchington
Canal, by the NSR as part of the 1846 act.[6] Work on the line was Uttoxeter
concluded in 1849 and the line of 27 miles 54 ains (44.54 km) opened to Crewe to Derby Line
to Leigh
both passenger and goods traffic on 13 July 1849.[5]

Operation
Although originally planned as a main route between Manester and Derby the line became, as many
shareholders had worried, something of a bawater. rough trains required co-operation with the LNWR,
something that the NSR did not have for many years[7] and when good relations with the LNWR were seled
some through services were run but not as many as once anticipated.

Train services seled to a small number of local trains between Macclesfield and Uoxeter supplemented by a
smaller number of slightly shorter workings e.g. Macclesfield—Leek. A lot of excursions were run over the line as
the NSR made efforts to promote Rudyard Lake as a tourist destination. e lake, actually a reservoir, supplied
water to the Trent & Mersey Canal and had therefore become the property of the NSR in 1846. However the NSR
only owned the lake, not the land around it and protracted legal proceedings meant that the NSR were not fully
able to promote Rudyard until the early part of the 20th century.[8] Another important tourist destination for the
NSR was also served by the line; Alton Towers, owned by the Earl of Shrewsbury, was open to the public on
several days during the summer and the NSR provided special trains on these occasions.

e NSR were not the only group seeking to promote the Churnet Valley as a tourist destination and through the
efforts of a number of local hoteliers the valley became known as "Lile Switzerland".[9] Despite the picturesque
description whi arose from the valley's steep sides, the area was also an important site in the mineral industry
with iron and copper as well as limestone and sandstone being quarried.[10] Previously carried by canal, the

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output from the quarries and the associated industries was moved by rail especially when the NSR opened a line
from Stoke to Leek in 1867. Principal among these were the copper wire works at Froghall and Oakamoor and
the limestone quarries at Caldon Low. e laer was also owned by the NSR and moved stone from the quarry
to Froghall station via a 3  6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge railway. At one point over 1000 tons a week was being
shipped from Froghall to Brunner Mond.[11]

London Midland Scottish years

Along with the rest of the NSR the line passed into the ownership of the London, Midland and Scoish railway
(LMS) whi made lile ange to the operation of the line. Passenger services remained mu as they had done
under the NSR,[12] but Alton Towers became an increasingly popular tourist destination and frequent excursions
terminated there. Further north, at Rudyard, there were quite a few anges as the LMS sold off the golf club and
the Rudyard Hotel. One result was a confusing ange of station names; Rudyard Lake was renamed Cliffe Park,
and Rudyard was renamed Rudyard Lake.[13]

One long distance train ran over the line, the Saturdays-only Eastern Counties Express between Manester and
Cromer ran in both directions along the Churnet Valley, stopping only at Leek to pi up/set down passengers to
or from beyond Noingham.[14]

Freight traffic suffered from the effects of the Great Depression, the most notable casualty being the ceastion of
operations at Caldon Low quarries, although they subsequent re-opened when the LMS found a lessee for the
quarry.[15] e narrow gauge line between the quarry and Froghall closed in 1936 and all output was shipped via
the Waterhouses bran, whi le the Churnet Valley line at Leekbrook Junction.

Wartime services

With the outbreak of World War II the line as with most British railways moved to an emergency timetable. e
Churnet Valley was unusual in that the basic service was improved in terms of number of services even if the
timings were slower. e increase in services was due to Bolton's at Froghall being an important munitions site
and Alton Towers becoming 121 Officer Cadet Training Unit, Royal Artillery.[16]

British Railways
Following nationalisation, the line became part of the London Midland Region of British Railways. Passenger
services remained fairly consistent with the wartime levels of five 'up' trains and six 'down' trains a day with
additional workmens services between Leek and Uoxeter. Falling passenger numbers throughout the 1950s led
to a proposal in 1959 for the withdrawal of all advertised passenger services between Macclesfield and Uoxeter
and the retention of the non-advertised workmens' services between Leek and Uoxeter only.[17] Despite
objections the proposal was implemented on 7 November 1960. is did not stem the financial losses on the line,
and the entire line between Leek and North Rode closed in June 1964.[15] At the same time local goods facilities
were withdrawn at all other stations except Leek[18] followed in January 1965 by the withdrawal of the passenger
service over the south section between Leek and Uoxeter and the closure of the line south of Oakamoor.[18]

is le the line with public goods services from Leek to Stoke and bulk sand traffic from Oakamoor. e Leek
services lasted until 1970 when the line between Leek and Leek Brook Junction closed[19] but the Oakamoor sand
traffic continued until 1988.[20]

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Preservation
In 1971 a preservation society, the Cheshire and Staffordshire Railway Society, were looking for a site. One of
their first possible locations was the section of line between Rudyard and Leek but this fell through with the
demolition of the Leek station buildings in 1973. Still looking for a site the society now renamed the North
Staffordshire Railway Society managed to secure a lease on Cheddleton from its new owners, Staffordshire
County Council.

Despite not having access to the tra through the station, as this was then part of the line to the Sand Sidings at
Oakamoor, the members established a small heritage site. However, with the withdrawal of the last goods
services from Oakamoor in 1988, the society was able to take over the line and commence bigger operations.

Since then the society has reopened the railway stations at Cheddleton, Consall and Kingsley & Froghall.[21]

Another 1.5-mile (2.4 km) section of the trabed is occupied by the Rudyard Lake Steam Railway, a 101⁄4  in
(260 mm) gauge tourist line whi runs beside Rudyard Lake. It was established in 1985 by Peter Hanton of
Congleton, who completed its construction in 1993, but sold it to an operating company in 2000 due to poor
health.[22]

Notes
1. Jeuda pp. 15–17.
2. Christiansen & Miller p. 29.
3. Jeuda p. 20.
4. "North Staffordshire Railway (Churnet Valley) Act 1846" (http://www.opsi.gov.uk/chron-tables/local
/chron033), Acts of the Parliaments of the United Kingdom, 1846 (c.lxxxvi), 26 June 1846,
retrieved 19 January 2010
5. Jeuda p. 22.
6. Christiansen & Miller p. 41.
7. Jeuda p. 30.
8. Jeuda p. 35.
9. Kelly's directory of Staffordshire. London: Kelly & Co. 1896. p. 53.
10. "The Churnet Valley Geotrail" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110721213609/http://www.esci.keel
e.ac.uk/srigs/Geotrails/Churnet/CVGinfo.pdf) (PDF). Staffordshire Regionally Important Geological
and Geomorphological Sites Group. Archived from the original (http://www.esci.keele.ac.uk/srigs/
Geotrails/Churnet/CVGinfo.pdf) (PDF) on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
11. Jeuda p. 105.
12. Jeuda p. 145.
13. Jeuda p. 148
14. Jeuda p. 149
15. Christiansen & Miller p. 256.
16. Jeuda p. 147
17. Jeuda pp. 157–161.
18. Christiansen & Miller pp. 306–308.
19. Jeuda p. 166
20. Jeuda p. 169

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21. "Guide to the Line" (https://www.churnet-valley-railway.co.uk/line-guide). Churnet Valley railway.

2015. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
22. "Early History" (http://www.rlsr.org/about-the-railway/early-history.html). Rudyard Lake Steam
Railway. Retrieved 21 October 2017.

References
Christiansen, Rex & Miller, Robert William (1971). The North Staffordshire Railway. Newton
Abbot, Devon: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-5121-4.
Jeuda, Basil (1999). The Churnet Valley Railway. Lydney, Gloucestershire: Lightmoor Press.
ISBN 978-1-899889-05-1.

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