The Churnet Valley Line (1849 – 1923)
The
North Staffordshire Railway Company (NSR) was formed in 1845 when three
individual companies (The Staffordshire Potteries Railway, The Churnet Valley
Railway and The Trent Valley Railway) merged and launched a Share Issue on 30th April 1845 to fund the construction of a railway network
linking numerous towns of North Staffordshire together. The prospectus outlined
plans for The Pottery Line from Congleton to Colwich
via Burslem and Stoke-on-Trent, and The Churnet Valley Line from
Macclesfield to Uttoxeter via Leek, plus a line from Harecastle to Liverpool.
This third proposal was later shortened to cover Harecastle to Sandbach only,
as part of the conditions placed upon the NSR when it absorbed the Grand
Junction Railway Company’s Derby to Crewe Line that
went via Uttoxeter and Stoke.
On
26th June
1846 the NSR Acts of Parliament were passed which gave the NSR permission to
start construction of the three lines. The NSR (Churnet Valley Line) Act
authorised the construction of a line from North Rode to Burton-upon-Trent,
with a branch from Tutbury to Willington Junction near Derby, and a line
between Uttoxeter and Stoke with a capital of £1,200,00 being allocated for
this.
Whilst
the NSR was a relatively small railway company it became affectionately known
as “The Knotty”, due to the adoption of the Staffordshire Knot as its logo on
both its rolling stock and staff uniforms. The headquarters for the company
were founded at Stoke, in the heart of the smoky Potteries, with the NSR
network spreading across North Staffordshire into the more scenic areas such as
the valley of the River Churnet. NSR guidebooks, produced once its network was
operational, stated that Churnet meant ‘river of many windings’ which both the
River Churnet and eventual line lived up to with their numerous sweeping
curves.
The
tender for construction of the Churnet Valley Line was let to J&S Tredwell,
with construction beginning in September 1847. The project saw one of the very
first instances of a canal being closed and converted to a railway line, with
the Uttoxeter section of the Cauldon Canal being shut to allow the construction
of the railway from Froghall to Uttoxeter, which brought its own challenges as
the NSR needed to avoid disrupting the output traffic from the works at
Froghall during the period from when the canal was closed up until the railway
line was formally open. The conversion was made possible by the NSR’s previous
acquisition of the Trent & Mersey Canal Company meaning
there were no objections to this proposal. Construction was completed during
1849, with the 27-¾ miles of double-track formally opening on 13th July 1849.
Stretching
from North Rode, near Macclesfield, to Uttoxeter, there were several handsome
station buildings built along the route to the designs of A.W. Pagin, such as
those at Cheddleton, Rushton, Froghall and Oakamoor, with the one for Alton
Towers being built to an more flamboyant Italianate-style for the use of the
Earl of Shrewsbury who lived on the nearby estate. Leek being the only
intermediate town along the line also gained a station with a colonnade to
underline its importance to the area. Except for the conversion of the canal,
there were few major engineering feats required on the line compared to some
other lines, with only a selection of river bridges over the River Churnet
required South of Leek and the construction of tunnels at Leek, Leek Brook,
Cheddleton and Oakamoor.
The
Churnet Valley was an important site in the mineral industry with a number of
iron, copper, limestone and sandstone quarries along the valley. At Froghall
Junction, the NSR had inherited a tramway connecting Froghall Wharf to a
Limestone Quarry at Cauldon. In 1849 a replacement 3ft 6in cable-operated
narrow gauge line was built, with two brand new steam locomotives delivered
from Henry Hughes Works at Loughborough in 1877 (called Frog and Toad)
for shunting the wagons from the quarry face at Cauldon to the top of the
incline prior to their attachment to the cable system. A third steam locomotive
called Bobs, constructed by Bagnalls in 1901, would later join Toad & Frog
in operating the system around the quarry. Eventually though the line’s purpose
was to be transferred to the NSR’s Leek Brook to Cauldon branch upon its
opening in 1905. Despite this, the narrow gauge system was to continue in use
until 25th March
1920.
The
Cauldon branch also provided a line to Waterhouses where the 2ft 6in Leek
& Manifold Valley Light Railway connected with the NSR,
whose primary source of income was collecting Milk from the local creamery at
Ecton in the Manifold Valley for the United Diaries depot in
Finsbury Park, London. This saw the unusual practice of standard gauge milk
tank wagons being carried on narrow gauge transporter wagons. The level and
importance of the milk traffic saw a special milk train be timetabled from 1919
that ran direct from Waterhouses to London, rather than have the wagons be
shunted onto various trains until they reached London. This service finished
though in 1926, with the wagons then being added onto a number of different
stopping trains to get them to London.
Leek
Brook Junction (between Leek and Cheddleton) also became the point where the
Stoke to Leek line connected with the Churnet Valley Line, which was opened on 1st November 1867, giving the major towns of the Potteries
access to the Churnet Valley. In the very early days the junction was able to
boast of 3 signal boxes, an engine shed and a triangular track layout for
turning locos. As well as Leek Brook Junction, there was one other
junction off the Churnet Valley line at Rocester, where the LNWR Ashbourne Line
connected on its way to Uttoxeter from Buxton. This was opened on 31st May 1852.
The
route had originally been planned as a main route between Manchester and Derby
but upon completion became more of a secondary route, being a handy diversion
when engineering possessions were required elsewhere. For Derby to Manchester
trains to run along the Churnet Valley Line the NSR required the co-operation
of the London & North Western Railway Company (LNWR), something they did
not initially have when services along the Churnet Valley Line began. When the
NSR did obtain running powers with the LNWR, the route via Stoke had already
been established with a faster line speed, and so the original envisaged level
of services never truly materialised.
The
regular passenger service offered by the NSR was infrequent, with four daily
passenger services each way between Macclesfield and Uttoxeter supplemented by
a small number of shorter workings such as Macclesfield to Leek. There was also
a couple of early morning and late evening workmen trains, allowing workers to
get to and from their homes to the works at both Kingsley & Froghall and
Oakamoor, as well as services for the agriculture industries based around
Bosley and Rushton.
Leek
Market days brought an additional mid-day train, with Wednesdays seeing an
extra Leek to Kingsley & Froghall service operated while Saturdays saw the
service originate from Macclesfield. The NSR also purchased three Railmotor
vehicles that operated a daily morning service from Macclesfield to Stoke via
Leek, except on Markey Days when it ran between Macclesfield and Kingsley &
Froghall.
Goods
traffic proved to be a regular source of income for the NSR. Extra trains were
laid on twice a week to take agriculture produce and livestock to the market in
Leek, which was the biggest centre of population along the line.
The
NSR began to promote excursion traffic to locations along the Churnet Valley
line to help boost passenger figures, whilst local hoteliers also tried to help
promote the area by branding the Churnet Valley as “Staffordshire’s Little
Switzerland”. With its steep wooded valley sides, and picturesque valley floor
and interweaving river the newly built railway line opened up one of the most
scenic parts of the country to people from far outside the local area. The Earl
of Shrewsbury opened his gardens at Alton on several days during the summer in
the late 1800s, which attracted numerous visitors long before it’s modern day
conception as a Theme Park, and the NSR ran specials on these dates to enable
people from all over the country to visit. Uttoxeter Racecourse opened in 1907,
and brought heavy traffic along the line on Race Days with a direct link
possible to Manchester via the Churnet Valley Line.
The
NSR struggled though to promote the jewel in the crown at Rudyard Lake (from
which Rudyard Kipling was to be given his name). The lake is actually a
reservoir that supplied water to the Trent & Mersey Canal Co,
who the NSR had purchased in 1847. However the NSR did not own any
land around the lake, and protracted legal proceedings prevented them from
promoting it too much until the early 20th Century.
Once they were able to, an exclusive hotel and golf club was built near to the
Northern end to encourage visitors to the area.