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Churnet Valley line
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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.
Various proposals were put forward for a line through the Churnet Valley in the 1830s and in 1841 plans were published by the Manchester & Derby Railway (Churnet Valley) Company for a line from Macclesfield to Derby via Leek, Cheadle, Rocester and Uttoxeter. 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 Manchester and London. 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 draft 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 Potteries Railway to form the Churnet, Potteries and Trent Junction Railway, soon to be called the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR). The Churnet Valley bill was withdrawn and in 1846 a new bill was submitted to Parliament entitled the North Staffordshire Railway (Churnet Valley Line) Bill.
The merger of the three companies had not been without opposition and many shareholders of the Churnet Valley company were worried that the Churnet Valley line would become a small adjunct to the other NSR lines between Derby–Crewe and Macclesfield–Colwich. After negotiation it became a stipulation of the bill that the dividend of the NSR could not exceed 5% until the Churnet Valley line was fully open. With this concession granted the bill proceeded through Parliament and received royal assent on 26 June 1846 as the North Staffordshire Railway (Churnet Valley) Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. lxxxvi). Allocated capital for the lines was £1,200,000.
The tender for construction of the line was let in 1847 to J & S Tredwell for a price of £330,218. Construction began in September 1847 and in November 1847 a champagne party was held 40 feet (12.2 m) underground to celebrate the laying of the first brick in Nab Hill tunnel near Leek. Work on the section south of Leek involved diverting the River Churnet at Consall and also one of the first instance of a canal being converted into a railway with closure of the Uttoxeter Canal and it being used as the track bed between Froghall and Uttoxeter. The conversion had been made possible by the acquisition of the Trent and Mersey Canal and its subsidiaries, the Caldon Canal and the Uttoxeter Canal, by the NSR as part of the 1846 act. Work on the line was concluded in 1849 and the line of 27 miles 54 chains (27.68 miles, 44.54 km) opened to both passenger and goods traffic on 13 July 1849.
Although originally planned as a main route between Manchester and Derby the line became, as many shareholders had worried, something of a backwater. Through trains required co-operation with the LNWR, something that the NSR did not have for many years and when good relations with the LNWR were settled, some through services were run but not as many as once anticipated.
Train services settled to a small number of local trains between Macclesfield and Uttoxeter 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. The 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. 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.
The 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 "Little Switzerland". Despite the picturesque description which 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. Previously carried by canal, the 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. The latter was also owned by the NSR and moved stone from the quarry to Froghall station via a 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge railway. At one point over 1000 tons a week was being shipped from Froghall to Brunner Mond.
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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.
Various proposals were put forward for a line through the Churnet Valley in the 1830s and in 1841 plans were published by the Manchester & Derby Railway (Churnet Valley) Company for a line from Macclesfield to Derby via Leek, Cheadle, Rocester and Uttoxeter. 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 Manchester and London. 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 draft 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 Potteries Railway to form the Churnet, Potteries and Trent Junction Railway, soon to be called the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR). The Churnet Valley bill was withdrawn and in 1846 a new bill was submitted to Parliament entitled the North Staffordshire Railway (Churnet Valley Line) Bill.
The merger of the three companies had not been without opposition and many shareholders of the Churnet Valley company were worried that the Churnet Valley line would become a small adjunct to the other NSR lines between Derby–Crewe and Macclesfield–Colwich. After negotiation it became a stipulation of the bill that the dividend of the NSR could not exceed 5% until the Churnet Valley line was fully open. With this concession granted the bill proceeded through Parliament and received royal assent on 26 June 1846 as the North Staffordshire Railway (Churnet Valley) Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. lxxxvi). Allocated capital for the lines was £1,200,000.
The tender for construction of the line was let in 1847 to J & S Tredwell for a price of £330,218. Construction began in September 1847 and in November 1847 a champagne party was held 40 feet (12.2 m) underground to celebrate the laying of the first brick in Nab Hill tunnel near Leek. Work on the section south of Leek involved diverting the River Churnet at Consall and also one of the first instance of a canal being converted into a railway with closure of the Uttoxeter Canal and it being used as the track bed between Froghall and Uttoxeter. The conversion had been made possible by the acquisition of the Trent and Mersey Canal and its subsidiaries, the Caldon Canal and the Uttoxeter Canal, by the NSR as part of the 1846 act. Work on the line was concluded in 1849 and the line of 27 miles 54 chains (27.68 miles, 44.54 km) opened to both passenger and goods traffic on 13 July 1849.
Although originally planned as a main route between Manchester and Derby the line became, as many shareholders had worried, something of a backwater. Through trains required co-operation with the LNWR, something that the NSR did not have for many years and when good relations with the LNWR were settled, some through services were run but not as many as once anticipated.
Train services settled to a small number of local trains between Macclesfield and Uttoxeter 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. The 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. 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.
The 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 "Little Switzerland". Despite the picturesque description which 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. Previously carried by canal, the 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. The latter was also owned by the NSR and moved stone from the quarry to Froghall station via a 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge railway. At one point over 1000 tons a week was being shipped from Froghall to Brunner Mond.