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 company was based in Stoke-on-Trent and was nicknamed The Knotty; its lines were built to the standard gauge of . The main routes were constructed between 1846 and 1852 and ran from Macclesfield via Stoke to Colwich Junction joining the Trent Valley Railway, with another branch to Norton Bridge, just north of Stafford, and from Crewe to Egginton Junction, west of Derby. Within these main connections with other railway companies, most notably the London and North Western Railway (LNWR), the company operated a network of smaller lines although the total route mileage of the company never exceeded . The majority of the passenger traffic was local although a number of LNWR services from Manchester to London were operated via Stoke. Freight traffic was mostly coal and other minerals but the line also carried the vast majority of china and other pottery goods manufactured in England.
As the NSR was surrounded by other larger railway companies, there were in the 19th century several attempts emanating from other companies or proposals from NSR shareholders to amalgamate with one or more of the other companies that adjoined it. None of these came to fruition and the NSR remained an independent company up to 1923 when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company.
The main routes of the NSR are still in use today; the routes connecting Stoke-on-Trent with Macclesfield, Crewe, Stafford and Colwich Junction remain in use as important parts of the West Coast Main Line, whilst the Stoke to Derby route also remains in use, however most of the less important lines built by the company have since been closed.
Before the railway The area of north Staffordshire known today as the City of Stoke-on-Trent was already a thriving industrial area before the arrival of the railways. The establishment of the pottery industry and the development of coal and ironstone mines in the 18th century had provided a need for materials, most noticeably clay, to be brought into the area. A corresponding need also arose for the resulting fragile pottery goods to be taken away from the area. This need had given rise in the mid to late 18th century of the construction of the Trent and Mersey Canal (T&M) and its various branches. Opened in 1777 it was a spectacular success and paid dividends reaching 75% in 1822. By 1845 this had fallen to a still impressive 30% despite the onset of railway development in the northwest England. In 1836 the canal carried of goods away and brought in .
It was the Trent and Mersey Canal Company that built the first railway in north Staffordshire when in 1776 it was granted powers in the Trent and Mersey Canal Act 1776 (16 Geo. 3. c. 32) to build a railway, or plateway, from Caldon Low limestone quarries to the canal basin at Froghall in the Churnet Valley.
Formation of the company The Railway Mania of 1845 found the Potteries still without a railway, although the surrounding towns of Stafford, Crewe, Derby and Macclesfield were all connected to the fledgling railway system. The Staffordshire Potteries Railway promoted a route from Macclesfield to the Grand Junction Railway mainline at Norton Bridge plus a spur to Crewe. At the same time the Churnet Valley Railway promoted a line from Macclesfield to Derby with a branch to Stoke. After these two companies applied for the necessary powers to build the lines, Parliament suggested a pause of a year "to afford time for consideration and for maturing some more complete scheme for the accommodation of that important district".
The two companies decided to join forces to make a new approach to Parliament. They also incorporated in the scheme a proposal to join the Trent Valley Railway into the Potteries. To do this they promoted the North Staffordshire or Churnet Valley and Trent Junction Railway. This prospective company issued its prospectus on 30 April 1845 from offices at 1 Old Palace Yard, Westminster, London. There was to be a share capital of £2,350,000 (£ in ). in £20 shares (117,500 shares).
The prospectus outlined the NSR plans for two main lines. The Pottery Line running from a junction with the Manchester and Birmingham Railway at Congleton to the Grand Junction Railway at Colwich was promoted, as "giving the most ample accommodation to the towns of Tunstall, Burslem, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton, Longton and Stone". The Churnet Line was to run from Macclesfield though Leek, Cheadle and Uttoxeter to join the Midland Railway line between Burton-upon-Trent and Derby forming a direct link between Manchester and Derby.
The company was formally incorporated in April 1845 under the shorter name of the North Staffordshire Railway. As a way of eliminating opposition to the company's bills in Parliament, and to allow it to promote a line to Liverpool, the company made an agreement to take over the Trent and Mersey Canal Company. This was achieved by T&M shares being swapped for preference shares in the NSR. These preference shares paid a guaranteed annual dividend of 5% once the entire railway was open. The total purchase cost of the T&M to the NSR £1,170,000.
On 25 November 1845 the Derby and Crewe Railway was absorbed into the NSR scheme. This was a line that was being supported by the Grand Junction Railway (GJR) running between Derby and Crewe via Uttoxeter and Stoke. It was to eliminate the opposition of the Grand Junction Railway Company to the other NSR proposals that the NSR agreed to absorb the Derby and Crewe. However part of the deal was that the proposed line from Harecastle to Liverpool was abandoned. Despite having arranged to purchase the T&M canal for a considerable sum, to obtain support for the Liverpool extension the NSR agreed to the GJR demand. All that survived of the NSR Liverpool plan was the short branch to Sandbach from Harecastle.
Parliamentary approval and construction
On 26 June 1846, the three NSR acts of Parliament were passed with the total of £2,900,000 in share capital being shared amongst the three lines, with seven years allowed for the completion of each line. The (9 & 10 Vict. c. lxxxv) provided for the construction of the line from Macclesfield to Colwich with branches to Norton Bridge, Newcastle, Silverdale and Crewe. Approval by Parliament for building railways was needed to gain the powers for compulsory purchase of the land needed for construction. This act also vested the Trent and Mersey Canal in the NSR. Allocated capital for this work was £1,500,000. The second act, the (9 & 10 Vict. c. lxxxiv) provided for the construction of the line from Harecastle to Sandbach, allocated capital for these works was £200,000. Finally the North Staffordshire Railway (Churnet Valley) Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. lxxxvi) authorised the construction of the line from North Rode to Burton, a branch from Tutbury to Willington Junction near Derby, and the line between Uttoxeter and Stoke; £1,200,000 of capital was allocated to this.
To start the construction work, there was an official sod-cutting ceremony. This took place in September 1846 The site chosen for the ceremony was a field in Etruria. A roped off enclosure for directors was created and the remainder of the field was reserved for invited guests. A mile-long procession headed by John Lewis Ricardo, Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent and chairman of the North Staffordshire Railway Company, formed. On Ricardo's arrival, the crowds broke through the roped off area and Ricardo was pushed and shoved. During the actual cutting he buckled the silver spade and had difficulty removing the sod. Finally, his hat blew away.
Construction work went ahead under the supervision of the consulting engineer, George Parker Bidder. By February 1847 there were 1,318 men and 60 horses working between Macclesfield and Colwich and they had removed of earth, driven of tunnel heading and erected yards of fencing.
On 2 July 1847 the (10 & 11 Vict. c. cviii) was passed. This act was necessary was because of problems encountered with the construction of the Crewe branch. The opportunity was taken to authorise several other deviations and small branches. It also consolidated the previous acts and importantly, forced the NSR to ensure that all lines were completed by specifying that ordinary dividends were not to exceed 5% until the Churnet Valley and Willington lines had been opened.
Work continued apace and by 3 April 1848 the first freight trains were run. Passenger services started on 17 April 1848 and the first passenger train left the temporary station at Wheildon Road, Stoke, hauled by locomotive No. 1 Dragon, heading for a temporary station at Norton Bridge on the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). The opening of the line gave the Potteries a railway link with Birmingham and London which made it an instant success with the public. Profits for the first two months were £1,668, "exceeding expectations".
The remaining lines under the original acts were opened in stages but all were completed and open by the end of 1852 when the Stoke to Newcastle and Newcastle to Knutton sections opened. A few months after the opening of the first line, the imposing permanent station in Winton Square, Stoke was opened on 9 October 1848. Stoke station then became the headquarters of the NSR.
Later lines
Later branches constructed in the 19th century included lines from Stoke-on-Trent to Congleton via Smallthorne and Biddulph; Stoke-on-Trent to Leek; Newcastle to Silverdale, Keele and Market Drayton (junction with the Great Western Railway); Alsager to Audley, Leycett and Keele, and Rocester to Ashbourne.
Also opened in the 19th century was the only NSR line to achieve any degree of fame, the Potteries Loop Line from Etruria via Hanley, Cobridge, Burslem, Tunstall, Pitts Hill, Newchapel and Goldenhill to Kidsgrove Liverpool Road. Authorised in stages in 1864–65, it opened to traffic in 1873. Its fame came from several mentions and a description of a journey on a Burslem to Hanley train in Arnold Bennett's The Old Wives' Tale.
Twentieth century construction included the Waterhouses branch line, authorised by the Leek, Caldon Low, and Hartington Light Railways Order 1898 and the . It ran from Leekbrook Junction to Caldon Low quarries and Waterhouses from where the narrow gauge Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway (L&MVLR) was constructed through the Hamps and Manifold river valleys to Hulme End near Hartington. Although the L&MVLR was nominally independent the NSR both worked and operated the line.
Finally in 1910, the short Trentham Park branch line was built from Stoke-on-Trent to Trentham Park. It was authorised by the (7 Edw. 7. c. cxlvii) as part of an alternative line to Newcastle-under-Lyme but construction work beyond Trentham was quickly abandoned owing to rising costs. The same act of Parliament also transferred the Cheadle Railway to the NSR. The Cheadle Railway was a small local company constructed with the NSR's backing, built at great cost over a period of twelve years. It was a short line from Cresswell to Cheadle, this line, only long, included a very difficult tunnel. The line was opened from Cresswell to Totmonslow on 7 November 1892 and to Cheadle on 1 January 1901.
A full list of authorisation and opening dates for sections of the NSR is given below.
Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway