Jump to content
 

Clog and Knocker - Stafford to Uttoxeter


Andy Y
 Share

Recommended Posts

I noticed a link on the Stafford Railway Circle's website last night which has led me to spend some hours looking at these collections of images particularly the Stafford Common area with its long-gone salt works.

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/clogandknocker/OldStaffordToUttoxeterRailwayLine

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/JANenFONS/StaffordToUttoxeterRailwayPastAndPresent

 

I'd be interested to try and find out how long some of the PO salt wagons lasted into BR years.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

A couple of those pics were used in Ted Talbot's book on Stafford (Irwell Press). Wasn't that the furthest west that the GNR ran, as an independent railway rather than joint line ??

 

It was. This shot illustrates how much of an inconvenience the GNR services would be to LNWR traffic.

 

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

To be honest, I never realised that the GNR ran so far west!!!!

 

I love the pictures though, very interesting to see the old victorian rolling stock, I'm struggling to tell if the carriages are of 4w or 6w variety.

 

did the GNR have running rights over LNWR metals? or is that the impression i get from the photo in Andy's second post?

Link to post
Share on other sites

To be honest, I never realised that the GNR ran so far west!!!!

 

I love the pictures though, very interesting to see the old victorian rolling stock, I'm struggling to tell if the carriages are of 4w or 6w variety.

 

did the GNR have running rights over LNWR metals? or is that the impression i get from the photo in Andy's second post?

 

An extension of the branch to Derby Friargate, the line joined the NSR (somewhere ?) near Tutbury, and ran under running rights the few miles to Bromshall Junction just west of Uttoxeter, then south -ish to Stafford, joining the WCML north of Stafford station just north of 'Bagnalls Bridge', again with 'running rights' into Stafford for about a 1/4 of a mile.

The photos I have are both 6w(1), and bogie stock(2) behind D2 4-4-0's, and J3 0-6-0's in the 1920's. Thro' passenger traffic ended in 1939, freight in 1951.

My interest in the line incorporates a 'what if' aspect with my current layout, what if the use of the GN line to Stafford have developed into something bigger with through services from the LNER as my layout depicts a fictitious location on the GJR between Stafford, and Wolverhampton.

Link to post
Share on other sites

i read that twice to make sure I had sense of what running rights they had!!

 

so the typical rolling stock upto the 1920's, at least, comprised mostly of the older order rather than newer innovations, which I do find interesting.

 

EDIT: here are the links to aforementioned engine types as per LNER classification for those interested.

 

LNER D2: this class is interesting as the boiler design was predominant throughout several other classes of engine, including the N2 tank engine.

 

LNER J3: this class has a complex history but the basics are that the original designs were of Ivatt and Stirling Origin being designated J4 and J5 under the LNER but Gresley rebuilt some of these engines into the J3 class, so basically the J3's are J4's and J5's.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

This line runs along side Chartley Moss,near Stowe by Chartley, a site of particular biological interest, being a sphagnum peat moss. No one is allowed in unless with a guide, partly because they want to preserve the site undamaged, and because they reckon it is seriously dangerous, i.e. you might disappear in a bog.

I did hear some years ago, possibly an old wives tale, that a loco de railed in this section, fell into the bog and was never seen again.

It is a strange area, a few years ago a mail plane, crashed into the site, and it took quite a while to extracate everything....that was about 15/20yrs ago.

I have walked the line in this section, quite interesting, the dog nearly vanished though.

Bob.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes, the Moss is quite an eerie place Bob. It's many years since I've been on site but it certainly would be a foolish person to have strayed off the paths. The party trick used to be to jump up and down and start all the trees swaying wildly as their roots moved about in the mush. Similarly I've known the tales of the lost loco but have never seen any factual evidence; probably just some of the mystique which has grown around the site. The plane crash (1994) recovery was certainly hampered by wreckage being scattered into an area that wasn't safe for recovery teams.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Wasn't part of the line, that north-east of Egginton Junction towards Mickleover, the original test-track for the Railway Technical Centre at Derby?

 

Absolutely right Brian, the line spurred off at Egginton Jnc, thro Mickleover and into Derby Friargate Station, then onto Nottigham Victoria.

And yes it was the test track for the technical centre at Derby, I seem to remember some buildings at the Mickleover end of the line that could have been part of the technical centres.

Bob.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes, the Moss is quite an eerie place Bob. It's many years since I've been on site but it certainly would be a foolish person to have strayed off the paths. The party trick used to be to jump up and down and start all the trees swaying wildly as their roots moved about in the mush. Similarly I've known the tales of the lost loco but have never seen any factual evidence; probably just some of the mystique which has grown around the site. The plane crash (1994) recovery was certainly hampered by wreckage being scattered into an area that wasn't safe for recovery teams.

 

We must meet up at the Moss some time and see if we can do some forensics and find the loco. :rolleyes:

Link to post
Share on other sites

The Stafford end is largely accessible until reaching MOD Stafford. Beyond that the section to the A51 at Weston is largely indistinct with the cutting at Hopton filled and the rest of it incorporated into farmland. Beyond Weston there are short sections which are there but overgrown. Stowe-by-Chartley to Lower Loxley is intact and mostly passable and then a return to farmland leaving a short section up to the junction at Bramshall.

  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

The Stafford end is largely accessible until reaching MOD Stafford. Beyond that the section to the A51 at Weston is largely indistinct with the cutting at Hopton filled and the rest of it incorporated into farmland. Beyond Weston there are short sections which are there but overgrown. Stowe-by-Chartley to Lower Loxley is intact and mostly passable and then a return to farmland leaving a short section up to the junction at Bramshall.

 

 

A belated thank you for this info

Link to post
Share on other sites

Anybody remember the railway bridge over Hopton Lane easily viewed from the B5066 between Staford and Sandon? For years the earthworks had been removed, and just the brikwork was left. It looked like a Hornby two track bridge had been put over the road!

Apparently there was talk of building a super pit around the Hopton area, and the surviving bridges and bits were protected between there and the main line at Weston,and thats why that and the canal bridge survived into the 90s.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Anybody remember the railway bridge over Hopton Lane easily viewed from the B5066 between Staford and Sandon? For years the earthworks had been removed, and just the brikwork was left. It looked like a Hornby two track bridge had been put over the road!

Apparently there was talk of building a super pit around the Hopton area, and the surviving bridges and bits were protected between there and the main line at Weston,and thats why that and the canal bridge survived into the 90s.

 

Yes, I remember the bridge well, used to pass it when travelling into Stafford for a shopping trip in the seventies.

When did it disappear........I didnt travel that way very much after the 70's.

BOB.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes, I remember the bridge well, used to pass it when travelling into Stafford for a shopping trip in the seventies.

When did it disappear........I didnt travel that way very much after the 70's.

BOB.

I think in the early 90s. I was a student at Stafford College until mid 86 and passed it every day. After that very infrequently and I seem to remember thinking it was a shame when it had gone sometime in the 90s. Sorry, my memory is a bit vague!

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 11 months later...

The bridge over the lane up to Hopton was demolished in the 90s although the embankments leading up to it went much earlier.

 

When I was at Sir Graham Balfour High School in the 70s my art classroom looked out over Stafford Common and I could see the line alongside it. I well remember spotting an 08 with a trip working to RAF Stafford on a couple of occasions. One of them may well have been the last train up the line. I don't know an exact date but the line was almost certainly not used past 1979 to the best of my knowledge. It would be interesting to know the date of the last passage over this truncated section of the line.

 

I also used to cycle along the line over Doxey Marshes regularly in 1980-81 when I was at Stafford College, having to dismount and carry my bike over the River Sow as the rails were very much in place although a lot of the ash ballast had washed away over the years.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Brings back memories of cycling/walking to school from Holmcroft/Stone Road to Corporation St and Dartmouth St Schools, during 1950's and 60's. Also cross country running over the common from Trinity Fields/Graham Balfour School. 

Keep going back to Stafford from Leamington Spa for regular visits to see all the changes.

Thinking of doing a Railway Model of Common Road Station/Salt works in 'O' Gauge. Trying to keep it down to a manageable size by possibly not doing the goods yard before the station and only limited entrances to both salt works, but with trains running to Uttoxeter and 16MU.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I noticed a link on the Stafford Railway Circle's website last night which has led me to spend some hours looking at these collections of images particularly the Stafford Common area with its long-gone salt works.

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/clogandknocker/OldStaffordToUttoxeterRailwayLine

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/JANenFONS/StaffordToUttoxeterRailwayPastAndPresent

 

I'd be interested to try and find out how long some of the PO salt wagons lasted into BR years.

Brings back memories of cycling/walking to school from Holmcroft/Stone Road to Corporation St and Dartmouth St Schools, during 1950's and 60's. Also cross country running over the common from Trinity Fields/Graham Balfour School. 

Keep going back to Stafford from Leamington Spa for regular visits to see all the changes.

Thinking of doing a Railway Model of Common Road Station/Salt works in 'O' Gauge. Trying to keep it down to a manageable size by possibly not doing the goods yard before the station and only limited entrances to both salt works, but with trains running to Uttoxeter and 16MU

 

The bridge over the lane up to Hopton was demolished in the 90s although the embankments leading up to it went much earlier.

 

When I was at Sir Graham Balfour High School in the 70s my art classroom looked out over Stafford Common and I could see the line alongside it. I well remember spotting an 08 with a trip working to RAF Stafford on a couple of occasions. One of them may well have been the last train up the line. I don't know an exact date but the line was almost certainly not used past 1979 to the best of my knowledge. It would be interesting to know the date of the last passage over this truncated section of the line.

 

I also used to cycle along the line over Doxey Marshes regularly in 1980-81 when I was at Stafford College, having to dismount and carry my bike over the River Sow as the rails were very much in place although a lot of the ash ballast had washed away over the years.

Brings back memories of cycling/walking to school from Holmcroft/Stone Road to Corporation St and Dartmouth St Schools, during 1950's and 60's. Also cross country running over the common from Trinity Fields/Graham Balfour School. 

Keep going back to Stafford from Leamington Spa for regular visits to see all the changes.

Thinking of doing a Railway Model of Common Road Station/Salt works in 'O' Gauge. Trying to keep it down to a manageable size by possibly not doing the goods yard before the station and only limited entrances to both salt works, but with trains running to Uttoxeter and 16MU

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

This brings back memories but not enough for them to be clear ones.

 

British Road Services used one of the goods yards at the Stafford end as a depot in the early 1970's. Was it Stafford Common?

 

The bits I can remember were that around May 1972 (making me 12) I spent a day with my Dad whilst he was at work in the marketing department of British Road Services Midlands. He was based in Derby but I remember on this day out visiting Stafford and having to amuse myself in a railway goods yard for an hour whilst he did some work. I know it was on the Stafford to Uttoxeter line because I was interested in the Derby end of that as odd research trains made it to Friargate on the GNR route from Mickleover before the ring road severed it. I also know it was at the Stafford end as part of the deal was we spent some time watching trains at Staffords main station and I can pretty well pinpoint the date as I was bought my first copy of Railway Modeller on the station and I know that to have been the May 1972 issue

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 8 months later...

British Road Services used one of the goods yards at the Stafford end as a depot in the early 1970's. Was it Stafford Common?

 

It was indeed Stafford Common goods yard that British Road Services used as a depot.

I have this photo showing the depot with the old station building in the background.

post-24838-0-37019100-1417956563_thumb.jpg

Edited by Fonzie-NL
  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Aft'noon all,

 

The new book from 'The Lightmoor Press' is excellent...superbly detailed and easily the most definitive account of the line to date. I ordered 3 copies the moment that I realised it was available....one for me and two for friends.

 

Dave

Edited by Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71
  • Like 2
  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

For anyone interested in the old Stafford to Uttoxeter railway...

 

Indeed, There is a new book out!

A lot of the photos on the Picasa website can now be viewed in the book with a lot of additional info.

My brother and I been involved with the book, helping the writers with additional info and some photos.

 

The book is cramped full of information, maps and high quality photos.

 

More info about the book at the publishers website: http://lightmoor.co.uk/view_book.php?ref=L9907

post-24838-0-76629600-1417957197_thumb.jpg

Edited by Fonzie-NL
  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...