Stoke to Leek Mothballed Railway Line, with the DJI Mini 3 Pro and Historical photos.

Timeline of video
0:00 – Introduction to Video.
4:32 – Fenton Manor Station.
7:12 – Fenton Manor Tunnel.
8:40 – Bucknall & Northwood Station.
11:24 – Birches Road & Level Crossing.
12:02 – Milton Junction.
14:23 – Milton Station.
15:55 – The Line passes under Leek New Road.
16:49 – Stockton Brook Station & Tunnel.
19:56 – Endon Station & Level Crossing.
23:34 – The Line passes under Park Lane.
23:59 – Caldon Canal which was owned by the North Staffordshire Railway.
25:33 – Wall Grange Station.
29:52 – View of the route towards Leek Brook Junction & Stoke on Trent.
31:46 – Leek Brook Junction & Station on the Churnet Valley Railway.
32:57 – The Grade 2 Listed Leek Brook Junction Signal Box, built in 1807.
37:00 – Leek Brook Junction with the triangle reinstated which was removed in 1935.
37:33 – Location of the Engine Shed that was located at Leek Brook Junction.
38:35 – Leek Tunnel.
41:00 – Approximate location of line that went towards St Edwards Hospital from Leek Brook Junction.
41:14 – Leek Station & Location for the proposed Churnet Valley Railway Station in Leek, returning Steam trains to the town.

The Stoke to Leek line is a mothballed railway route, which up until 1988 was used by BR freight trains to reach the quarries at both Cauldon Lowe and Oakamoor.

The line is made up of two sections; The first section is the remains of the former Biddulph Valley Line, which used to run from Stoke-on-Trent to Congleton, with the section from Stoke to Milton Junction being intact. This used to be a double track section, but was rationalised to single track after the loss of the passenger services.

The second section is the former single track connecting line to Leek from Milton Junction, passing through the villages of Milton, Stockton Brook and Endon before meeting the Churnet Valley Line at Leek Brook Junction for the 1 mile run into Leek. The section from Endon to Leek Brook though used to be double-tracked but was singled at the same time as the first section.

Both of these lines were part of the North Staffordshire Railway network that was constructed in the second half of the 19th century. The Biddulph Valley line was authorised on 24 July 1854, with passenger services commencing in 1864. The Milton to Leek was authorised during 1863, with the passenger and goods service commencing on 1 November 1867.

Possible re-opening
In March 2020, a bid was made to the Restoring Your Railway fund to get funds for a feasibility study into reinstating the line between Stoke and Leek. This bid was unsuccessful.

In March 2021 a new bid was made to the restoring your railways fund to re-open the line. On 27 October 2021 it was announced the bid was successful and that £50,000 had been granted for a feasibility study.

On 4 October 2023, the government committed to reopening the line as part of its Network North scheme.

Major goods locations were Pratt’s Sidings (just after the engine sheds), numerous collieries (including many on the Longton, Adderley Green and Botteslow line that went to Normacot from between Fenton Manor and Bucknall), just before Milton was the British Aluminium works, just after Milton was Buller’s works (ceramic insulators), just before Endon was a narrow gauge line to a mill that crossed the canal on a swing bridge, also before Endon was a limestone tippler that loaded canal boats. The North Staffordshire Railway owned Caldon Canal and Leek Branch crossed the line numerous times. Caldon is the correct spelling for the canal. Cauldon is the correct name for the village and quarry.

Each Station and some landmarks have been shown along the route and some old photos of the line have been included showing the line before and after closure, then we fly the drone over the route to see the route today and the task to reopen this line, we then proceed towards Leek Brook Junction where the route meets the Churnet Valley Railway who are in the progress of returning Steam trains to Leek and building a new station close to the original location.
#railway #railwaylines #railwaylife #leek #churnetvalleyrailway #staffordshire #steamrailway #closedrailway #disusedrailway #disusedtrack #stokeontrent #djimini3pro #dji