This book, the first of a trilogy, forms a detailed study of one of the North Staffordshire Railway’s first branch lines, along the Biddulph Valley from Stoke to the Cheshire town of Congleton, dating from 1860.
It also covers the branch from Milton to the Staffordshire Moorland market town of Leek, which opened in 1867, along with the fascinating four-mile Longton, Adderley Green & Bucknall line of 1875, which was originally independent but was absorbed by the NSR in 1895.
This book features a wealth of illustrations, maps and plans documenting earlier railway and canal schemes planned to serve the area, many of which were aborted. This volume takes the reader on a journey from inception to the end of the NSR’s existence with the 1923 Grouping of the railways.
Chapter List:
- Early Schemes: Canals and Railways
- Enter the North Staffordshire Railway
- Working the Line: Introduction of Passenger Traffic
- Developments in the 19th Century
- The Line to Leek
- The Biddulph Valley Line Under NSR Ownership in the 20th Century
- The Leek Line Under NSR Ownership in the 20th Century
- The Longton, Adderley Green & Bucknall Railway
The book is well-illustrated with photographs, many of which have never appeared in print before, old documents, timetables, maps and plans and gradient profiles, several of which have been specially commissioned for this book. Hardback. 264 pages.