Ipstones railway station was a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

that served the village of

Ipstones Ipstones is a village and civil parish in the north of the English county of Staffordshire. Ipstones is part of the Staffordshire Moorlands district; within the boundaries of the civil parish are the hamlets Foxt, Consall Forge and Bottomhouse. ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. It was opened by the

North Staffordshire Railway 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 i ...

(NSR) in 1905 and closed to passenger use in 1935, but remained open to freight traffic until 1964. The station site today is used as a run-around loop for trains on the heritage

Churnet Valley Railway The Churnet Valley Railway is a preserved standard gauge heritage railway in the Staffordshire Moorlands of Staffordshire, England. It operates on part of the former Churnet Valley Line.which was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway. ...

with plans to reopen a station on the site.

Construction and opening

The station was on the NSR branch from Leekbrook Junction to . The single line branch was authorised on 1 March 1899 by the ''Leek, Caldon Low, and Hartington Light Railways Order, 1898'', and construction took several years. The station at Ipstones was just before the summit of the line, which was also the highest point on the NSR, at above sea level.

Station layout

The station had a single platform and limited goods facilities. A

passing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains or ...

was installed and Ipstones was a

block section Absolute block signalling is a British signalling scheme designed to ensure the safe operation of a railway by allowing only one train to occupy a defined section of track (block) at a time. This system is used on double or multiple lines where ...

with and Caldon Junction signalboxes. In NSR days the station staff comprised a

station master The station master (or stationmaster) is the person in charge of a railway station, particularly in the United Kingdom and many other countries outside North America. In the United Kingdom, where the term originated, it is now largely historical ...

, one

porter Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian regional airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc., ...

and two porters/

signallers A signaller, signalman, colloquially referred to as a radioman or signaleer in the armed forces is a specialist soldier, sailor or airman responsible for military communications. Signallers, a.k.a. Combat Signallers or signalmen or women, are ...

Closure

The branch line was never a financial success and passenger services were withdrawn on 30 September 1935. The station remained open as a goods station until May 1964 when all traffic on the branch except mineral worksings from Caldon Low quarries was withdrawn.

The site today

Mineral trains to Caldon Low continued until 1989 when the line was mothballed. The station buildings had been demolished although the station house still stands. In 2009 Moorland and City Railways purchased the line with the intention of reopening the line to mineral traffic from the quarry. In 2014 this plan was placed on hold as the

Competition Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competition regulator under t ...

ruled that

Lafarge Tarmac Tarmac is a British building materials company headquartered in Solihull, England. The company was formed as Lafarge Tarmac in March 2013, by the merger of Anglo American plc, Anglo American's Tarmac Group, Tarmac UK and Lafarge (company), Lafa ...

must sell one of its sites, possibly Caldon Low, so the heritage railway the

are seeking to purchase the line. The Churnet Valley Railway ran the first services to Caldon Lowe in 2010 and reopened the loop at Ipstones in February 2014.

Route

Notes

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ipstones Railway Station Disused railway stations in Staffordshire Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1905 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1935 Former North Staffordshire Railway stations Staffordshire Moorlands