Sandon 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 ...

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 ...

to serve the village of

Sandon, Staffordshire Sandon is a village in Staffordshire, about northeast of Stafford. The village is in the Trent Valley on the A51 road. Sandon Park There is a rectangular moated site in Sandon Park, about northeast of the parish church. The site measures abo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. For some time it was called Sandon and Salt to avoid confusion with Salt and Sandon railway station opened by the

Stafford and Uttoxeter Railway The Stafford and Uttoxeter Railway was authorised by Act of Parliament on 29 July 1862,Donald J Grant, Directory of the Railway Companies of Great Britain, Matador, Kibworth Beauchamp, 2017, ISBN 978 1785893 537, pages 532 and 533 to build a line ...

in 1867. Although in a country area and in some distance from the village it served, the station building was in an ornate Jacobean style with ornate gable ends and, on the entrance side, a substantial ''

Porte-cochère A porte-cochère (; , late 17th century, literally 'coach gateway'; plural: porte-cochères, portes-cochères) is a doorway to a building or courtyard, "often very grand," through which vehicles can enter from the street or a covered porch-like ...

''. This was for the convenience of Dudley Ryder, 2nd Earl of Harrowby, who was about to have a new

Jacobethan The Jacobethan or Jacobean Revival architectural style is the mixed national Renaissance revival style that was made popular in England from the late 1820s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the English Renaissance (15 ...

country house built in nearby Sandon Park. There was a decorated timber awning and, on the opposite platform, a small but similarly elegant waiting-room. The platforms and station buildings were built on the down, Stoke, side of the bridge of the present B5066 road, and at the other end was a long siding accessed from both running lines by trailing crossovers, with a short spur back to the station. To simplify shunting, authority had been given by the company managers to use a tow rope which was kept beneath the signal box. Further along the line was a private siding belonging to the Earl to service his gasworks which was also controlled by Sandon box. It was a busy main line but few trains called at the station. Under the

1923 grouping The Railways Act 1921 (c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament enacted by the British government and intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four la ...

it became part of the

London Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...

. By 1938 there were only two trains on weekdays and four on Saturdays. The LMS closed the station to passengers on 6 January 1947 and

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

ways closed it to goods on 5 September 1955. The station buildings gradually deteriorated until the Sandon Estate bought them in 1970. They were renovated in 1985 and are now a private home. The line is still open as a diversion of the

Trent Valley Line The Trent Valley line is a railway line between Rugby and Stafford in England, forming part of the West Coast Main Line. It is named after the River Trent which it follows. The line was built to provide a direct route from London to North West E ...

between

Rugeley Trent Valley Rugeley Trent Valley is a railway station located on the outskirts of Rugeley in Staffordshire, England. It is one of two stations serving Rugeley, the other being Rugeley Town. It is on the eastern side of the town close to the Rugeley Trent ...

via Colwich Junction and

Stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

See also

References

Further reading