Whitmore was a station serving the village of Whitmore,

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 ...

History

The station opened onto the Grand Junction Railway in 1837 when the line itself was built. It opened in

Baldwin's Gate Baldwin's Gate is a village in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme The Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme is a local government district with borough status in Staffordshire, England. It is named after the town of Newcastle-under-Lyme, wher ...

village near the edge of Whitmore Parish. This station brought in huge numbers of people as it also served as the nearest station to Newcastle-under-Lyme and the Potteries until the Stoke line opened in 1848.

Coronation Scot record

On 29 June 1937 the

Coronation Scot The ''Coronation Scot'' was a named express passenger train of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway inaugurated in 1937 for the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth which ran until the start of the war in 1939. It ran on the ...

engine created a world record of while travelling through Whitmore station giving it world-wide fame.

Buildings and location

Whitmore station was located off Whitmore Road in Baldwins Gate village. The site of the station can still be seen when the tracks part, showing a grassy area were platforms could have been. A more likely location of the platform is where a siding of road comes down near the track, this could have led to a platform. One station building can still be seen: a building, next to a bridge spanning the track, is in the definite style of ticket office. This means that passengers could buy tickets, then wait or read information before heading down a side road to the platform.

Impact of the station

The station itself was one of the key factors affecting how Baldwins Gate village was laid out. Only two shops are in the village, and they are both situated next to the line. The line led to land being sold on each side, so the village expanded, and its appearance today is because of the impact of the railway and station.

Closure

However Whitmore station slowly began to get less and less business and in 1952 the station was closed.

References