Etruria station is a closed station in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which served the areas of Etruria and the larger district of Newcastle-under-Lyme. It closed on 30 September 2005.

History

The station was opened 9 October 1848 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 ...

and was modified by it in the 1870s, when the

Potteries Loop Line The Potteries Loop Line was a railway line that connected Stoke-on-Trent to Mow Cop and Scholar Green via Hanley, Burslem, Tunstall and Kidsgrove. It ran between Staffordshire and Cheshire in England. It served three of the six towns of Stoke ...

was constructed. The station was an

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

situated underneath a bridge carrying the A53, approximately one mile north of Stoke-on-Trent station. Its train services were suspended in May 2003 during the upgrade of the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

Central Trains Central Trains was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated a variety of local and inter-regional trains from 2 March 1997 until 11 November 2007. Overview Created out of the Central division o ...

did not restart services to Etruria when the work was finished and continued to serve the station with rail replacement buses only, although

First North Western First North Western was a train operating company in England owned by FirstGroup that operated the North West Regional Railways franchise from March 1997 until December 2004. History In the lead up to the privatisation of British Rail, the Nor ...

reintroduced a limited service, beyond what was contractually required.

Closure

After already low passenger numbers dwindled even further, closure was proposed by the Strategic Rail Authority in February 2004. The closure was granted approval by the Department for Transport on 21 July 2005. The final train was

Northern Rail Northern Rail, branded as Northern, was an English train operating company owned by Serco-Abellio that operated the Northern Rail franchise from 2004 until 2016. It was the primary passenger train operator in Northern England, and operated th ...

Class 323 The British Rail Class 323 are electric multiple unit (EMU) passenger trains built by Hunslet Transportation Projects and Holec. All 43 units were built from 1992 through to 1995, although mock-ups and prototypes were built and tested in 1990 ...

unit 323226 which left at 07:16 to Manchester Piccadilly. The closure was condemned by Transport 2000. The platform signage and platform objects were removed in June 2006 and by December 2008 the platform had been demolished to permit the straightening of the track and remove a speed restriction to allow trains to run at southbound and northbound.

Possible reopening

In March 2020, a bid was made to the Restoring Your Railway fund to get funds for a feasibility study into reinstating the station. This bid was unsuccessful. A second bid was made to the Restoring your railways fund in 2021, this bid was also unsuccessful.

Route

References

External links

Guardian.co.uk: Last train to EtruriaBBC Stoke & Staffordshire
- 360° view of Etruria Station {{Closed stations Staffordshire Buildings and structures in Stoke-on-Trent Disused railway stations in Stoke-on-Trent Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1848 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 2005 Former North Staffordshire Railway stations