Leek Brook railway station is a passenger station in

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 ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

History

Leek Brook railway station 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 1904. It consisted of 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 ...

with two faces on the line from and and a single platform on the down (i.e. Leek bound) direction of the Churnet Valley Line. The railway station was a very quiet station not even advertised in timetables and was described by the NSR as a halt. The Churnet Valley platform was mainly used as an interchange platform with the

St Edwards Hospital tramway The St Edward's Hospital tramway was a tramway built for Staffordshire County Council for the construction of the St Edward's County Mental Asylum at Cheddleton, Staffordshire. Opened in 1899, the line ran until 1954 before being closed and ...

using the other side of the platform. Passengers to and from

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

used the platforms on the Stoke–Leek line and walked over to the Churnet Valley platform to catch a tram to the hospital. Passengers wishing to head south on the Churnet Valley line towards

Uttoxeter Uttoxeter ( , ) is a market town in the East Staffordshire district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is near to the Derbyshire county border. It is situated from Burton upon Trent, from Stafford, from Stoke-on-Trent, from De ...

would have to catch a northbound train to Leek and then return through Leek Brook on a south bound train. Leek Brook railway station closed to all traffic on 7 May 1956, the hospital railway had already closed two years previously in November 1954.

Churnet Valley Railway

During the 1970s a railway preservation base was set up at nearby

Cheddleton railway station Cheddleton railway station is a former passenger railway station of the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) and is now a preserved station on the Churnet Valley Railway in Staffordshire, England]. History Cheddleton station, situated on the Ch ...

. This was later to become the base of the

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. ...

(CVR). The CVR had slowly been progressing in preserving the line when in the late 1990s they had reached the site of Leek Brook station which, however, was not judged worthy of re-opening due to the large amount of other preservation projects being undertaken by the CVR at the time and the poor access to the site. The first CVR passenger service to the station site was on 24 August 1996 and Leek Brook is currently the normal northern terminus of the CVR. Since November 2010, on special events some CVR trains continue beyond the site towards Cauldon Low. There is no public access to the station, so neither boarding not alighting is possible there. Trains stop there only to detach the locomotive from one end of the train and run round to attach it to the other.

Route

References

;Notes ;Sources * * *

External links

Churnet Valley Railway homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leek Brook Railway Station Disused railway stations in Staffordshire Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1956 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1904 Buildings and structures in Leek Former North Staffordshire Railway stations