Waterhouses
General information
LocationWaterhouses, Staffordshire, Staffordshire Moorlands
England
Coordinates53°02′55″N 1°52′27″W / 53.0487°N 1.8742°W / 53.0487; -1.8742
Grid referenceSK087501
Platforms2
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original company
Post-groupingLondon Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
29 June 1904temporary station opened for L&MVLR trains
1 July 1905Opened
12 March 1934Closed to all traffic (L&MVLR)
30 September 1935Closed to passengers (LMS)
1 March 1943Closed to freight (LMS)
Waterhouses
Branch Line
Up arrow
Leek & Manifold Valley Lt Rly
to Hulme End
 Waterhouses
 Caldon Low Halt
 Caldon Low Quarries
 Winkhill Halt
 Ipstones
 Bradnop
Churnet Valley Line
Left arrow to Leek │ to Cheddleton Right arrow
Down arrow
North Staffordshire Railway
to Stoke-on-Trent
Leek and
Manifold Valley
Light Railway
 Hulme End
 Ecton
 Butterton
 Wetton Mill
 Redhurst Crossing
 Thor's Cave
 Grindon
 Beeston Tor
 Sparrowlee
 Waterhouses
North Staffordshire Railway
to Leek

Waterhouses railway station was a railway station that served the village of Waterhouses, Staffordshire. It was opened jointly by the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) and the Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway (L&MVLR) in 1905[1] and closed in 1943.[2]

Construction and opening

The station was the terminus of two separate railway lines; the 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge NSR branch from Leekbrook Junction and the 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge L&MVLR from Hulme End. Both lines were authorised on 1 March 1899 by the Leek, Caldon Low, and Hartington Light Railways Order, 1898.[3][4]

From Leekbrook junction, Waterhouses station was 8 miles 68 chains (8.85 miles, 14.24 km) distant. The branch rose until it reached a summit of 1,000 feet (304.8 m) near Ipstones making that the highest point on the NSR.[5] From there the line fell until Waterhouses was reached at an elevation of 725 feet (221.0 m). The descent necessitated a steep gradient of 1 in 40 (2.5%) that ended only at the end of the station platform.[6] The station itself was on a falling gradient of 1 in 260 (0.38%).[6]

The other end of the L&MVLR at Hulme End was 8 miles 11 chains (8.14 miles, 13.10 km) away but construction of the L&MVLR proceeded faster than that of the NSR line. The L&MVLR used a temporary station located slightly to the east between its opening on 29 June 1904 and 1 July 1905 when the NSR line opened.[7]

Station layout

Sketch map of Waterhouses station (not to scale)

The two lines approached the station from opposite directions; the NSR from the west and the L&MVLR from the east. Each served a single platform which were back to back to each other but at different heights; the L&MVLR platform being lower than the NSR one. This resulted in the platforms being separated by railings to prevent passengers and staff falling off one onto the other.[8]

The goods facilities were very basic and the main interest was the three interchange sidings allowing standard gauge wagons to be rolled off the end of the siding onto the transporter wagons used, uniquely in the United Kingdom,[9] by the L&MVLR.[8] The signal box, of 10 levers,[10] situated at the Leek end of the NSR station controlled all the points and signals on the NSR line but only the home and starting signals on the L&MVLR. All the other signals and points on the L&MVLR were hand controlled.[8] Apart from water columns on both lines, there were no other locomotive facilities.[11] On the L&MVLR platform the platform sign simply read "Waterhouses" but only the NSR side they read "Waterhouses, alight for the Manifold Valley and Froghall Quarries"[8]

In NSR days the station staff comprised a station master, two porters, a porter/signalman and a booking office clerk.[12] The NSR employed a permanent way gang of five men as did the L&MVLR.[12]

Services

Passenger services were never high and the NSR ran three trains between Leek and Waterhouses, increasing to five on market days in Leek. These services were all matched by a L&MVLR service to Hulme End and in publication such as Bradshaws services were shown as through services, without mentioning the interchange at Waterhouses.[13] On Sundays there was a single train each way.

Freight services were equally sparse with just one goods train per day from the station on market days and two on other days.[14] The most important traffic between the two lines was milk from the creamery at Ecton, most of which was destined for London.[14] In 1911 222,598 imperial gallons (1,011,950 L; 267,329 US gal) were brought in from the L&MVLR growing to 717,332 imperial gallons (3,261,060 L; 861,480 US gal) in 1922. Initially all the milk was carried in churns which had to be manhandled across the platforms but after the First World War the churns were loaded into standard gauge vans taken to and from Ecton on the transporter wagons.[8] Eventually milk tankers were also used, again being transferred between Ecton and Waterhouses on the transporters.[15] The importance of the milk traffic was such that between 1919 and 1926 a special milk train ran direct between Waterhouses and London, rather than the vans being shunted between various trains until the milk reached its ultimate destination.[16]

Closure

The L&MVLR was never a financial success and with the closure of the Ecton creamery in 1932[15] the line became even more uneconomic and closed on 12 March 1934,[17] although the last train ran two days earlier.[15] The passenger service to Leek lasted until the following year but was withdrawn on 30 September 1935.[17] The station remained open as a goods station until 1943 when the line between Caldon Junction and Waterhouses closed entirely.[18]

The site today

The site of Waterhouses railway station is now the location for a cycle hire business located at one end of the Manifold Way – a trail constructed on the trackbed of the old L&MVLR.[19]

In July 2013, the preserved Churnet Valley Railway announced the possible extension of its Cauldon Lowe branch line service to Waterhouses where the station could be reinstated as the future terminus of the newly resurrected part of the preserved line.[20]

Route

Preceding station Historical railways Following station
Caldon Low Halt   North Staffordshire Railway
Waterhouses branch		   Terminus
Terminus   Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway   Sparrowlee

Notes

  1. ↑ Butt p. 242.
  2. ↑ Christiansen & Miller p. 304.
  3. ↑ "Light Railways Act 1896". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 21 March 1899. col. 1552.
  4. ↑ "No. 27062". The London Gazette. 14 March 1899. p. 1761.
  5. ↑ Christiansen p. 54.
  6. 1 2 Manifold p. 54.
  7. ↑ Manifold p. 20.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Manifold p. 55.
  9. ↑ Ranson p. 258.
  10. ↑ Jeuda p. 71.
  11. ↑ Manifold p. 56.
  12. 1 2 Jeuda p. 73.
  13. ↑ Bradshaw June 1922 table 605
  14. 1 2 Jeuda p. 23.
  15. 1 2 3 Manifold p. 28.
  16. ↑ Jeuda p. 60.
  17. 1 2 Christiansen & Miller p. 258.
  18. ↑ Manifold p. 29.
  19. ↑ "Waterhouses (Manifold Way)". Retrieved 18 November 2010.
  20. ↑ Churnet Valley Railway (16 July 2013). "The Cauldon Branch". Retrieved 18 July 2013.

References

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