Stafford–Manchester line

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Stafford–Manchester line
standard gauge
Route map (Click to expand)

v t e Stafford–Manchester line
Legend
Liverpool–Manchester lines Manchester–Preston line Manchester Oxford Road Manchester Piccadilly Huddersfield line Glossop line Longsight A6 road Rushford Styal line Levenshulme Fallowfield Loop line Heaton Chapel Stockport–Stalybridge line Heaton Norris Stockport, Timperley & Altrincham Jn Rly via Stockport Tiviot Dale Stockport Mid-Cheshire line to Chester │ Buxton line to Whaley Bridge Disley cutoff via Cheadle Heath Cheadle Hulme Crewe–Manchester line Bramhall Greater Manchester boundary End of TfGM service Poynton Poynton (Midway) Adlington Prestbury Tunnel 273 yd 250 m Prestbury Hibel Road Tunnel 343 yd 314 m Macclesfield Beech Bridge Macclesfield Hibel Road Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway Macclesfield A54 road North Rode Churnet Valley line Biddulph Valley line Congleton Mow Cop and Scholar Green Crewe–Derby line Potteries Loop Line Kidsgrove Harecastle North Tunnel 130 yd 119 m Harecastle South Tunnel 1766 yd 1615 m Chatterley Potteries Loop Line Pinnox branch Longport Potteries Loop Line Etruria Cliffe Vale Halt ( closed 1865 ) Stoke to Market Drayton Line Stoke-on-Trent Stoke–Leek line to Leek Crewe–Derby line to Derby Whieldon Road Halt Mount Pleasant Halt Sideway Halt A50 road Trentham Park branch line Trentham Wedgwood Barlaston Stone to Colwich Line Stone M6 motorway West Coast Main Line via Crewe Norton Bridge flyover Norton Bridge Bridgeford Great Bridgeford Stafford–Shrewsbury line to Newport │ Stafford and Uttoxeter Rly Stafford West Coast Main Line via Trent Valley line West Coast Main Line via Rugby–Birmingham–Stafford line

The Stafford–Manchester line is a major railway line branching from the West Coast Main Line serving Stafford, Stone, Stoke-on-Trent, Kidsgrove, Congleton, Macclesfield, Cheadle Hulme, Stockport and Manchester.

Train services

Avanti West Coast

CrossCountry services operate between Birmingham New Street / The South and Manchester Piccadilly. Between Cheadle Hulme (where it joins the Crewe–Manchester line) and Manchester, the line forms part of Network Rail Route 20.

London Northwestern Railway

Local services between Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent, calling at Stone, are operated by West Midlands Trains; they are branded London Northwestern Railway. They are operated as an hourly service between Stafford and Crewe. Between 2004 and 2008, there was no stopping service on the route, with a replacement bus service taking its place. However Wedgwood and Barlaston stations are still without a train service, although they were never officially closed and are still served by rail-replacement bus services. Norton Bridge also lost its services at the same time but was formally closed in December 2017, after 13 years without a rail service.^[1]

Northern Trains

Frequent local services between Stoke-on-Trent and Manchester are operated by Northern Trains.

East Midlands Railway

The Derby to Crewe Line, operated by East Midlands Railway, shares the Stafford to Manchester Line between Stoke-on-Trent and Kidsgrove.

History

The line was completed in 1848. It incorporated the main line of the North Staffordshire Railway, from the junction with the London and North Western Railway at Norton Bridge, via its principal station at Stoke-on-Trent, to Macclesfield, where it made a running junction, again with the London and North Western Railway. The LNWR had its own station at Macclesfield Hibel Road, which was closed by British Rail in 1960.

The North Staffordshire Railway became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923.

Electrification

The line was

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stafford to Manchester Line.