Some Early Lines – The Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway

Google Maps – the Leek & Manifold Railway ran roughly from C to B

The Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway (L&MVLR) was a narrow gauge railway in Staffordshire, Great Britain which operated between 1904 and 1934. When in operation, the line mainly carried milk from dairies in the region, acting as a feeder to the standard gauge system. It also provided passenger services to the small villages and beauty spots along its route. The line was built to a gauge of 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) and to the light rail standards provided by the Light Railways Act 1896 to reduce construction costs.

Authorised in 1898, this was the narrow gauge section of the Leek Light Railways. The railway ran for 30 years, from 1904 to 1934. Its engineer was Everard Calthrop, a leading advocate of narrow gauge railways and builder of the Barsi Light Railway in India. A private concern, it was run by the North Staffordshire Railway on a percentage basis, but it later came under the control of the London, Midland & Scottish Railway in 1923.

The line was constructed to a high standard, Calthrop applying lessons learned on his other railways. Rail used was 35 lb/yard (17.28kg/m), and the quality of trackwork is reflected in the fact that no re-laying was ever necessary.

The line was a single line, and most services (which began from Hulme End, where the locomotive sheds were) only involved the use of one engine in steam. There was passing loop at Wetton Mill, but it was never used as such.

At Waterhouses the timetable allowed for connections from Leek.

Trains ran at a maximum speed of 15 miles per hour (24.1 km/h), and most halts were run on a request basis. More than this, the train would also often stop to pick up passengers at other places on the lineside footpath, if requested. Timetables mostly show single journey times of 50 minutes (with some showing an hour).

Most outbound freight consisted of milk, in both churns and bulk tankers, and the products of the dairy goods factory at Ecton. In all, some 300 milk churns were handled daily at Waterhouses, and from 1919 a daily milk train ran from Waterhouses to London specifically for this traffic. Latterly milk tanks were used, carried on the transporter wagons. Passenger traffic was minimal – the settlements were mostly some distance from the line – except on Bank Holidays when all the line’s rolling stock was used to run frequent services to handle the crowds.

There was some talk of extending the line northwards, whereby Hulme End (and its engine shed) would become the half-way point of the line, but this never materialised.

Closure

In 1932 the Express Dairy closed its Ecton Creamery, concentrating on its new Rowsley Dairy, and re-routing some milk collection to road transport. The loss of this milk trade removed most of the goods traffic from the line. Furthermore, the developing motor bus services served the villages much better, these settlements being largely on the hills, and often some distance from the line itself. The railway closed briefly in consequence, to re-open briefly in 1933, but closed finally to all traffic on Monday March 10, 1934.

J.B.Earle was cut up at Crewe, whilst E.R. Calthrop was used in the track-removal train, which worked south from Hulme End, before being itself cut up at Waterhouses. All that remains of the engines are 3 name plates.

Had the line survived until the 1950s, it is possible that it might have been saved by a preservation society, as happened with some other lines during that decade.Trackbed  – pic by Laurence Hodgkinson