Etruria railway station
Etruria | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Etruria station in August 1995 | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | Etruria, Staffordshire England | ||||
| Coordinates | 53°01′08″N 2°12′05″W / 53.0189°N 2.2014°W | ||||
| Grid reference | SJ865469 | ||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Status | Disused | ||||
| History | |||||
| Original company | North Staffordshire Railway | ||||
| Key dates | |||||
| 9 October 1848 | Opened[1] | ||||
| 30 September 2005 | Closed[1] | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2002/03 |  6,566 | ||||
| 2004/05 |  1,798 | ||||
| 2005/06 | 497 | ||||
| |||||
Etruria station is a closed station in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which served the area of Etruria and the town of Newcastle-under-Lyme. It closed on 30 September 2005.[2]
History
[edit]The station was opened 9 October 1848 by the North Staffordshire Railway and was modified by it in the 1870s, when the Potteries Loop Line was constructed. The station was an island platform 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. Central Trains 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 reintroduced a limited service, beyond what was contractually required.
Closure
[edit]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.[3] The final train was Northern Rail Class 323 unit 323226 which left at 07:16 to Manchester Piccadilly. The closure was condemned by Transport 2000.[2]
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 60 mph (97 km/h) speed restriction to allow trains to run at 85 mph (137 km/h) southbound and 90 mph (145 km/h) northbound.
Possible reopening
[edit]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.[4]
A second bid was made to the Restoring your railways fund in 2021, this bid was also unsuccessful.[5]
Route
[edit]| Preceding station | Historical railways | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Longport | First North Western Crewe to Derby Line |
Stoke-on-Trent | ||
| Longport | Central Trains Crewe to Derby Line |
Stoke-on-Trent | ||
| Historical railways | ||||
Line and station open | North Staffordshire Railway | Line open, station closed |
||
| North Staffordshire Railway | ||||
| North Staffordshire Railway Sandbach to Stoke Line | ||||
Line open, station closed | North Staffordshire Railway | |||
References
[edit]- ^ a b Quick, Michael (2009) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway & Canal Historical Society. p. 167. ISBN 978-0-901461-57-5. OCLC 612226077.
- ^ a b "Last train departs from station". BBC News. 30 September 2005. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
- ^ "Proposal to close Etruria station". Department for Transport. 21 July 2005. Archived from the original on 6 November 2008.
- ^ Restoring Your Railway Fund: bids received gov.uk
- ^ Corrigan, Phill (14 February 2022). "Could this railway station reopen 17 years after it was closed?". Stoke Sentinel. Archived from the original on 10 March 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
External links
[edit]- Guardian.co.uk: Last train to Etruria
- BBC Stoke & Staffordshire - 360° view of Etruria Station
