Etruria railway station

Etruria
Etruria station in August 1995
General information
LocationEtruria, Staffordshire
England
Coordinates53°01′08″N 2°12′05″W / 53.0189°N 2.2014°W / 53.0189; -2.2014
Grid referenceSJ865469
Platforms2
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyNorth Staffordshire Railway
Key dates
9 October 1848 (1848-10-09)Opened[1]
30 September 2005Closed[1]
Passengers
2002/03Increase 6,566
2004/05Decrease 1,798
2005/06Decrease 497
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

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

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

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

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

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 and station closed
North Staffordshire Railway

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ a b "Last train departs from station". BBC News. 30 September 2005. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  3. ^ "Proposal to close Etruria station". Department for Transport. 21 July 2005. Archived from the original on 6 November 2008.
  4. ^ Restoring Your Railway Fund: bids received gov.uk
  5. ^ 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.