The Churnet Valley Railway
Introduction
The Churnet Valley Railway (CVR) is the home of all the BRCW Group’s vehicles. The line is located in Staffordshire about a mile south of market town Leek – the “Queen of the Moorlands” and ten miles east from the city of Stoke-on-Trent. Second only to Alton Towers theme park in terms of visitor numbers in Staffordshire, the CVR has grown from a heritage centre in the former Cheddleton goods yard to a fully fledged heritage railway operating regular steam & diesel services over 5.5 miles of track. With the activities of Moorland & City Railways, the future for the CVR is bright.
History
Early Days
The Churnet Valley Railway started in the mid 1970's with the saving (from demolition) of the Cheddleton station building. By the early 1980’s a steam centre had been established in the goods yard at Cheddleton with limited steam rides operating from the goods (now bay) platform into the yard and back. British Rail still operated on the “main line”, freight services from the national network at Stoke-on-Trent running to the sand quarry at Oakamoor.
First Trains
In 1995, after the BR sand traffic had ceased, the railway purchased the seven miles of single track from Leekbrook Junction to Oakamoor (Sand Sidings) and the following year, push-pull operated trains started running between Cheddleton and Leekbrook Junction.
Consall station, only the waiting shelter on the Up (right hand) platform had survived, the rest, including both platforms, had to be completely rebuilt
Kingsley & Froghall station, was the next station to be completely rebuilt - everything on the left (including the platform) is new, only the Up (right hand) platform survived
Expansion
The late 1990’s saw rapid expansion of the growing heritage railway. Just two years after the re-opening, a further two miles of track from Cheddleton to Consall was opened in 1998, and a platform/loop constructed at Consall, which saw the end of the push-pull operations. Consall station over the next six years was to be completely reconstructed as only one waiting shelter had survived. Both platforms and the main station building were rebuilt and the station was fully signalled in 2004.
In 2001 another 2 miles were opened to Kingsley & Froghall, which is currently the southern limit of normal operations. Like Consall, there was practically nothing left at the station site, a single platform with no buildings being the only survivor. Since the trains arrived, a run round loop and loco watering facilities have been installed, and both platforms have been brought back into use. A station building has been constructed and a
waiting shelter, indistinguishable from the original, built on the surviving up platform.
In 2008 the last two miles of CVR owned railway, south of Froghall to Oakamoor (Sand Sidings) was passed for limited use by specials, although the line currently only sees one or two passenger trains a year.
Moorland & City Railways
Formation
In 2009 the railway lines in the area entered a new era with the formation of Moorland & City Railways. A separate company to the CVR, it exists to explore the commercial potential of some of the other lines in the area.
For many years the CVR had been aware of its long term problems in running from “nowhere to nowhere” and consequently between 2001 & 2009 was negotiating for the acquisition of Leekbrook Junction to enable a 1 mile extension into the sizeable town of Leek (a real destination for the railway). As the 8 mile Leekbrook Junction-Cauldon Lowe branch had to be included in the sale, the extension was felt to be beyond the CVR’s own resources and talks stalled.
However with the help of prospective freight revenue gained my moving limestone from the extensive quarries at Cauldon back onto the national network at Stoke-on-Trent, the reopening was deemed viable, and two CVR directors set up Moorland & City Railways to pursue this aim. The company also have longer term aims on reconnecting north to Leek and south (via the CVR’s line) to Alton Towers theme park.
Reopening & Expansion
Moorland & City Railways, after less than 12 months in existence, re-opened the 8 mile Cauldon Lowe branch in November 2010 and, reconnected to the CVR, have been operating heritage services along the line at one month intervals during the summer ever since.
Attention has now turned to “phase 2”, the 10 mile Leekbrook to Stoke-on-Trent branch. The first section planned for reopening is the 3 and a half mile Leekbrook-Endon section, which is currently under renovation.
The Future
The Churnet Valley Railway envisages a bright future in partnership with Moorland & City Railways. Agreements have already been reached between the two companies including running rights over each others networks which gives the CVR access to Cauldon Lowe and in the future Stoke-on-Trent for heritage services. Longer term, it is hoped that Moorland & City Railways can continue to expand both north to Leek and south to Alton Towers, with the CVR able to expand its heritage operations accordingly. A heritage line running between Leek and Alton Towers would be an ideal distance (10 miles) and would run between two destinations.
The overgrown Cauldon Lowe branch before Moorland & City Railways purchased it
Ipstones summit after reopening
Could the CVR's trains return to Alton Towers this decade?
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