The Stone to Colwich Line is a long railway line in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

which serves as a cut-off for

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

services to . This route goes direct from Rugeley Trent Valley to Stoke-on-Trent, not going via Stafford.

History

The line was built by the

North Staffordshire Railway The North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) was a Great Britain, British railway company formed in 1845 to promote a number of lines in the Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire Potteries and surrounding areas in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shro ...

(NSR) and opened to traffic on 1 May 1849. The NSR opened several intermediate stations along the route but these were all closed by the

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with London and North Eastern Railway, LNER, Great Western Railway, GWR and Southern Railway (UK), SR. The London, Midland an ...

in 1947 (shortly before

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...

of the UK railway network). During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

due to the proximity of RAF Hixon, the line was blocked on several occasions resulting from aircraft crashes on or close to the line. The line was the location of the

Hixon rail crash On 6 January 1968, a low-loader transporter carrying a 120-ton electrical transformer was struck by a British Rail express train on a recently installed automatic level crossing at Hixon, Staffordshire, England. The collision resulted in 11 de ...

in January 1968, which killed 11 people.

Route

The line diverges from the

Trent Valley Line The Trent Valley line is a railway line between Rugby and Stafford in England, forming part of the West Coast Main Line. The line is long and is named after the River Trent which it follows. It was built to provide a direct route from London ...

Colwich Junction Colwich Junction is a rail junction near the village of Little Haywood, in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is the junction between two routes of the West Coast Main Line: the Trent Valley line and the Stone to Colwich cutoff line. T ...

and runs through to join the

Stafford to Manchester Line Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about south of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Wolverhampton, and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021 census, and is the ...

at . The route was electrified with 25 kV overhead as part of the electrification of the West Coast Main Line by

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

in the 1960s. It is double track throughout its length. Nearly all of the traffic it carries is now passenger trains, although there used to be a regular flow of Class 47 powered

Merry Go Round A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (International English), or galloper (British English) is a type of list of amusement rides, amusement ride consisting of a rotation, rotating circular platform with seats ...

coal services from the coal mines of the Stoke-on-Trent area to the

Rugeley power stations The Rugeley power stations were a series of two Fossil fuel power plant, coal-fired power stations located on the River Trent at Rugeley in Staffordshire. The first power station on the site, Rugeley A power station was opened in 1961, but has s ...

Services

The majority of trains on the route are operated by

Avanti West Coast First Trenitalia West Coast Rail, trading name, trading as Avanti West Coast, is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup (70%) and Trenitalia (30%) that operates the West Coast Partnership. In November 2016, the Department for Tra ...

which is used for their to via services in which 2 trains per hour in each direction run. Some morning and evening peak

West Midlands Trains West Midlands Trains (WMT) is a British train operating company. It operates passenger trains on the West Midlands franchise between London and the English Midlands under two trading names: within the West Midlands region as West Midlands Rai ...

trains between London Euston and also operate via this route.

References

Railway lines in the West Midlands (region) Rail transport in Staffordshire Railroad cutoffs Colwich Stone Rural Stone, Staffordshire {{DEFAULTSORT:Colwich-Stone line