BW109

North Staffordshire Railway Company

North Staffordshire Railway Company records: records relating to the Trent and Mersey Canal 1847-mid 20th century.

1847-mid 20th century

BW109

These records are available immediately for research

The North Staffordshire Railway (known as Knotty after the Staffordshire Knot crest initially used by the company as an heraldic device) was incorporated in April 1845 by amalgamation of the Staffordshire Potteries and Churnet Valley Railways. In 1845, John Lewis Ricardo (MP for Stoke-on-Trent) became chairman and continued until his death in 1862. George Parker Bidder was appointed consulting engineer and Samuel Parker Bidder was general manager and resident engineer. The first section of the railway from Stoke-on-Trent to Norton Bridge (near Stafford) opened for goods and passenger traffic in April 1848. Stoke-on-Trent was the operational centre, with lines extended from Macclesfield to Norton Bridge, and from Crewe Junction to North Stafford Junction (located between Burton-on-Trent and Derby) with various branches to Burton-on-Trent, Uttoxeter, Congleton, Market Drayton (connecting with the Great Western Railway), and to Etruria and Harecastle Junction (and other smaller places) on the 'Loop Line'. Principal services were operated between Crewe and Derby, Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent and Stafford, Macclesfield and Derby, through Leek, and with frequent services on the Loop Line. A joint station with the London and North Western Railway at Ashbourne was opened in 1899. In 1862 Thomas Broderick was appointed as chairman of the company, succeeded in 1865 by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Pearson. Colin Minton Campbell followed in 1874 and Sir Thomas Salt in 1883. In 1904 the Right Honorable Lord Anslow became the last chairman of the company. The North Staffordshire Railway, like its larger neighbours, the London and North Western and the Midland railways, ceased to exist when they became constituents of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, which was formed in 1923. For further information on the North Staffordshire Railway see The North Staffordshire Railway Study Group at http://www.lnw1.demon.co.uk/nsrsg.htm.

The only records held for this company relate to the Trent and Mersey Canal. This fonds has therefore been divided into one subfonds entitled 'Trent and Mersey Navigation Branch', which was the title given by the North Staffordshire Railway Company.

[See also: BW110 for records of the Trent and Mersey Canal during other periods of ownership]