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We follow the disused section of the Leek & Manifold line from Leek station through to Hulme End station.
The Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway (L&MVLR) was a narrow gauge railway in Staffordshire, England that operated between 1904 and 1934. The line mainly carried milk from dairies in the region, acting as a feeder to the 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge system. It also provided passenger services to the small villages and beauty spots along its route. The line was built to a 2 ft 6 in narrow gauge and to the light rail standards to reduce construction costs.
The North Staffordshire Railway's branch from Leek ended at Waterhouses. The L&MVLR continued from an end-on junction with this line. It ran for 8+1⁄4 miles (13.28 km) down the valley of the River Hamps as far as Beeston Tor, before turning up the limestone gorge that the River Manifold had formed, through to Hulme End. The line had a large number of stations in a relatively short distance, and there were refreshment rooms at Thor's Cave and Beeston Tor. In all the line crossed the river Manifold dozens of times - including nine times in the short section between Sparrowlee and Beeston Tor.
All stations had rather grand signs (sometimes grander than the facilities) and platforms were just 6 inches (152 mm) high. All stations had sidings except for Beeston Tor and Redhurst Halt.
Hulme End station was a large building, with adjacent engine and coach sheds (two roads in each). On the timetable it was described as "Hulme End for Hartington". Hartington being some 3 miles (4.8 km) distant.
Ecton station had both a standard gauge and narrow gauge siding, with a narrow gauge extension to the milk factory. The presence of the railway did not kick-start the local mining industry, as hoped.
Butterton station (also known locally as Ecton Lea) had a waiting room. There was a siding.
Wetton Mill station had a station with waiting room, and a standard gauge siding. (It had ceased to be a working mill before the railway was built.)
At Redhurst Halt an old coach served as a waiting room. There was no siding here.
Thor's Cave station largely served Wetton village. It had a waiting room. Its refreshment room was moved to Wetton in 1917.
Grindon station, located at Weags Bridge, had a loop containing a 75 feet (22.86 m) standard gauge siding.
Beeston Tor station had no siding, but a refreshment room.
Sparrowlee station served Lee House Farm, but nowhere else, and there was not even a waiting room here. The siding included a 60 feet (18.29 m) standard gauge section.
At Waterhouses station the platform had booking offices, and there was a goods shed. There were two short loops, and three short sidings which joined with standard gauge lines. At Waterhouses the timetable allowed for connections from Leek.
The line was a single track. Trains ran at a maximum speed of 15 miles per hour (24.1 km/h), and most halts were run on a request basis. More than this, the train would also often stop to pick up passengers at other places on the lineside footpath, if requested.
Passenger traffic was minimal - the settlements were mostly some distance from the line - except on Bank Holidays when all the line's rolling stock was used to run frequent services to handle the crowds.
There was some talk of extending the line northwards, whereby Hulme End (and its engine shed) would become the half-way point of the line, but this never materialised.
Trains started and finished at Hulme End, at the northern end of the line, where the engine sheds were located.
After opening, there were initially three trains daily in each direction. This increased to four on Thursdays and Saturdays (and later to five).
The most important traffic on the line was from the Express Dairies creamery at Ecton. Most of the product was destined via dedicated milk trains for London. Initially all the milk was carried in milk churns, which had to be manhandled across the platforms at Waterhouses. But after the First World War the churns were loaded into standard gauge vans taken to and from Ecton on the transporter wagons. Eventually milk tankers were also used, again being transferred between Ecton and Waterhouses on the transporters. The importance of the milk traffic was such that between 1919 and 1926, special milk trains ran direct between Waterhouses and London. The year after the closure of the creamery in 1933, the L&MVLR closed.
After the withdrawal of the passenger services in 1935, freight traffic continued until 1964 when the goods facilities at Bradnop, Ipstones and Winkhill were withdrawn.
The transport of limestone mineral traffic from Caldon Low quarries was the main interest of the NSR in constructing the line as the company were the leaseholders of the quarry. There was an increase in traffic and limestone continued to be moved by train from Caldon Low until 1988.