View source for Waterhouses railway station (Staffordshire)

{{Short description|Former railway station in England}}
{{For|the station serving Waterhouses, County Durham|Waterhouses railway station (Durham)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2017}}
{{stack begin}}
{{Infobox station
| name                = Waterhouses
| status              = Disused
| image               =
| borough             = [[Waterhouses, Staffordshire]], [[Staffordshire Moorlands]]
| country             = England
| coordinates         = {{coord|53.0487|-1.8742|type:railwaystation_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
| grid_name           = [[Ordnance Survey National Grid|Grid reference]]
| grid_position       = {{gbmapscaled|SK087501|25|SK087501}}
| platforms           = 2
| original            = {{ubl|[[North Staffordshire Railway]]|[[Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway]]}}
| postgroup           = [[London Midland and Scottish Railway]]
| years1              = 29 June 1904
| events1             = temporary station opened for L&MVLR trains
| years2              = 1 July 1905
| events2             = Opened
| years3              = 12 March 1934
| events3             = Closed to all traffic (L&MVLR)
| years4              = 30 September 1935
| events4             = Closed to passengers (LMS)
| years5              = 1 March 1943
| events5             = Closed to freight (LMS)
}}
{{Waterhouses branch RDT|collapse=yes}}
{{Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway|collapse=yes}}
{{stack end}}
'''Waterhouses railway station''' was a [[railway station]] that served the village of [[Waterhouses, Staffordshire|Waterhouses]], [[Staffordshire]]. It was opened jointly by the [[North Staffordshire Railway]] (NSR) and the [[Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway]] (L&MVLR) in 1905<ref name=Butt242>[[#Butt|Butt]] p. 242.</ref> and closed in 1943.<ref name=Christiansen1971304>[[#Christiansen1971|Christiansen & Miller]] p. 304.</ref>
==Construction and opening==
The station was the terminus of two separate railway lines; the {{RailGauge|ussg|allk=on}} NSR branch from [[Leek Brook railway station|Leekbrook Junction]] and the {{RailGauge|2ft6in}} narrow gauge L&MVLR from {{stnlnk|Hulme End}}.  Both lines were authorised on 1 March 1899 by the ''Leek, Caldon Low, and Hartington Light Railways Order, 1898''.<ref>{{cite hansard | url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1899/mar/21/light-railways-act-1896 |title=Light Railways Act 1896 | house=House of Commons | date=21 March 1899 | column=1552}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27062 |page=1761 |date=14 March 1899 }}</ref>
From Leekbrook junction, Waterhouses station was {{miles-chains|8|mi|68|chain|km}} distant. The branch rose until it reached a summit of {{convert|1000|ft|m|1}} near {{stnlnk|Ipstones}} making that the highest point on the NSR.<ref>[[#Christiansen1997|Christiansen]] p. 54.</ref>  From there the line fell until Waterhouses was reached at an elevation of {{convert|725|ft|m|1}}.  The descent necessitated a steep [[Grade (slope)|gradient]] of 1 in 40 (2.5%) that ended only at the end of the station platform.<ref name=Manifold54>[[#Manifold|Manifold]] p. 54.</ref>  The station itself was on a falling gradient of 1 in 260 (0.38%).<ref name=Manifold54/>
The other end of the L&MVLR at Hulme End was {{miles-chains|8|mi|11|chain|km}} away but construction of the L&MVLR proceeded faster than that of the NSR line. The L&MVLR used a temporary station located slightly to the east between its opening on 29 June 1904 and 1 July 1905 when the NSR line opened.<ref name=Manifold20>[[#Manifold|Manifold]] p. 20.</ref>
==Station layout==
[[File:Waterhouses NSR sketch.png|left|thumb|400px|Sketch map of Waterhouses station (not to scale)]]
The two lines approached the station from opposite directions; the NSR from the west and the L&MVLR from the east.  Each served a single platform which were back to back to each other but at different heights; the L&MVLR platform being lower than the NSR one.  This resulted in the platforms being separated by railings to prevent passengers and staff falling off one onto the other.<ref name=Manifold55>[[#Manifold|Manifold]] p. 55.</ref>
The goods facilities were very basic and the main interest was the three interchange sidings allowing standard gauge wagons to be rolled off the end of the siding onto the [[transporter wagon]]s used, uniquely in the United Kingdom,<ref>[[#Ranson1981|Ranson]] p. 258.</ref> by the L&MVLR.<ref name=Manifold55/>  The signal box, of 10 levers,<ref>[[#Jeuda1980|Jeuda]] p. 71.</ref> situated at the [[Leek, Staffordshire|Leek]] end of the NSR station controlled all the points and signals on the NSR line but only the home and starting signals on the L&MVLR.  All the other signals and points on the L&MVLR were hand controlled.<ref name=Manifold55/>  Apart from water columns on both lines, there were no other locomotive facilities.<ref name=Manifold56>[[#Manifold|Manifold]] p. 56.</ref>  On the L&MVLR platform the platform sign simply read "Waterhouses" but only the NSR side they read "Waterhouses, alight for the Manifold Valley and Froghall Quarries"<ref name=Manifold55/>
In NSR days the station staff comprised a [[station master]], two [[Porter (railroad)|porters]], a porter/[[Signalman (rail)|signalman]] and a booking office [[Clerk (position)|clerk]].<ref name=Jeuda73>[[#Jeuda1980|Jeuda]] p. 73.</ref>  The NSR employed a [[Track (rail transport)|permanent way]] gang of five men as did the L&MVLR.<ref name=Jeuda73/>
==Services==
Passenger services were never high and the NSR ran three trains between Leek and Waterhouses, increasing to five on market days in Leek.  These services were all matched by a L&MVLR service to Hulme End and in publication such as [[George Bradshaw#Bradshaw's railway guides|Bradshaws]] services were shown as through services, without mentioning the [[Interchange station|interchange]] at Waterhouses.<ref>[[#BradshawJune1922|Bradshaw]] June 1922 table 605</ref>  On Sundays there was a single train each way.
Freight services were equally sparse with just one goods train per day from the station on market days and two on other days.<ref name=Jeuda23>[[#Jeuda1980|Jeuda]] p. 23.</ref>  The most important traffic between the two lines was milk from the [[creamery]] at [[Ecton, Staffordshire|Ecton]], most of which was destined for London.<ref name=Jeuda23/>  In 1911 {{convert|222598|impgal|l USgal|lk=on}} were brought in from the L&MVLR growing to {{convert|717332|impgal|l USgal}} in 1922.  Initially all the milk was carried in churns which had to be manhandled across the platforms but after the [[First World War]] the churns were loaded into standard gauge vans taken to and from Ecton on the [[transporter wagon]]s.<ref name=Manifold55/> Eventually [[milk tanker]]s were also used, again being transferred between Ecton and Waterhouses on the transporters.<ref name=Manifold28>[[#Manifold|Manifold]] p. 28.</ref>  The importance of the milk traffic was such that between 1919 and 1926 a special [[milk train]] ran direct between Waterhouses and London, rather than the vans being shunted between various trains until the milk reached its ultimate destination.<ref>[[#Jeuda1980|Jeuda]] p. 60.</ref>
==Closure==
The L&MVLR was never a financial success and with the closure of the Ecton creamery in 1932<ref name=Manifold28/> the line became even more uneconomic and closed on 12 March 1934,<ref name=Christiansen1971258>[[#Christiansen1971|Christiansen & Miller]] p. 258.</ref> although the last train ran two days earlier.<ref name=Manifold28/>  The passenger service to Leek lasted until the following year but was withdrawn on 30 September 1935.<ref name=Christiansen1971258/>  The station remained open as a goods station until 1943 when the line between Caldon Junction and Waterhouses closed entirely.<ref name=Manifold29>[[#Manifold|Manifold]] p. 29.</ref>
== The site today ==
The site of Waterhouses railway station is now the location for a cycle hire business located at one end of the [[Manifold Way]] – a trail constructed on the trackbed of the old L&MVLR.<ref>{{cite web |title=Waterhouses (Manifold Way) |url=http://www.thepeakdistrict.info/derbyshire-cycling/waterhouses-cycle-hire.php |access-date=18 November 2010}}</ref>
In July 2013, the preserved [[Churnet Valley Railway]] announced the possible extension of its Cauldon Lowe branch line service to Waterhouses where the station could be reinstated as the future terminus of the newly resurrected part of the preserved line.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.churnet-valley-railway.co.uk/news/cauldon-branch | title = The Cauldon Branch | access-date = 2013-07-18 | author = Churnet Valley Railway | date = 16 July 2013}}</ref>
==Route==
{{Historical Rail Start}}
{{rail line|previous={{stnlnk|Caldon Low Halt}}|next=|route=[[North Staffordshire Railway]]<br /><small>[[Waterhouses branch line|Waterhouses branch]]</small>|col=800000}}
{{rail line|previous=|next={{stnlnk|Sparrowlee}}|route=[[Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway]]|col=800000}}
{{s-end}}
==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}
==References==
* {{cite book |title=Bradshaw's General Railway and Steam Navigation Guide for Great Britain and Ireland |date=June 1922 |publisher=Henry Blacklock & Co |location=Manchester |ref=BradshawJune1922}}
* {{Butt-Stations |ref=Butt}}
* {{cite book |last1=Christiansen |first1=Rex |last2=Miller |first2=Robert William |title=The North Staffordshire Railway |year=1971 |publisher=David & Charles |location=[[Newton Abbot]], [[Devon]] |isbn=0-7153-5121-4 |ref=Christiansen1971 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Christiansen |first1=Rex |title=Portrait of the North Staffordshire Railway|year=1997|publisher=Ian Allan |location=[[Shepperton]], [[Surrey]] |isbn=0-7110-2546-0 |ref=Christiansen1997 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Jeuda |first1=Basil |title=The Leek, Caldon & Waterhouses Railway |year=1980 |publisher=North Staffordshire Railway Company (1978) |location=[[Cheddleton]], [[Staffordshire]]|isbn=0-907133-00-2 |ref=Jeuda1980 }}
* {{cite book |last="Manifold"|title= The Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway |edition=2nd |year=1965 |publisher= D Bradford Barton |location=[[Truro]], [[Cornwall]]|ref=Manifold}}
* {{cite book |last1=Ranson |first1=Philip J G |title=The archaeology of railways |year=1981 |publisher=World's Work |isbn=0-437-14401-1 |ref=Ranson1991 }}
{{Closed stations Staffordshire}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waterhouses (Staffordshire) Railway Station}}
[[Category:Disused railway stations in Staffordshire]]
[[Category:Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1905]]
[[Category:Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1943]]
[[Category:Former North Staffordshire Railway stations]]
[[Category:Staffordshire Moorlands]]
[[Category:Former Leek and Manifold Light Railway stations]]