North Staffordshire Railway

1923. 'L' Class Tank Engine. Built at Stoke-on-Trent. Exhibit at the Shildon Locomotion Museum.

of Stoke-upon-Trent

The North Staffordshire Railway was a British railway company which had its roots in an early scheme to build a small plateway from the base of the Cauldon Canal up to Cauldon Quarries. Both of the two aforementioned things are still in use, with the Cauldon Canal joining up with the Trent and Mersey Canal at Etruria.

As well as the canals, other schemes were being promoted. The Staffordshire Potteries Railway promoted a route from Macclesfield to the mainline at Colwich plus a spur to Crewe and The Churnet valley scheme promoted a line from Macclesfield to Derby. After these two companies applied for the necessary powers to build the lines, Parliament suggested a pause of a year 'to afford time for consideration and for maturing some more complete scheme for the accommodation of that important district'.

This was advantageous to the SPR who formed the North Staffordshire Railway company.

Under the Railways Act 1921, the NSR was one of the eight major companies designated to form the LMS Group.

The NSR was absorbed into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. Along with the Caledonian Railway, the amalgamation into the LMS was delayed from 1 January 1923 to July 1, 1923 due to certain legal requirements not being completed by the due date.

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