Cheddleton
Brief History
Cheddleton station was located on the North Rode to Uttoxeter double track diversionary route built by the North Staffordshire Railway in 1849. With initially only a handful of trains each day the route profited from freight and heavy excursion traffic in the summer months, for example Alton Towers is 10 miles south down the line. Cheddleton was a small station with the double track running through with a siding and goods shed which is the bay today. The line kept passenger services until the Beeching cuts of 1963 when the entire line from Leek south to Uttoxeter closed to passengers in 1965. In 1968, the line was singled and only sand traffic from Stoke through to Oakamoor kept the line open. These trains continued until 1995 when Moneystone quarry (Oakamoor) stopped sending sand by rail. The line was closed but luckily not lifted. The main station building built to an unusual design survived, and is the only one left that still sees paying passengers (all the others at Rushton, Froghall, Oakamoor and Alton have either been demolished or the track closed and lifted)
Reopening
While sand trains had been running the station building was saved in the late 1970s by preservationists who continued to create a working museum with a short demonstration line from the goods shed parallel to the main line for a couple of hundred yards which carried passengers for the first time in 1982. The goods siding was converted into a bay and sheds were put up south of the station which associated sidings and stock built up over the years. The next leap forward was the purchase of the 7 mile section of track between Leekbrook and Oakamoor and trains returned to the main platform in 1996 running Push-pull trains to Leekbrook. Meanwhile at the station facilities were upgraded with a car park, shops and cafe being added. In 1998 the extension to Consall meant Cheddleton became a through station. Recent work has included the extension of one of the sidings, a new carriage shed, a new signal on the station platform and the reconnection of the second platform to the main line, albeit at one end only.
The Future
Being the railway's headquarters the future is bright for Cheddleton. The yard area is set to improve as the operating department grows and raises standards, the station is expected to be redeveloped at some point and the siding into the second platform will one day become a loop and perhaps herald the return of three trains at once on the Churnet Valley.
