Waterhouses branch line

The Waterhouses branch line was a railway built by the North Staffordshire Railway to link the small villages east of Leek, Staffordshire with Leek, the biggest market town in the area. The railway opened in 1905 but closed to passengers in 1935. Freight continued on the line though until 1988, when the line was as the traffic from the quarries at Caldon Low ceased.

In 2009 a new company, Moorlands & City Railways (MCR), was formed with the intention of re-opening the line for commercial freight traffic, and contracted with the local Churnet Valley Railway (CVR) to hold a series of re-opening events in November 2010. Since 2011 an agreement has been reached between the two companies that sees the CVR operate a heritage service along the branch, with MCR continuing negotiations over the return of freight traffic.

The history of the branch is closely linked with the history of the Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway (LMVLR) as they were part of same proposal to bring the railways to this rural part of Staffordshire, although the promoters of the scheme and the NSR had different motives.

The area east of Leek was (and still is) a rural area consisting of upland hill farms, open moorland interspersed with small villages in the valleys of the rivers Hamps and Manifold. The railways had bypassed such areas as being uneconomic to build into but with the passing of the Light Railways Act 1896 the way was opened for railways to be constructed in rural areas at cheaper cost and with the possibility of financial support from the Treasury. Even as the Light Railways Act was progressing through Parliament a committee was formed in Leek to promote a light railway from Leek to Hartington in Dovedale, Derbyshire. In order to access Treasury funds the line had to be constructed and operated by an existing railway company and as the NSR had a monopoly on rail traffic in the area, the committee entered into discussion with the NSR board in August 1896. The NSR were not only interested in the traffic to be generated from the area but also because it saw the advantage in using a line under the Light Railways Act as a means of building a standard gauge line to the quarries at Caldon Low. The NSR operated the quarry under a 999-year lease and exported limestone from the quarry via a 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge railway from the quarry to the NSR station at Kingsley and Froghall and as the quarry expanded this was not the most efficient method of moving the stone.

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