Churnet Valley Railway General Discussion

Brilliant stuff well done.
Is the new buffer stop the final end of the line or will it be extended further towards Leek?

 

For those who haven't seen (not my video):

 

Yes, another 200 yards or so when the runaround is added. This will allow for the full platform to be installed. Aside from some earth works it looks ready to go.

I believe it was done in this way for time and conditions purposes to ensure trains rain before 2025.

 

PWay tree team out twice this week. On Monday removed a large dead tree near the end of the new platform at Leek. Today, despite the snow, we succeeded in removing five trees above Bradnop.

 

That's an impressive achievement. However, as a non-local I'm puzzled by quite what the overall plan is. It would be very helpful to see a map of railways on the area, open and closed, showing which sections the Churnet Valley have reopened and which they are hoping to. There have been various references over the years to the line to Cauldon Low, for example, and possible freight traffic, but I'm not clear where a connection with Network Rail would be made.

 

Is probably the best to show for now.

The best way to describe the progress is always from Leekbrook junction.

Leekbrook > Leek is almost complete as far as it can go, short of the original station site. Beyond it has been built on by Croda and Morrisons.

Leekbrook > Caldon Low > This has been developed almost as far as Ipstones. This could be developed further too Cauldon, but the end of the line has been demolished by quarry work.

Leekbrook to Alton/Denstone > This has been developed up until Froghall. It could be developed to Oakamoor sand sidings on land owned by CVR. Although no station/platforms exist there. It could further be extended into Oakamoor/Alton and Denstone although the trackbed is owned by the council council and would require investment. Denstone would be the terminus as land beyond it has been built on.

Leekbrook to Stoke > This is only used for storage currently, but trains previously ran as far as Endon. This line is owned by Network Rail and is “mothballed” Beyond Endon it is is a significant state of disrepair but could be extended to Endon. The connection back to the mainline would require significant investment.

Getting into Leek proper (I.e Brick station building, finishing the runaround loop etc) will be a task in itself, but could give the railway a significant springboard into some of the other areas mentioned. I hope a temporary solution is put together in the meantime for the financial boost (Car park finished and temp building installed)

The whole line still has huge potential, in lots of different directions, with the larger population centres either back towards Stoke or possibly Alton Towers. Alton Station in particular could be a real heritage masterpiece and has beautiful surroundings. There are few other original station buildings on the line which could be used (within reason as it’s currently owned by English heritage).

 

Cauldon to Leekbrook was originally leased by BR to Moorlands and City but since they took up the track above Ipstones the line from Ipstones to Leekbrook has been leased to CVR.

 

Thanks for the details, which make things much clearer.

 

The line from Stoke Glebe Street all the way to Caldon Low is still owned by Network Rail and all the bridges are still inspected by Network Rail Staff. The line from Leekbrook was leased to MCR for a pepper corn rent supposedly for freight traffic but in reality all they wanted to do was rip the entire line up for scrap and build 89 houses on Leekbrook triangle but this fell through because of objections from the Staffs County Council Highways Dept due to limited access to the proposed new estate although MCR did offer to mitigate this by demolishing under bridge 2 and severing the line. When the scrap men had ripped up the line as far as Ipstones the CVR volunteers obviously kicked up a stink and so it was agreed that CVR would buy the lease for the remaining bit of the line back to Leekbrook but in order to pay the sum of money demanded they had to rip up three miles of their own track from Froghall to Oakamoor. They managed to spin this by saying that that portion of the line was somehow more clapped out than the rest of the CVR although just before track lifting took place the Pway Dept did a fantastic job of clearing all the vegetation which must have made the job of the scrap men much easier. The CVR have never run any trains to Endon because they are not allowed to run over the level crossing because this is the responsibility of Network Rail. I am not sure if the lease for the line is actually transferable as far as Network Rail is concerned because otherwise you would have thought that the CVR would have obtained the lease for themselves in the first place but at least it seems that the CVR volunteers manage to continue to get some use from it for the foreseeable.

 

You genuinely think they leased the trackbed from Network Rail for the purpose of building houses? That's quite a conspiracy theory, please explain.

 

Based on my own knowledge as a (semi) active volunteer in CVR's PWay gang I'll just say the following

There was actually a plan to build houses on the land within the LB triangle, as a way of financing the development of the railway. That plan was not successful for a range of reasons, not least that the access to the houses within the triangle would have been via a bridge barely wide enough for two cars, and not really wide enough if Fire Brigade etc needed urgent access.

I seem to recall that there was an idea of demolishing the bridge and replacing it with something giving more room but permanently severing the line completely at that point would make no sense given that using the Ipstones line to move freight off the roads was part of the overall plan for developing the railway as a whole.

The track bed from Froghall to Oakamoor was indeed very clapped out,. Having walked it myself with some of the other members of PWay, the four foot was very wet which is not good if the track is on timber sleepers. I believe that the section down to Oakamoor was being used for storage of stock but that it was being regularly vandalised and therefore the section was more trouble than it was worth.

Yes otherwise the previous post does read like a conspiracy theory in search of some facts. In fact it makes me think of someone who used to post on here as Clog and Knocker

 

Given the recent announcement of approval of the planning for a holiday park at the sand quarry in Oakamoor, hopefully the revives the idea of it getting its own platform at the sand sidings.

What is needed to be able to get the track reinstated? Hopefully the railway use the leek station as a jumping off for the “next” possible expansions.

 

I'm afraid I too was reminded of Clog and Knocker.
But glad to say it has all gone better and certainly far more sucessfully since.

 

That’s good news, I hadn’t heard.

 

Yes I remember hearing about it but not having the time to look into it.

I can't remember how far it is from the landing pad at Froghall to the vicinity of Moneystones, I'd imagine a couple of miles or so. The track bed is still in place and generally quite clear the last time I walked it (I think 2023). I reckon we'd need to do some work to make sure the drainage was up to snuff. The gradient of the valley as a whole is quite shallow so it can get wet down there, which I think was a factor in the old track being scrapped.

I think the plan (or concept maybe) is to have a halt rather than a full blown station, so no booking office, tea shop etc.

So it should be reasonably straightforward, although clearly the main driver is how soon the development at Moneystones can be delivered, and CVR are not involved in that process so have no direct influence. Not to mention some of the locals will probably use every avenue of appeal or escalation that they can think of.

It's a nice prospect, but not an imminent one I fear.

 

Froghall to Moneystone trackbed is owned by CVR outright. We can put track down whenever we want, but will only do so when the business case justifies it.

When we ran down there between 2008(?) - 2014, we were limited to 12x days a year and DMU / lightweight vehicles only. The trackbed was in a horrendous state due to the drains / culverts have filled up with sand/silt over the years and never being maintained by BR.

At the same time vandalism was rife at Moneystone, costing the railway more than its potential with constant pointless attacks. So to cut our losses, save ourselves in the long term, we as CVR brought the line back to Froghall. The fact the CVR as a business has turned itself around from £100k losses in 2014, to £100k+ profits in 2024 justifies these difficult decisions.

Everyone seems to love a conspiracy theory of CVR, and take great delight in using personal grievances to cast “factual” aspersions against us despite the fact said individuals never seem to be present in the various board/team meetings we hold quite regularly. Maybe if they put as much effort into supporting us as they do belittling us we’d be able to go in the direction we are (apparently) missing.

 

Agree with the previous 2 posts wholeheartedly, the fact the CVR has turned itself around into a stable footing.

Just about the hopefully start a massive boost in the railways fortunes at Leek really is a massive testament to the approach.

Like most I’m really looking forward to the day I can pull up at Leek, and jump on a train. I do think it will be a “game changer” for the railway in the truest sense of the word. Opening up multiple options to further preserve local heritage.

 

Good to hear the news about the business. As a matter of interest, how many paid staff are there?

 

Without checking: 1x full time office staff and 2x eng staff with 2x apprentices. The catering team are then part time, with both office/catering being supported by volunteers as required (some do days in both - even board members have been caught washing up in the kitchen car!).

 

Thanks. As I suspected, very few. It doesn’t take a degree to see that the successful railways usually tend to have very few paid staff with volunteers doing many of the management jobs. There are exceptions but not that many.