Disused railway at Congleton passing under the WCML ?

[Lost property]

Another query please.

"Some time ago " when we progressed from getting a bus to Congleton, and started using the train, I noted there was a narrow, possibly normal gauge, I'm not really sure, line which ran under the viaduct just outside the station.

I've always been curious as to where this line ran to, and from, and what was it's purpose. Memory jogged after going over it this weekend.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Are we talking about the North Staffordshire Railway (Biddulph Valley line)? Ran from near to Congleton (Brunswick Wharf) to Stoke-on-Trent via Biddulph. Fair section of it is now a walking/cycling trail, I believe.

 

[A0]

Another query please.

"Some time ago " when we progressed from getting a bus to Congleton, and started using the train, I noted there was a narrow, possibly normal gauge, I'm not really sure, line which ran under the viaduct just outside the station.

I've always been curious as to where this line ran to, and from, and what was it's purpose. Memory jogged after going over it this weekend.

Agree with Mcr Warrior - most likely that it was North Staffs Biddulph Valley line - details here > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biddulph_Valley_line

Wouldn't have been narrow gauge - definitely standard gauge.

You've not put a rough time on it - but the NSR Biddulph Valley line started closing in the 1960s.

 

[John Webb]

It was a standard-gauge branch line off the North Staffs railway line through Biddulph. It just went to a goods depot at Brunswick Wharf and was therefore not used by passenger trains. The line through Biddulph was closed to passengers in 1927. The line was still in use for goods only in 1955 but seems to have closed in part at least to general goods in 1964. But I've not yet found a date for the closure of the goods depot.

EDIT: The Brunswick Depot closed in January 1969 according to the wikipedia page linked to in the post above this.

 

[Lost property]

Agree with Mcr Warrior - most likely that it was North Staffs Biddulph Valley line - details here > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biddulph_Valley_line

Wouldn't have been narrow gauge - definitely standard gauge.

You've not put a rough time on it - but the NSR Biddulph Valley line started closing in the 1960s.

Sorry, this would be late 50's/ 60's and certainly the track was there in the 70's when I used the WCML...a lot.

Thanks for the replies. Sorry about not using the term standard gauge btw...and given it headed for Biddulph, then yes, this has to be the line in question.

 

[Gloster]

Hurst’s Register of Closed Railways gives the closure date as 1 April 1968, with the Biddulph Valley line being cut back to Heaths Junction, the northern access to Victoria Colliery at Knypersley. The line between Congleton Upper and Lower Junctions had been closed on 1 December 1963, so presumably the depot had been served from the south since then.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

There was a narrow gauge railway on the Moss south of Macclesfield Station, used for peat extraction. It ran close to the main line and survived until the late '70s.