Spotlight on the Uttoxeter Canal the bridge would be done also to improve the sight lines and stabilise the bridge structure. Accommodation came in the shape of the local cricket pavilion, basic but it had showers! More importantly it was conveniently adjacent to the three pubs in the village. Very necessary when you’ve arrived and need to find an evening meal on Friday night. Saturday morning saw us on a short
van ride to site, loading kit onto the trollies and hauling/walking the line to site where the brew tent was erected. Health & Safety issues had been agreed with the railway prior to occupation. No passenger services ran on this section of line and only occasional stock movements take place. To this end phone contact was made every morning to establish any movements
Caldon & Uttoxeter canals and associated railways
The Story: First on the scene was the Caldon Canal: a branch of the Trent & Mersey Canal opened in 1778 from Etruria in the Potteries to Froghall (where a horse tramway linked the Cauldon Low quarries) with a branch added later to Leek. Next came the Uttoxeter Canal: an extension of the Caldon from Froghall to Uttoxeter, and not a great success (it was actually only built to stave off plans for a rival canal), opened 1811. Next arrival was the North Staffs Railway, which bought out the Trent & Mersey in 1845. In addition to its main north-south line through Stoke it built lines from Macclesfield via Leek to Uttoxeter, Stoke to Leek, and Leek to Cauldon Low, closing the little-used Uttoxeter Canal and using part of the route for its line. The other railway lines created routes parallel to the Caldon and Leek Branch and Cauldon Low tramway, taking away much of the canal’s trade. By 1960 the Caldon Canal was falling derelict – but thanks to the Caldon Canal Society it was restored and reopened in 1974. Meanwhile the railways had closed to passengers, but the lengths from Stoke to Leek Brook Junction, Leek Brook to Oakamoor, and Leek Brook to Cauldon Low survived for freight trains serving quarries. These ended in about 1990, but the rails were never taken up. In the 1990s the Leek Brook to Froghall railway was reborn as the Churnet Valley Railway running preserved steam trains. More recently a partner railway company, Moorlands & City Railway, has been set up with the aim of reopening the Cauldon Low – Leek Brook – Stoke line for quarry freight, and Stoke – Leek Brook – Alton for park-and-ride passenger trains to Alton Towers theme park. In 2005 the Caldon Canal Society, now the Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust, with WRG support reopened the first lock and basin of the Uttoxeter Canal at Froghall, and set its sights on reopening through to Uttoxeter. That means between Froghall and Alton both railway and canal are proposed for opening. This will be tricky in the places where the two shared a route, but thanks to (a) the fact that it’s a narrow canal (b) the railway only being interested in opening a single track of the original twin-track line and (c) a move towards some useful cooperation between the two organisations, it looks entirely possible. And the current work at Jackson’s Wood is aimed at exploring how to deal with one of those tricky places.
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