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v t e Stone to Colwich Line
Legend
Stafford–Manchester line Stone Stafford–Manchester line Aston-by-Stone Sandon Weston and Ingestre Stafford and Uttoxeter Railway Hixon Great Haywood Colwich Trent Valley line

The Stone to Colwich Line is a 11.7 miles (18.8 km) long railway line in Staffordshire which serves as a cut-off for West Coast Main Line services to Manchester Piccadilly. This route goes direct from Rugeley Trent Valley to Stoke-on-Trent, not going via Stafford.

History

The line was built by the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) and opened to traffic on 1 May 1849.

The NSR opened several intermediate stations along the route but these were all closed by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1947 (shortly before nationalisation of the UK railway network).

During the Second World War due to the proximity of RAF Hixon, the line was blocked on several occasions resulting from aircraft crashes on or close to the line.

The line was the location of the Hixon rail crash in January 1968, which killed 11 people.

Route

The line diverges from the Trent Valley Line at Colwich Junction and runs through to join the Stafford to Manchester Line at Stone.

The route was electrified with 25 kV overhead as part of the electrification of the West Coast Main Line by British Rail in the 1960s. It is double track throughout its length. Nearly all of the traffic it carries is now passenger trains, although there used to be a regular flow of Class 47 powered Merry Go Round coal services from the coal mines of the Stoke-on-Trent area to the Rugeley power stations.

Services

The majority of trains on the route are operated by Avanti West Coast which is used for their London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly via Stoke-on-Trent services in which 2 trains per hour in each direction run. Some morning and evening peak West Midlands Trains trains between London Euston and Crewe also operate via this route.

References

1. Christiansen, Rex & Miller, Robert William (1971). The North Staffordshire Railway. Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles. p. 299. ISBN 0-7153-5121- 4.
2. Jeuda, Basil (2010). The North Staffordshire Railway in LMS days. Vol. 1. Lydney, Gloucestershire: Lightmoor Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-1899889-48-8.
3. Warburton, L.G. (2012). Wartime LMS. Southampton: Noodle. pp. 108–110. ISBN 978-1-906419-95-0.

v t e Railway lines in the West Midlands
Main lines	West Coast Main Line Cross Country Route Chiltern Main Line
Inter-regional	Birmingham–Peterborough line Crewe–Derby line Cotswold Line Shrewsbury–Chester line Stafford–Manchester line Welsh Marches line
Local	Birmingham to Worcester via Bromsgrove line Birmingham to Worcester via Kidderminster line Camp Hill line Chase Line Colwich–Stone line Coventry–Leamington line Coventry–Nuneaton line Cross-City Line Leamington–Stratford line North Warwickshire Line Northampton loop Rugby–Birmingham–Stafford line Stourbridge Town branch line Trent Valley line Wolverhampton–Shrewsbury line
Freight only	South Staffordshire line Sutton Park line Walsall–Wolverhampton line
Heritage	Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway Severn Valley Railway Telford Steam Railway

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