Leek and Manifold Railway

The Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway was a light railway that ran from 1904 to 1934 in Staffordshire, from its northern terminus at Hulme End to Waterhouses, a distance of 8.25 miles.

Route
The North Staffordshire Railway's branch from Leek ended at Waterhouses, but a line was needed to transport milk traffic fom the area around Waterhouses.

Stations
The stations had rather grand signs, and the Platforms were rather low to the ground (6 inches).

Route
The northern terminus at Hulme end was the headquarters of the railway, where the locomotive and carriage sheds were sited. (2 roads each). There was a goods shed and booking office at Waterhouses. All the other stations had small waiting rooms at all the other stations, and most had sidings.

Hulme End

Ecton

Butterton

Wetton Mill

Redhurst Halt

Thor's Cave

Grindon

Beeston Tor

Sparrowlee

Waterhouses

Locomotives and Rolling Stock
Kitson built two outside cylindered 2-6-4T locomotives, named E R Calthrop and J B Earle, named after the line's engineer and the resident engineer respectively. They were the first 2-6-4T locomotives to run in Britain. They did look quite colonial, due to the large headlamps, which were never used.

The locomotives ran chimney first toward Waterhouses, although E R Calthrop returned from Crewe facing the other way.

There were four coaches on the line, built by the Electric Tramway and Railway co. of Fleetwood, two Brake composites and two all third coaches.

There was a solitary enclosed van, and two closed wagons, that in summer were converted to passenger wagons with the addition of awnings and planks for seats.

One ingenious idea on this line were the five standard gauge transporter wagons, used for transporting Standard gauge wagons. Unfortunately the clearances needed for these loaded wagons rendered the need for a narrow gauge railway pointless, as a standard gauge railway would have sufficed.