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Friday, 27 April 2007
Walking the Stafford to Uttoxeter Railway Line
The Stafford to Uttoxeter Railway Line linked Stafford to Uttoxeter 15 miles away. The line passed through the beautiful undulating Staffordshire countryside with little stations at unspoilt villages like Salt, Weston and Stowe by Chartley and the hamlet of Grindley. In more leisurely days, before the household car became affordable and a necessity, the Stafford to Uttoxeter Railway Line, or the Clog and Knocker as it was known locally, was a vital transport link and means of communication for the farming community and the villagers. In the early morning local dairy farmers from farms all along the line brought their milk in churns to one of the stations and dropped them off to be picked up and put on the early morning Milk Train to Derby. From there they were taken with hundreds of others to Finsbury Park in London for the London from The old track goes past Weston Hall, , Loxley Hall, the ruins of Chartley Castle, Chartley Moss and is in spitting distance of the old wartime Hixon airfield.While I was living in Uttoxeter for five years I travelled every day by car to my place of work in Stafford. I became interested in the local places along the road - the A518 - and found them so interesting that I decided to write a book about the places. In the end it became three books - The Road to Chartley Parts 1,2 and 3 which unfortunately are out of print. If I win the lottery ......... The old railway track follows the road quite closely. It goes under it near Loxley and then runs alongside it for about ten miles but at a distance until Weston when it once again goes under the road and crosses the River Trent on its journey through Salt, up to Hopton and on to Stafford where it once joined the main London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly.One very hot Saturday in August 1995 I decided to go for a walk along the old line from Bramshall often referred to on the old line as Bromshall but is obviously a misspelling by someone from outside the area. On my walk I took the following photos which I would like to share with others interested in the old Clog and Knocker and I hope to add more over the years. Quite a few people have walked the old line and I will add more on those at a later date. Someone once told me that a young German man had once walked the whole 15 mile length. I wonder how he got interested in it. I really am amazed at the number of people who are interested in the old line and hopefully as this blog develops I will be able to add their comments and photos.
Posted by Jim at 14:17
Start of the old railway track near Bramshall
Walking the Stafford to Uttoxeter Railway Line
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Jim View my complete profile
Friday, 27 April 2007
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