SiteName: Draycott Cross Colliery & the Cheadle Branch Railway
Draycott
Cross
Staffordshire
SJ990414 Sub
Brit site visit Summer 1991
The North Staffordshire Railway opened their Stoke on Trent to Uttoxeter line
in 1848. As this missed Cheadle by three miles there were several abortive schemes
for a branch line to serve the town. On 18th March 1887 the Cheadle Railway, Mineral
& Land Co. Ltd. was formed and they
| 
1914 Ordnance survey map |
proposed a new route from the North Staffordshire line at Creswell,
through Totmonslow to a terminus on the south of Cheadle. Public support and money
for the venture was quickly forthcoming with £100,000 being raised and construction
started on 22nd March 1888. Fifty men and a team of horses were engaged on this
work and a month later the first quarter of a mile had been built. The money soon
ran out however which delayed the completion of the first 1 mile 400 yard section
of the line between Creswell and Totmoslow. This was eventually opened on 7th
November 1892, four years after construction started. The section
from Totmonslow to Cheadle opened on 1st January 1901, eight years later passing
the Draycott Cross shafts of the New Haden Colliery (latterly known as Draycott
Colliery) and then through a half mile long tunnel at Draycott Cross to the main
New Haden Colliery where exchange sidings were |
|
constructed with a half mile long line running west
into the colliery. The branch line continued for a further three quarters of a
mile to its terminus on the outskirts of Cheadle. Half a mile west of Cheadle
there was a junction with another colliery line running north to Park Hall Colliery.
In 1907 the North Staffordshire Railway inherited the line from the Cheadle Railway
Company, until that date they had provided the services but not actually owned
the line; they were quick to introduce improvements. New buildings were provided
at Cheadle and Totmonslow which had been renamed Tean the previous year. Attempts
were also made to strengthen the tunnel which had been prone to collapses with
regular cracks appearing in the brick lining. In an attempt to stabilise the middle
section steel hoops were added at regular intervals. The North Staffordshire
was absorbed into the | 
1935 Ordnance Survey Map
|
London, Midland & Scottish Railway Co. in 1922 but problems with
the tunnel continued. In 1930 the company decided to abandon the tunnel and build
a deviation half a mile to the east removing the need for a tunnel at all.  Collapse
at the mid way point in the railway tunnel
Photo by Nick
Catford The new line would leave the original course just
north of Tean station and rejoin it just south of Cheadle. The section of line
between the north portal of the tunnel and Cheadle would be retained to serve
Draycott Colliery. To avoid any disruption to services work on the new line started
before closure of the old route and it was opened to traffic on 26th November
1933. Since closure the tunnel has collapsed in the middle
| 
Cheadle Station in July 1961
|
The line was never well used and although it was nationalised
as part of British Railways on 1st January 1948 it was not to survive much longer.
Tean Station, which by then had been reduced to a halt was closed five years later
on 1st June 1953. Although diesel traction was introduced on the line in 1958
there was no improvement in passenger numbers and closure was announced with the
last passenger train running over the branch on 17th June 1963. Freight traffic
continued until 1978 when the branch was completely closed. Shortly |
afterwards the junction at Creswell was lifted and in 1994 the last
quarter of a mile into Cheadle Station was also lifted and the station demolished
prior to the building of a new housing estate. At the time of writing the remainder
of the track is still in situ as is the platform at Tean  Photo:The
southern portal of the railway tunnel which was also the entrance to Draycott
Cross Colliery, opened about 1983
Photo by Nick
Catford The Cheadle Coalfield has been mined on a small
scale for many hundreds of years by digging bell pits. There is very little
recorded history of these early mines as many of them were only in operation for
a few years. The first deep mines were sunk in the 18th century as the whole of
the Cheadle Coalfield was developed. The major mines in the vicinity of the railway
were Park Hall (SJ994445) and Draycott (SJ986425) Collieries at Cheadle and Foxfield
(SJ977447) at Dillhall. Draycott actually consisted of two mines with two shafts
sunk close to the southern portal of the railway tunnel while the main complex
was located half a mile west of the north portal. Further information and
pictures about this site continues here
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