Kingsley & Froghall Station

Kingsley & Froghall station is located at the current southern terminus of the line. Like so many NSR stations, it's neither particularly near Kingsley or Froghall villages and a short walk was therefore necessary to catch the train. The station was situated at the bottom of the valley near to Thomas Bolton's copper factory and regularly transported its workers to and from the factory for years.

After the line closed, the original station building was demolished in 1968 and the entire site razed to the ground shortly afterwards. All that remained was the single line running through to the sand quarry at Oakamoor, such was the thoroughness of the demolition, until that itself closed to traffic in 1988.

 

Kingsley & Froghall station in the 1950s

 

In 1998, the Churnet Valley Railway launched a Share Issue to fund re-opening the line to Kingsley & Froghall and rebuilding a close approximation of the original station building. This was very successful and the first public train to run to Kingsley & Froghall, since closure, ran on the 11th August 2001 filling a gap of more than 40 years.

Work commenced on constructing the new station building in 2003, funded by the Share Issue and a number of grants. The construction work lasted 10 months and many problems had to be overcome before the work was successfully completed. The heavy building work was carried put out to tender whilst a vast amount of the remaining work and finishing off was carried out by a small number of unpaid volunteers. 

A gallery showing the full construction of the building is available here.

 

The finished Kingsley & Froghall station (Chris Barlow)

 

The building opened to the public in July 2003 and features a large waiting room, superb Victorian style tea rooms, a booking office and toilets. In addition, a holiday flat was constructed on the first floor which is available to rent all the year round. An official opening of the station, carried out by Mr Pete Waterman, followed shortly afterwards.

 

Kingsley & Froghall Tea Rooms (Chris Barlow)

 

The Victorian style tea rooms are particularly delightful and well deserve a visit in themselves. They are open daily (10 - 4) from April to October and serve a wide range of food and drinks to passengers and non-passengers alike.

 

The 1930s telegraph pole route during the course of installation (Chris Barlow)

 

An exact replica of Froghall's original telegraph pole route (long since removed) has just been installed to further enhance the ambience of the station. Further improvements will include an outdoor eating area, a picnic meadow and full landscaping of the surrounding grounds.

 

80098 takes on water at Kingsley & Froghall (Dave Gibson)

 

Most locos take on water at Kingsley & Froghall and always attract a good deal of attention from the gathered onlookers before the loco 'runs around' the train to begin the journey back to Consall.

 

A 'down' service leaving Kingsley & Froghall for Consall (Dave Gibson)

 

An original NSR signal box (ex-Rushton Spencer) has just been restored and located at Kingsley & Froghall to further enhance the station area. A gallery showing its move and restoration can be found here.

 

Attractions at Kingsley & Froghall include: -