THE NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE RAILWAY IN LMS DAYS VOLUME 1

The first of three volumes looking at what happened to the North Staffordshire Railway after it was taken over by the LM&SR in 1923, up until 1947 when the LM&SR was Nationalised. During this period, the country suffered the economic downturn of 1924 and a slump that lasted from 1929 until the late 1930s, which was then followed by the Second World War and its aftermath.
This first volume covers the background to the establishment of the LM&SR and the demise of the NSR, the changing nature of industrial activity in North Staffordshire, the competition with road transport for passenger and freight traffic, and the impact of the Second World War. Separate chapters then follow the main line from Manchester and Macclesfield through Stoke to Colwich, including the Talke and Chesterton branches, connections to the factories of Michelin Tyres and Josiah Wedgwood, the Trentham Park Branch and ROF 5 Cold Meece. There is an introduction to the NSR canal system, which then goes on to follow the whole of the Trent & Mersey Canal, and there is a short section on the hotels of the NSR. This volume then concludes with a journey along the Stoke to Market Drayton line, which also includes diversions off on the Pool Dam and Apedale branches, the Newcastle-under-Lyme Canal, and the Audley Branch.

The book is profusely illustrated with over 400 pictures and several maps, whilst the author has also had access to many previously unpublished items of ephemera, including timetables, tickets and other material. The considerable text benefits from extensive research, that has yielded much new information. Basil Jeuda has written and lectured extensively on the NSR and the subsequent history of the area it covered for more than thirty years, and this is the first major work to be published on the North Staffordshire Section of the London, Midland & Scottish Railway.

Basil Jeuda