Monument record 15872/3 - Railway Embankment and Bridges - The North Staffordshire Railway, Audley Branch

<1> Dyble, D, Unknown, The Audley Branch Railway (Web Site). SCH9439.

A branch of the North Staffordshire Railway to connect to the mines in the Alderley area, a private railway, and a Great Western Railway line from Markey Drayton. The new railway line chiefly carried coal to Crewe for locomotive fuel, for the Cheshire chemical industry, and to Birkenhead docks for steamship fuel and overseas exports.

Construction authorised for the new line was authorised on 29th July 1864. The goods service started on 24th July 1870, with the passenger service starting ten years later on 28th June 1880.

The branch line was closed to passenger services in April 1931, due to a lack of demand. It was closed to goods services in 1962 and the track had been lifted by 1963.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ8054 (1876-1895) & SJ8055 (1875-1891) (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.

This map depicts a railway embankment approximately 630 metres long. It begins c.100m south-west of Audley Lines Junction and it carries two tracks. There are three bridges along the embankments length, which carry the railway over trackways or provide access between the fields either side, and two signals.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1896-1898, Ordnance Survey First Revision County Series (Epoch 2) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ8054 & SJ8055, 1898-1899 (Maps and Plans). SCH3848.

The northern 250m metres of the railway embankment has been enlarged and now accommodates a siding or head shunt associated with the station and/or locomotive depot. The trackway which passed under the accommodation bridge is now a road (Talke Road). The map depicts additional signal posts and a mile post.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 1909-1912, Ordnance Survey Second Revision County Series (Epoch 3) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ8054 & SJ8055, 1909 (Maps and Plans). SCH4361.

As previously depicted.

<5> Environment Agency, 2003-2020, Environment Agency LiDAR Surveys, Composite Last Return DSM 1m 2022 (Digital Archive). SCH7819.

Much of the embankment survives as an earthwork, though the bridges appear to be no longer extant.