Kidsgrove railway station

Kidsgrove railway station serves the town of Kidsgrove in Staffordshire, England. The station is 7.5 miles (12.07 km) north of Stoke-on-Trent. The station is served by trains on the Crewe to Derby Line which is also a community rail line known as the North Staffordshire line. The station is owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Railway.

Kidsgrove
LocationKidsgrove, Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme
England
Grid referenceSJ837543
Managed byEast Midlands Railway
Platforms4
Other information
Station codeKDG
ClassificationDfT category E
Key dates
9 October 1848 (1848-10-09)Opened as Harecastle[1]
2 October 1944renamed Kidsgrove Central[1]
18 April 1966renamed Kidsgrove[1]
Passengers
2015/16 0.205 million
2016/17 0.228 million
2017/18 0.244 million
2018/19 0.235 million
 Interchange  17,397
2019/20 0.236 million
 Interchange  32,544
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

In the year 2009/10 the usage of the station grew by almost 58% to over 100,000 recorded journeys, in addition more than 6,434 passengers used the station to change trains. The increase in usage (followed by a similar increase for 2010/11) has been attributed to improved timetable in December 2008 (specifically the introduction of London Midland's Desiro service to London Euston via Tamworth).[2]

History

The present station was opened 9 October 1848 by the North Staffordshire Railway as Harecastle and was during the early years of the North Staffordshire era variously called Harecastle Junction, Kidsgrove Junction. Kidsgrove Junction, Harecastle before settling upon Harecastle in 1875.[1] Between 1885/6 and 1923/4 it was called Harecastle for Kidsgrove.[1] In 1944 it was renamed Kidsgrove.

In British Rail days it was known as Kidsgrove Central when the town had three stations, the other two were Kidsgrove Liverpool Rd and Market Street Halt on the old North Staffordshire Railway's Potteries Loop Line (all three stations were opened by the North Staffordshire Railway). It is situated on the Manchester branch of the West Coast Main Line at the junction where the line from Stoke-on-Trent divides for Crewe and Manchester Piccadilly.

It is just north of the Harecastle Tunnels on the Trent and Mersey Canal and the Harecastle railway tunnel and 1965 railway diversion.

A freight train from the Crewe line in the mid 1960s just before the withdrawal of steam

Platforms and Services


Services

Services at Kidsgrove are operated by East Midlands Railway using Class 156 DMUs, London Northwestern Railway using Class 350 EMUs and Northern Trains using Class 331 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[3]

No services operated by Avanti West Coast or CrossCountry call at Kidsgrove, (though 2 Cross Country and 2 Avanti West Coast services pass through platforms 1 & 2 each hour).

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Longport   East Midlands Railway
Crewe to Derby Line		   Alsager or Crewe
Stoke-on-Trent   London Northwestern Railway
Birmingham to Crewe
  Alsager
Longport or Stoke-on-Trent   Northern Trains
Stoke to Manchester Line
  Congleton
Preceding station   Historical railways   Following station
Line open, station closed
North Staffordshire Railway
Line and station closed
Line open, station closed
North Staffordshire Railway
Line and station closed
North Staffordshire Railway
Sandbach to Stoke Line

Platforms

The station has 4 platforms. Platform 1 serves the hourly Northern service to Stoke-on-Trent. Platform 2 serves the hourly Northern services to Manchester Piccadilly. Platform 3 serves both the East Midlands Railway services to Derby and the London Northwestern Railway services to Birmingham New Street. Platform 4 serves both the East Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway services to Crewe.

References
  1. Quick, Michael (2009) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway and Canal Historical Society. p. 231. ISBN 978-0-901461-57-5. OCLC 612226077.
  2. Office of Rail Regulation (2010). "Station usage". Office of Rail Regulation. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
  3. Table 84 National Rail timetable, May 2020

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