The Nantwich and Market Drayton Railway was a standard gauge railway line which began as a single line branch in the early 1860s and rapidly became part of the Great Western Railway's double track Wellington-Crewe line. It carried through freight and local passenger traffic until its closure in the 1960s. Market Drayton was renowned for the manufacture of gingerbread, hence the line acquired the nickname the "Gingerbread Line".
History
This company was provisionally formed in 1860 as the Market Drayton and Madeley Railway, then changed its name to Nantwich and Market Drayton Railway on or before 3 April 1861, and incorporated in June 1861. The first Chairman was Reginald Corbet, of nearby Adderley Hall. The single track line was built from the London and North Western RailwayCrewe and Shrewsbury Railway line just south of Nantwich to a terminus at Market Drayton, a distance of ten miles. Construction started in 1862 and the line opened in October 1863. Proposals were for the railway to be worked by the LNWR, but instead the Great Western Railway took on this role and worked the nominally independent line until it was taken over by the GWR in 1897. The line was doubled during 1866–67, to match the Wellington and Drayton Railway which opened in October 1867, thus providing a link for the GWR between the Midlands and the Northwest. The North Staffordshire Railway line from Stoke to Market Drayton opened in January 1870, joining the line at Silverdale Junction, just north of. An engine shed and turntable which had been built at were no longer needed when the Wellington and Drayton Railway opened, as locomotives were then based at, so they were sold to the North Staffordshire Railway. During 1934-5 unmanned halts were opened at Coole Pilate and Coxbank. Passenger service was withdrawn on 9 September 1963. Freight service continued until 1967, the line providing a relief route during the electrification of the London-Crewe line. The lifting of the line was completed during 1970.
Traffic
Passenger traffic was modest, typically about six local stopping trains a day in each direction. Most ran between Crewe and Wellington, some continued to/from Manchester to the north and Worcester or Wolverhampton to the south, or included through coaches for the extended routes. During the line's latter years excursion trains were seen, and in its final year the "Pines Express" between and used the line. Freight traffic was much more significant. Typically there were about twenty trains a day in each direction, of which two would be local goods, and the remainder would be through traffic, either non-stop over the line or stopping only at Market Drayton. Principally these carried manufactured goods from the Midlands to the Northwest, also fruit from the Worcester area. There was little coal and mineral traffic.
Preservation/Future Use
On New Year's Day 1992, The Market Drayton Railway Preservation Society was set up in order to preserve what remained of the old railway line between Nantwich and Market Drayton on the Cheshire–Shropshire Border. A new site would have to required for Market Drayton as the old site no longer exists now being a supermarket, while other parts of the line between Coxbank and Audlem have changed slightly since the line's heyday. As of April 2012 the society held meetings most months to provide talks about how a part of the line could be preserved. In 2017, the Shropshire Star released an article detailing out calls by Owen Meredith who was an MP standee for Newcastle-Under-Lyme. Called for a feasibility study into reopening the entire line from Market Drayton to as far as Newcastle-Under-Lyme. He was quoted as saying “I want to see a feasibility study into re-opening the Market Drayton branch line or similar route to connect Newcastle with Stoke and HS2.“ This was further backed up by the mp for Stoudley near Market Drayton, Andrew Stanley who was also quoted as saying "It would be better, and probably easier, to re-open line through Audlem to Nantwich and on to Crewe to connect with HS2." In January 2019, Campaign for Better Transport released a report identifying the line between Stoke and Wellington which was listed as Priority 2 for reopening. Priority 2 is for those lines which require further development or a change in circumstances.
