Norton Bridge railway station
Norton Bridge  | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
| Place | Norton Bridge |
| Local authority | Borough of Stafford |
| Grid reference | SJ872298 |
| Operations | |
| Station code | NTB |
| Managed by | London Midland |
|
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries | |
| Annual rail passenger usage* | |
| 2002/03 |
 4,793 |
| 2004/05 |
2,080 |
| 2005/06 |
585 |
| 2006/07 |
341 |
| National Rail – UK railway stations | |
| * Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Norton Bridge from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Methodology may vary year on year. | |
| UK Railways portal | |
Norton Bridge railway station is four miles north-west of Stafford on the West Coast Main Line near the village of Norton Bridge in Staffordshire, England.
The main line platforms were removed before electrification in the 1960s. The island platform serving the Manchester via Stoke-on-Trent branch of the WCML has been out of use since 2004 when the footbridge was removed in order to improve clearances.
The passenger train service has been replaced by a bus service, the 490 and 491 operated by Bennetts Travel which operates Monday-Saturday (this route was operated by D&G Bus until August 2011, and then Wardle Transport).[1]
From 2007, the Office of Rail Regulation no longer counted usage figures.[2]
Buses to Stafford depart at 0752, 0952, 1202, 1354 and 1552.
Buses to Stone depart at 0840, 1040, 1259 and 1442.
Connections can be made at Stone with the Bakerbus X1, which serves Barlaston and Wedgwood railway stations and accepts valid rail tickets.
The nearby junction between the Crewe and Stoke routes is an important one on the West Coast Main Line, as such during the 1960s modernisation of the line, the junction and some of the surrounding main lines were placed under the control of a new power signal box built to a similar design to that still standing at Wolverhampton. The Norton Bridge signal box was notable for its use of an experimental Westinghouse solid-state interlocking system for some years,[3] later being converted to a conventional relay-based interlocking; this signal box features briefly in the British Transport Films production "Thirty Million Letters". It closed altogether in 2004,[4] control passing instead to the signal control centre at Stoke, although the lower storey still remains in situ.
References
- ↑ http://www.wardletransport.com/uploadedfiles/Services/Midlands/MDLN490,491_070811_070711.pdf
- ↑ Cheesewright, Phil (2009-04-20). "Station usage 2007/2008" (PDF). Delta Rail. p. Page 8. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
- ↑ http://www.irse.org/knowledge/publicirsenews/IRSENews161Nov10_web.pdf
- ↑ http://www.signalbox.org/sectionc.php?year=2004
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Norton Bridge railway station. |
- Train times and station information for Norton Bridge railway station from National Rail
| Preceding station | Historical railways | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stafford Line and station open |
London Midland Stafford to Manchester Line |
Stone Line and station open | ||
Coordinates: 52°51′57″N 2°11′25″W / 52.86583°N 2.19028°W