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This section is provided for anyone unfamiliar with the The North Staffordshire Railway - or Knotty as it was generally known - after the Staffordshire Knot crest initially used by the company as an heraldic device.
The Knotty was incorporated in April 1845 by amalgamation of the Staffordshire Potteries and Churnet Valley Railways. The first section of the railway opened for goods traffic on 3rd April 1848 and for passengers a fortnight later. This initial section extended from Stoke-on-Trent to Norton Bridge (a few miles north of Stafford on the LNWR's route).
Overall Stoke-on-Trent was the centre of operations for the railway. Lines extended from Macclesfield to Norton Bridge, and from Crewe Junction to North Stafford Junction, located between Burton-on-Trent and Derby. There was also a branch from this line to Burton-on-Trent. Its other major route was from North Rode, just south of Macclesfield, via the Churnet Valley, to Uttoxeter. The Churnet Valley line was connected to the Main Line via the Leek Branch, which ran from Stoke to Leekbrook Junction.
The Biddulph Valley line diverged from the Leek branch at Milton Junction. This line ran through Black Bull and Biddulph to Congleton (Brunswick Wharf) with a connection to the Main Line at Congleton Upper Junction.
There was also a branch line to Market Drayton which extended from Newcastle Junction (between Stoke-on-Trent and Etruria), via Newcastle-under-Lyme, Silverdale and Pipe Gate (Woore) to Market Drayton where connection with the Great Western Railway was effected.
And finally, there was the Loop Line! This line diverged eastwards from the main line, immediately to the north of Etruria station, and meandered through the northern reaches of the city. It served Hanley, Cobridge, Burslem, Tunstall, Pittshill, Newchapel and Kidsgrove, before rejoining the main line to the north of Harecastle Junction station (later Kidsgrove Central), at Kidsgrove Junction.
Principal services were operated between Crewe and Derby, Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent and Stafford, Macclesfield and Derby, through Leek - over the Churnet Valley route - and finally of course there was the frequent service over the Loop Line.
The North Stafford, like its much larger neighbours, the London & North Western and the Midland Railway, ceased to exist when they became constituents of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, which was formed in 1923.
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