The Gate House

I’m posting about the old railway tunnel here, though I’d definitely stay the night one day. Oakamoor Tunnel’s 497-yard length follows a westerly curve. At the south end, the portal overlooks an attractive crossing keeper’s cottage, and the sidewalls were built around several rock outcrops. Numeric tablets remain on the Up sidewall, along with cable hangers set at a comfortable height for the line’s former maintenance teams. There’s a refuge for passing platelayers near the north portal. That end is grander than the southern one, with a substantial stone parapet and triangular wingwalls set at right angles to the railway. Standard 4MT 4-6-0 75035 approaches the south end tender first with a Uttoxeter to Leek service on 12th August 1964. With Stoke and its surroundings bypassed by the railway network, the Staffordshire Potteries and Churnet Valley railways joined forces in 1845 as the North Staffordshire Railway to promote two main lines. One was to connect the Manchester & Birmingham Railway at Congleton with the Grand Junction Railway at Colwich. The other was planned to run from Macclesfield to join the Midland line near Burton-upon-Trent. The company was formally incorporated in April 1845. Six months later, the Derby & Crewe Railway was absorbed into the scheme. The three North Staffordshire acts passed in June 1846, allowing seven years to complete each line. Of the £1.2million allocated to the route through the Churnet Valley via Leek, Cheadle, and Uttoxeter, some went towards Oakamoor Tunnel, which passes west of the village it was named for. Passenger and goods traffic first went through on 13th July 1849.