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STOKE-ON-TRENT station is a grand example of North Staffordshire
Railway architecture along its road frontage (if less inspiring on the platforms), and is a rare Midlands
survival of a traditional overall trainshed roof. There are two main line platform faces plus a bay
platform, and the passenger link is an underpass. Wheelchair users can get across the line using a lift to an
overbridge. Stoke-on-Trent has a full set of services - waiting rooms (including a separate
first class waiting room), food, newspapers, toilets, and so forth, though most are on the southbound
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The entrance hall has been modernised within the old North Staffs shell, and is carefully observed by a
statue of Josiah Wedgwood directly across the street. Apart from a small set-down area by the entrance, there
is no station parking and very little street parking, though a pay-and- display area was being completed
along the street when we visited. Alternatively, there is a taxi rank to the north of the station entrance.
Wheels: SD.
 Stoke also serves the Crewe to Birmingham route.
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LONGTON station is in the fork of King Street and Baths Road and
sits practically in front of the town hall (the overbridge just ahead of the station has that honour).
Longton is a minimalist embankment station - two platforms, skinny half-shelters, and a brick staircase (32
steps) up each side, meaning no wheelchair access. There is no ticket office, seating or any other amenity.
The overbridge has assisted town planners in shaping a small but quite complex junction beneath it
(simplified here), in a town which already has enough one way streets and bus lanes to support civic pride in
a much larger borough, so be vigilant if you haven't been to the station before. Finally, note that there is
no parking at the station itself, and no obvious parking nearby. Wheels: SD.
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BLYTHE BRIDGE is a fairly typical small two-platform station at a level
crossing: plain platforms with reasonable bus-shelter protection and seats inside for about 4 people. The
Derby platform has an information board and easy ramp from beside the level crossing; the Stoke platform has been narrowed at
one end, but fattened around the shelter to compensate. On that side the ramp is down to a reasonably large
car park (possibly free, but not confirmed), whose narrow entrance/exit is very close to the lifting gates of
the level crossing across the main road. Wheels:
SD
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UTTOXETER station is immediately adjacent to the Uttoxeter Race
track, so follow the signs for that on the A518, and you should start to pick up station signs. The station
approach is off one of the A518's roundabouts, dropping down alongside a small trading estate. The station is
easy to find, though the parking area (18-20 cars) may be full - but you may be able to park in the approach
road. There are two platforms - the far one being reached by a footboard across the track. Apart from the
usual sloped end of the platforms, both platforms are easy access. There is a bus shelter on each side with
seats for about 6 people each. A computer monitor on a post near the footboard crossing gives train times and
(presumably) service messages. There is a (real) bus shelter on the approach road, not far from the
platforms. Wheels: SD.
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TUTBURY & HATTON station serves the two separate villages of
those names and is sited at a level crossing between them, by a supermarket on the A511. The station has two
narrow platforms, one each side of the crossing and is guarded by a crossing keeper in his box by the road.
The Stoke platform has a bus shelter, both platforms have easy-access ramps and their own information boards.
Wheels: SD.
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PEARTREE
This station is listed only because it exists. But on this line service, its train calls are typically
two per day in each direction, hence the lack of a fuller description.
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DERBY is the former headquarters of the old Midland Railway and its
railway works, and is still a railway technical and manufacturing centre, hence the space the site occupies.
The station facilities are modern or modernised, and it's a fairly pleasant station to use. The entrance
includes the ticket office, a bookshop and snack facilities, and there is a refreshment room on platform
4/5/6 (not platform 2/3 as per the sketch, we're told). There are waiting rooms on two of the platforms, and access to everything is from an overhead passenger
bridge. This is just the usual nuisance to prams but rules out wheelchairs. But wheelchairs can use the
overbridge to get across the line, and there is a ramped service tunnel between platforms at the Birmingham end,
which can be used by wheelchairs if railway staff assistance is sought. There is no free parking, and at the
time of the visit in 2002, the main parking was £5 per day. Wheels: SD.
This line continues on to Nottingham, or you can change at Derby for the route to
Burton-on-Trent and Birmingham. Click here to transfer to our guide for
either direction.
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