Stone railway station

Stone
Location
Place	Stone
Local authority	Stafford
Coordinates	52°54′29″N 2°09′18″W / 52.908°N 2.155°WCoordinates: 52°54′29″N 2°09′18″W / 52.908°N 2.155°W
Grid reference	SJ896345
Operations
Station code	SNE
Managed by	London Midland
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2005/06	3,115
2006/07	1,342
2009/10	48,054
2010/11	76,346
2011/12	85,074
2012/13	94,784
2013/14	103,472
History
Original company	North Staffordshire Railway
Pre-grouping	North Staffordshire Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
17 April 1848	First station opened as Stone
1 May 1849	Station relocated
January 1888	Renamed Stone Junction
?	Renamed Stone
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Stone from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Stone railway station serves the town of Stone, Staffordshire, England. The station is located on a junction of the Colwich to Manchester spur of the West Coast Main Line, but has platforms only on the branch from Stafford to Stoke-on-Trent.

History

There have been two stations at Stone, and both were opened by the North Staffordshire Railway.^[1] The first opened on 17 April 1848,^[1] and was next to the Newcastle Road bridge. With the opening of the Colwich line on 1 May 1849, the original station closed, being replaced the same day by the current station.^[1] The station was renamed Stone Junction in January 1888, but reverted to the original name Stone at some point between 1923 and 1947.^[1] The Colwich platforms were closed in 1947 and subsequently removed.

The station building has been redeveloped by Stone Town Council as a community centre.

APTIS ticketing here ceased in 1993 when the station became unstaffed.

Recent developments

In 2004 rail services were withdrawn from the station and replaced by buses operated by BakerBus, initially whilst upgrade work was carried out on the Stafford & Colwich to Cheadle Hulme lines. However, the former Stafford to Stoke local service that formerly called here was never reinstated once the work was completed (the units used on it being redeployed in the West Midlands) and so the rail replacement service continued (the Trent Valley local service between Stafford & Coventry also suffered the same fate).

Virgin Trains were reportedly going to reinstate Stone as a stop from June 2006 on the Birmingham to Manchester service,^[2] but this never materialised.

However, in December 2008 Stone station reopened for an hourly train service between Crewe and London Euston as part of a new revamped West Coast main line timetable unveiled by the Department for Transport.^[3] This service is operated by London Midland.^[4] Passenger usage is now returning to reasonable levels (see figures right).

Services

Stone is currently served by semi-fast London Midland services between London Euston/Stafford/Northampton - Crewe/ Stoke-on-Trent. Trains operated by CrossCountry do not currently call at Stone.

Gallery

• 

  Looking south, with the line to Colwich to the left and Norton Bridge to the right

• 

  Plaque on the station facade

• 

  A CrossCountry Class 220 unit heading north towards Stoke-on-Trent

References

1. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 221. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
2. "Virgin & Stone" - UK Railway newsgroup discussion February 2006
3. "All aboard first train in five years", The Sentinel, 12-15-2008.
4. GB eNRT December 2015 Edition, Table 67

External links

• Train times and station information for Stone railway station from National Rail

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Stoke-on-Trent		London Midland London - Crewe		Stafford
Historical railways
Barlaston and Tittensor Line and station open		North Staffordshire Railway Stafford to Manchester Line		Norton Bridge Line and station open but station not rail served
		North Staffordshire Railway Stone to Colwich Line		Aston-by-Stone Line open, station closed,