Stoke-on-Trent is on the Stafford-Manchester branch of the West Coast Main Line and is also the hub of a number of local branch lines.
LNWR 350 114 at Stoke-on-Trent
Information
Type:
National Rail
(West Coast Main Line)
Station code:
SOT
Opened:
1848
Platforms:
3
The station was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway in 1848 as Stoke station (sometimes referred to as Stoke Junction), the name changing to Stoke-on-Trent in 1910 when the county borough was created [1]. The station building was also used by the North Staffordshire Railway as it's headquarters with the board room and directors on the first floor.
The station is mostly unchanged since opening apart from the obvious changes such as signage, though two centre roads (which had been mainly used for storing stock) have been lifted. This was done to make space for electrification masts in the 1960s.
Access between the platforms is via a subway. The station is nowadays managed by Avanti West Coast and is served by themselves, Cross Country, London Northwestern, Northern and East Midlands Railway.
Station frontage
Avanti WC 390 136 arrives at Stoke-on-Trent
Northern 323 227 on Platform 3
An EMR service from Crewe approaches
A Manchester Cross County service pulls in
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Derby to Stoke-on-Trent (Middleton Press, 2016) Fig. 68
