Leek Brook Junction Signal Box

Leek Brook Junction lies at the northern end of the Churnet Valley line and is reached through the 531-yard Cheddleton Tunnel north of Cheddleton Station. From this junction the line then continues to Leek with a branch line to Ipstones.

The original Leek Brook Junction Signal Box has survived and is now a Grade II listed building. As part of the Churnet Valley Living Landscape Partnership, the NSRC have been able to get the building refurbished along with the former St Edward's Hospital platform.

Please Note: There is no public access to Leek Brook Junction and passengers are only allowed to alight from trains on selected running days when the restored Signal Box is open.

The signal box was opened in 1867 and was finally closed in 1989 when the last goods train operated on the line from the Caldon Low quarries.

During its life the signal box changed its name a number of times. When first opened in 1867, it was called Cheddleton Junction, but it later became Leek Brook South Junction with the development of the ‘triangle’. In 1935, it then became Leek Brook Junction, following the closure of the East and North Junction boxes that had worked a triangular junction.

The North Staffordshire Railway used McKenzie & Holland exclusively for signalling work although an in-house design of box was introduced in 1875. The box was built to McKenzie & Holland’s first design, used prior to 1875, which had hipped roofs.

An interior view shows the 40-lever frame by McKenzie & Holland, described by them as their “No6” pattern. Mounted on the instrument shelf are Tyer & Co one-wire, two-position block instruments which survived around the North Staffordshire system until the 1970s.