Stafford Common railway station

Stafford Common railway station was a former British railway station on the outskirts of Stafford.

Stafford Common
Stafford Common station site, in 2017
General information
Location	Stafford, Borough of Stafford England
Coordinates	52.8214°N 2.1169°W / 52.8214; -2.1169
Grid reference	SJ922248
Platforms	2
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Stafford and Uttoxeter Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Northern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
1874	Station opened
1882	resited
4 December 1939	Station closed

It was opened by the Stafford and Uttoxeter Railway in 1874 about seven years after the line opened. There was a single platform with a stationmaster's office and waiting room, but it included a goods yard and an engine shed. It became the headquarters of the line, to reduce dependence on the LNWR at Stafford station.

The Stafford and Uttoxeter Railway was purchased for £100,000 by the Great Northern Railway in July 1881 and the line subsequently passed into LNER ownership with Railway Grouping in 1923.

The original station was to the southwest of the Marston Road bridge (now Common Road). When the GNR doubled the line, the station was rebuilt on the other side of the bridge and bordering on Aston Terrace. It had two platforms and opened in 1882.[1] The station buildings were on the bridge, timber throughout, with covered steps to the platforms where there were small shelters.

Passenger services finished in 1939,[2] though it remained open as Stafford Common Air Ministry Sidings until 1952. Both of the station's platforms remain in situ, albeit under vegetation, and the line through the station has been converted into a public footpath.

From there the line climbed steeply at 1 in 70 before falling at 1 in 75 to Salt and Sandon.