Junction Diagram showing (left) railways in the vicinity of Market Drayton The
Nantwich and Market Drayton Railway (N&MDR), which ran southwards to Market Drayton from a junction with the
London and North Western Railway (LNWR) at , was opened on 20 October 1863. The new line was long. Four years later, on 16 October 1867, the
Wellington and Drayton Railway (W&DR) opened, which connected the N&MDR at Market Drayton to the
Great Western Railway (GWR) at
Wellington. The W&DR, which was in length, had been absorbed by the GWR in 1866, the N&MDR had been worked by the GWR since opening (it was fully absorbed in 1897); and so the connection permitted GWR trains from
Wolverhampton and the south to reach and
Manchester (London Road) via the LNWR. On 1 February 1870, the
North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) opened
a line to Market Drayton from
Silverdale. With the arrival of the NSR, the station had to be enlarged and was rebuilt in a
French Renaissance style with ornamental iron features and square-topped pavilions at each end. The opening of the NSR line was also accompanied by reciprocal running powers. The NSR gained running powers to Wellington (for goods traffic) and (passengers and cattle) and the GWR had running powers for freight traffic to . The NSR also built its own small engine shed at Market Drayton which lasted until 1931. The line from Silverdale closed on 7 May 1956, and the station closed when the line between Wellington and Nantwich closed on 9 September 1963. Freight services continued to use the route for a further four years until 1 May 1967. The station site, which was situated to the east on the
A529 Adderley Road, near the present site of
Morrisons supermarket, is now covered by a factory complex. The idea of converting the trackbed of the Wellington to Nantwich line into a footpath was rejected by
Cheshire County Council which considered it not "particularly attractive for walkers".
Stationmasters • John Pearson Collett 1866 - 1875 (afterwards station master at
Salisbury, then
Weymouth) • Richard Henry Lea 1879 - 1913 (formerly station master at Hodnet) • Samuel Alfred Curtis 1914 - 1929 • J.W. Thompson 1929 - 1936 • Mr. Griffen from 1936 (formerly station master at
Berrington) • A.C. Weaver from 1942 (formerly station master at
Corwen) • Francis Burley ca. 1965 ==References==