A busy junction
Stoke Junction was one of the busiest locations on the former North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) – The Knotty. It became a junction on 7th August 1848 when the line from there to Uttoxeter was opened from its connection with the line from Stoke to by MANIFOLD which was published by J. H. Henstock Ltd. of Ashbourne in 1952. It was painted by Claude Askew Moreton (1913-2001) one of the five MANIFOLD authors, whose uncle was Thomas Henry Longsdale (1871-1954), one-time NSR Locomotive Running Superintendent. The painting, which is reproduced here, shows a Class New L 0-6-2 tank engine No.65 heading a Loop Line train for stations on the Derby line. More importantly, for our purposes, it features the up signal gantry on the approach to the junction with both home and distant signals pulled off for the Derby line. What a splendid gantry it was!
