Once a hotbed for travelling around the Potteries, Hanley railway station managed to survive a German incendiary bomb during the Second World War.
Part of the ‘Potteries Loop Line’ the station opened in 1864 a
nd was built on a sharp curve in Trinity Street, limiting the size of train that could pull into the platform.
But in 1910 Hanley had become the largest of Stoke-on-Trent’s Six Towns but the station only served part of the workforce and ended up facing stiff competition from roads.
In March 1964 the station was closed to passengers and by August 1966 it was the end of the line as goods traffic had stopped using the station.
With the Grand Hotel, now known as Quality Hotel, Hanley station was regularly used by the rich and famous as they navigated their way through the Potteries.
And in 1936 it carved its own place in railway history by becoming the first station on the LMS Railway to employ a female booking clerk.
Edith Stretch began her days at 4.45am and often worked into the late evening.
On one occasion a successful actor in a large hat and cloak handed her a £50 note, equivalent to a year’s wage.
In the pre-war era the railway line connecting Hanley, Burslem, and Tunstall was used by thousands of people each day. Priced at just three halfpence between Hanley and the Mother Town it was cheaper than a bus fare.
But in 1940 the station was badly damaged by a German incendiary bomb in the first air raid in North Staffordshire.
As a result of the bombing parts of the station roof had collapsed and there was a fire on a wooden passenger bridge.
With passenger numbers declining the services from the station were cut back and in 1961 there were just five passenger trains a day running from Stoke to Hanley and Tunstall, none of which operated outside peak hours.
The Beeching Axe, a report written by Dr Richard Beeching for the British Railways Board in 1963, signalled the end for the station as it recommended the route to be withdrawn. Passenger trains stopped in 1964.
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