100 years of trains to Audlem 22nd February

Jeremy Nichols came to tell us about the Nantwich and Market Drayton Railway. This railway was opened in 1863 and provided part of the link between Crewe and the Midlands for the GWR. Although passenger traffic was modest, the line was an important freight route. However as part of the Beeching rationalisation plan, the line closed to passenger traffic in 1963 (just 100 years of service) and to freight traffic in 1967. 

Jeremy grew up in Nantwich within sight of this railway, and he retrieved many old documents from the derelict Audlem station before it was demolished. He used many of these documents, eg receipts for goods carried, to show how the railway was managed and, intriguingly, how the railway changed the rural life in South Cheshire. Jeremy also showed us photographs both from the railway's heyday and from the final years before closure. The talk brought back memories for many members, who wherever they were at the time, had been brought with steam travel.