We've occasionally talked about trains on this blog but as the big money sink that was HS2 had the section from Brum via Crewe to Manchester axed by an announcement by the Prime Minister at the ruling Conservative and Unionist conference on Wednesday a series of other projects have been given their go ahead using some £36bn that otherwise sould of been spent on it.
One bugbear here was how the town of Leek at the footslope of the Peak District had its rail connections removed in the Beeching era of the 1960's meaning what would of been a twenty minute train journey to Stoke was for many over an hour in the car or by bus and in the winter you can add heavy snow to the timing.
Much of the track bed and indeed sections of track still remain although the station at Leek was demolished in 1970 and a supermarket built upon it and in this photo you can see the track at Endon in the North-east of Greater Stoke on Trent along the approach to Werrington as the land climbs upwards along many ridges.
There is a steering group backed by Stoke on Trent city council and the Staffordshire Moorlands D.C working on the proposals to restore this much needed link.
For me it would mean that within a mile walk I could catch the train from my local station on the East Midands Railway to Stoke and transfer to it saving a long journey by bus or car.
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