This book, the first of a trilogy, forms a detailed study of one of the N Staffordshire Railway’s first branch lines, along the Biddulph Valley from Stoke to Congleton, dating from 1860. It also covers the branch from Milton to the market town of Leek, which opened in 1867, along with the fascinating four-mile Longton, Adderley Green & Bucknall line of 1875, which was originally independent but was absorbed by the NSR in 1895. It contains a wealth of illustrations, maps and plans documenting earlier railway and canal schemes planned to serve the area, many of which were aborted. This volume takes the reader from inception to the end of the NSR’s existence with the 1923 Grouping of the railways. Later volumes will cover the history of the lines in LMSR, and later BR days, detailing the numerous industries the railways served which were, by and large, their raison d’être. Well-illustrated with photographs, old documents, timetables, maps and plans and gradient profiles specially commissioned for the work.