Stockton Brook Tunnel, Stoke-on-Trent

Stockton Brook Tunnel is a short Victorian railway tunnel located just north-east of Stoke-on-Trent, near the village of Stockton Brook and close to the A53 road. It formed part of the former North Staffordshire Railway’s Stoke-to-Leek line, a route built to serve the growing industrial towns and quarries of the Staffordshire Moorlands.

The line was authorised in the early 1860s and opened to passenger and goods traffic on 1 November 1867. Stockton Brook Tunnel was constructed as part of this original route, allowing the railway to pass through the rising ground on the edge of the Trent Valley. The tunnel is relatively short at around 60 metres and is brick-lined in typical Victorian railway style.

Although trains ran through the tunnel from 1867, Stockton Brook railway station was not opened until 1896, serving the expanding village and nearby industries. The line was used for both passenger services and heavy freight, including stone from local quarries and goods for the Potteries.

Passenger numbers declined after the Second World War, and Stockton Brook station closed in 1956. Freight traffic continued for several more decades, but the route gradually became less important as road transport took over. British Rail finally withdrew regular freight services in 1988, leaving the line and its structures, including Stockton Brook Tunnel, officially out of use.