MADAM, – I refer to Barry Knapper's Loop Line quiz corrections printed in the All Our Yesterdays pages on Saturday, August 22, in which he comments on Kidsgrove Market Street Halt.

He states that "trains going towards the Potteries never stopped there, because the gradient immediately after the station was far too steep".

Unfortunately, this statement is incorrect. The Loop Line was in fact a steeply-graded line throughout and the climb out of Kidsgrove had a ruling gradient of 1 in 40 (very steep for a railway) but the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) built their "A" class 2-4-0 tank locomotives specifically to work this line.

Market Street Halt was opened on July 1, 1909 to provide a convenient stop for the town centre. It had a small booking office and an old four-wheel coach body for a waiting room.

At that time four trains per day, in the direction of Hanley, were booked to call at Market Street.

By 1922 Bradshaw's Railway Guide and the NSR public timetable show the train service from Market Street Halt had increased to 10 trains per day Monday to Saturday with six additional trains Saturdays only. There was no Sunday service.

TERRY MOORS

Goldenhill