The railways around Stoke-on-Trent have always tended to be overlooked by enthusiasts as they turned their attention to the more glamorous and much busier activities around neighbouring Crewe, but interesting traffic can still be found in the area. Freight has always played its part with the local collieries supplying coal to the power stations and the Shelton Iron & Steel works receiving and dispatching finished products. The local pottery industry also received china clay by rail. Passenger trains were found in the form of local trains to Derby and Crewe and expresses to London, Manchester and the Midlands and the West Country, supplemented at holiday times by specials to Blackpool and North Wales. In the last few decades freight traffic has declined, but with the new Land Recovery site at Pinnox Sidings and the Electromotive locomotive repair works at the former Railfreight depot at Longport the variety has recently increased again. Privatisation has brought a multitude of different liveries to the local rail scene too.

This book takes a look at the changes in the area over the last forty years.

'Beeton's photographs of the changes in the area over the past 40 years are of excellent quality.' -- Railwatch, December 2024
'This excellent colour album focuses on the post-1990 scene, featuring good quality images of BR and post-BR operations.' -- Model Rail Magazine, June 2025

Cliff Beeton has had his photographs published in a number of national transport magazines, and is a regular contributor to the Buses Yearbook.