Frequency of Service
Trains started and finished at Hulme End, at the northern end of the line, where the engine sheds were located.
After opening, there were initially three trains daily in each direction. This increased to four on Thursdays and Saturdays (and later to five). After an attempt by the North Staffordshire Railway as early as 1904 to reduce the service during the winter months to a service only on Wednesdays and Saturdays, the Manifold Company secured an agreement that there should be a minimum of two trains in each direction throughout the year. On Bank Holidays there were some seven trains daily, and at peak times both engines and all carriages/wagons would be in use - planks and awnings were placed on the open wagons to make them usable by passengers, albeit rather rudimentary. It is recorded that in Whit week in 1905 some 5000 passengers were carried, and the most intensive service saw trains operating from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Sunday services began in 1905, but stopped in 1930, thus losing much tourist revenue.
The most important traffic on the line was from the Express Dairies creamery at Ecton. Most of the product was destined via dedicated milk trains for London. In 1911 222,598 imperial gallons (1,011,950 L) were brought in from the L&MVLR growing to 717,332 imperial gallons (3,261,060 l) in 1922. Initially all the milk was carried in milk churns, which had to be manhandled across the platforms at Waterhouses. But after the First World War the churns were loaded into standard gauge vans taken to and from Ecton on the transporter wagons. Eventually milk tankers were also used, again being transferred between Ecton and Waterhouses on the transporters. The importance of the milk traffic was such that between 1919 and 1926, a special milk trains ran direct between Waterhouses and London, rather than the vans being shunted between various trains until the milk reached its ultimate destination. The year after the closure of the creamery in 1933, the L&MVLR closed.
Read more about this topic: Leek And Manifold Valley Light Railway
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