The S&UR series is made of 8 easy-to-find traditional caches hidden what remains of the old line of the Staffordshire & Uttoxeter Railway in Stafford. Each cache gives you a bit of the history of the entire line. If you are a ‘beginner’ geocacher also look out for two “EarthCaches” nearby to #1 and #6, which don’t always show up on beginners’ phone apps.
S&UR History, overview
The Stafford and Uttoxeter Railway was created by Act of Parliament in 1862, to run between Stafford and Uttoxeter in Staffordshire, England. It opened for traffic in 1867. It was nicknamed the Clog and Knocker.
It was purchased for £100,000 by the Great Northern Railway in July 1881 as a means of reaching Wales. The latter thus gained a through route from Grantham via the Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway and the GNR Derbyshire and Staffordshire Extension. From Stafford it would reach Shrewsbury by the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company line which had opened in 1849 and continue over the Potteries, Shrewsbury and North Wales Railway.
Passenger services ended on 4 December 1939. The through line closed on 5 March 1951 a stub survived at Stafford to serve the RAF Stafford 16 Maintenance Unit, that closed on 1 December 1975.
Text from Jones P (1981) The Stafford and Uttoxeter Railway, Salisbury: The Oakwood Press, via Wikipedia