Along the Moors - Lubstree

Consolidation and Decline

Remains Of The Transhipment Warehouse

The Duke’s venture proved so successful that in 1870 the Shropshire Union Canal Company leased the wharf with the intention of diverting all local traffic from the Shrewsbury Canal at Trench to Lubstree, providing a fleet of 30 boats for the task. A standard gauge railway running from the Wellington to Stafford mainline and terminating alongside the waterway was constructed at the same time, to replace the existing tramway to the wharf.

By 1880, the Humber Arm was carrying in the region of 300-400 tonnes of Lilleshall Company limestone a week, while an extra rail siding was provided in 1891 — presumably to increase capacity at the site still further? Despite traffic levels remaining healthy in the early years of the 20th Century (the Shropshire Union Canal Company renewed their lease on Lubstree in 1905) the Duke of Sutherland decided to close the wharf in 1922, with complete abandonment of the Humber Arm, the Newport Branch and the Shrewsbury Canal following just over 20 years later in 1944.