Stanier 5MT Class 4-6-0 No 45052, of Aston shed, departs southwards from Whitmore, Staffs, in the mid 1950s, with a train of carmine and cream coaches. The oval bridge plate, numbered 48, confirms the LNWR origins of the station. Originally part of the Grand Junction Railway, Whitmore station opened in 1837, actually located in the village of Baldwin's Gate, on the line from Stafford to Crewe. At the time it was the nearest station to Stoke-on-Trent and the Potteries and so was heavily used. It closed in 1952 for passengers and in 1965 for goods traffic. The former booking office, visible in the photograph on the overbridge, survives as a Grade II listed building, complete with blue plaque, and there are ten railway cottages in the vicinity, built in the 1830s and 1840s. The plaque also records that on 29th June 1937, LMS pacific No 6220 achieved its historic 114 mph feat, the short-lived world record, north of the station, as it dashed down Madeley Bank towards Crewe, in the charge of Driver T.J. Clarke and Fireman C. Lewis The tall chimneyed building to the right of the locomotive's chimney is the 'Sheet Anchor' pub, which gained fame when England World Cup football star, Geoff Hurst, became the landlord when he retired from the sport in the 1970s.