Crewe Stadium - Izeria

Crewe Stadium, also known by several other names including, Earle Street, LMR Sports Ground and BR Sports Ground, was a stadium in Crewe, Cheshire, England. Located north of Crewe railway station, it was used for speedway and stock car racing. The track was redeveloped in 1993 and is now the site of a retail park.

1. History

A motorcycle speedway track operated for a short time in the late 1920s / early 1930s, at the London Midland Region (L.M.R) Sports Ground, as it was known at the time. Previously also used as a cycling and athletics track, it encircled a cricket pitch that was used by Crewe Alexandra cricket club from 1898 (following its relocation from the Alexandra Recreation Ground on Nantwich Road), and by its successor, Crewe LMR Cricket Club until 1975. In 1969, Maurice Littlechild of Allied Presentations formed a speedway team to compete at the Sports Ground. The set up costs exceeded £10,000 and the team were given the nickname the Crewe Kings. The team ran from 1969 until 1975, when it closed down due to financial difficulties. The track was a 434-metre-long (475 yd) banked shale surfaced oval and was built on what was previously an athletics ground. During the closed season of 1970–71 the track was shortened to 397 metres (434 yards). From 1981, BriSCA Formula 2 Stock Cars raced at the stadium and the following year from 1982, BriSCA F1 Stock Cars promoted by a local businessman called Jim Barrie started to race at the stadium. The F2 World Final was held in 1993, the biggest Oval Track the F2's raced on. It also hosted V8 Hotstox, and various other forms of oval motor sport including National Hot Rods, Banger racing, Ministox and Rebels. The very last meeting held was on 11 December 1993. On 17 September 2010, the speedway team and stadium was commemorated, with a plaque unveiling at the Kings Arms on Earle Street.

1. References


1. External links

Crewe Stadium Nostalgia

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Crewe Works Railway

The Crewe Works Railway was a minimum-gauge internal tramway system serving Crewe Works, the main locomotive construction works of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) and later the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). The system was first introduced by John Ramsbottom the LNWR Locomotive Superintendent from 1857 and it was a pioneering use of locomotive propelled vehicles within a manufacturing plant. The Crewe system was soon adopted elsewhere. There were four sections to this system built at different times and each in turn significantly altered several times before final abandonment. The four sections were: The Original LNWR (Old) Works (authorised 17 October 1861) The LNWR Steel Works (authorised 20 October 1864) The LNWR Deviation Works (built in the late 1860s) The Spider Bridge extension to Crewe railway station (built in 1878). Of the above, the first section dating from 1862 was within the original locomotive works first built in 1843 and expanded many times as the railway system grew. Prior to the introduction of the tramway, most internal transport was by hand-cart and barrow. The original lines totalled 550 yards (500 m) and a further 300 yards (270 m) were added later. The "Old Works" section ceased operation around 1929. The second, the steel works section, and largest of all, was always self-contained. From its authorisation on 20 October 1864, it lasted under locomotive haulage until the closure of steel production in 1932, but also in one short (and occasionally used hand-propelled) section in the iron foundry until about 1960. The third, the deviation works section (latterly devoted entirely to the joinery department), was an extensive system built on at least three levels and was an entirely separate, hand-propelled tramway, which survived in spasmodic use until about 1980. Several relics, including examples of trackwork and three wagons, survive from this installation. The fourth and final extension of the works tramway was of the "Old Works" system through to Crewe station, built in 1878 with the construction of the famous "Spider Bridge". This was essentially a typical railway footbridge providing pedestrian access from the works to the station and built on stilts and suspension cables for several hundred yards across the entire Crewe North junction. The bridge carried the 18-inch, single-line tramway down its centre. The spider bridge terminated at the station in a "T" junction with a footbridge spanning all passenger platforms at the north end of the station. The bridge from the works survived as a footbridge until 1939, but was apparently little used by locomotives after 1920. Goods for transfer between the works and the station had to be transferred between the tramway and the station platform via the footbridge steps. This was an unusual and serious limitation of its usefulness. Following the abandonment of the locomotive-hauled tramway, most internal works transport at Crewe has been provided by rubber-tyred, diesel/petrol-powered tractors and trailers.

Industrial Landmark

276 m

St Peter's Church, Crewe

St Peter's Church is in Earle Street, Crewe, Cheshire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Nantwich, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield, and the diocese of Chester. Its benefice is combined with that of All Saints and St Paul, Crewe. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.

Church

Crewe Heritage Centre

Crewe Heritage Centre is a railway museum located in Crewe, England. Managed by the Crewe Heritage Trust, the museum is located between the railway station and the town centre; the site was the location of the 'Old Works' which was demolished in the early 1980s.

Landmark Museum

Crewe North Junction signal box

Crewe North Junction signal box is signal box with a Westinghouse All Electric Style 'L' lever frame which was commissioned, along with Crewe South Junction signal box (which also had a Westinghouse Style 'L' frame), on 29 March 1940 as part of a resignalling project at Crewe railway station. It saw continued use until 19 July 1985 when it was decommissioned for a redesign of Crewe station and its track layout and signalling.

Industrial Landmark