Stafford

Stafford is a large town in Staffordshire, United Kingdom. It is the county town of Staffordshire and the second largest settlement in the county, after Stoke-on-Trent. The town has its own hospital and is home to a branch of Staffordshire University. The RAF has a major base in Beaconside, an outlying district of the town. British Telecom has a large training center in the area.

Transport

Stafford has a railway station on the West Coast Main Line. The station is served by Virgin Trains and London Midland services along the WCML, as well as Cross Country services. Stafford is also the start of a branch to Wolverhampton, a route which, via Birmingham, acts as a diversion in the event of a closure between Stafford and Rugby. A short distance to the south of Stafford is Colwich Junction, which is where the WCML avoiding lines to Stoke-on-Trent diverge to the east. This was the site of a serious accident during the 1980s. Stafford also used to have a second station named Stafford Common, but this closed in the 1950s. It was located on the now-closed line to Uttoxeter.

Stafford is directly adjacent to the M6 motorway, which offers fast and direct links to Glasgow and southern Scotland, the Lake District and Lancashire to the north and Birmingham and the midlands to the south. The M6 links to the M1 for direct travel to London. The A34 and A518 roads pass through the centre of Stafford, linking to Cannock, Walsall and Birmingham and Telford, Uttoxeter and the A50 to Nottingham respectively.