Jump to content

Welshpool railway station

Coordinates: 52°39′27″N 3°08′24″W / 52.657469°N 3.139947°W / 52.657469; -3.139947
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Welshpool

Welsh: Y Trallwng
National Rail
General information
LocationWelshpool, Powys
Wales
Coordinates52°39′27″N 3°08′24″W / 52.657469°N 3.139947°W / 52.657469; -3.139947
Grid referenceSJ229072
Managed byTransport for Wales
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeWLP
ClassificationDfT category F1
Key dates
14 August 1860opened
18 May 1992[1]Original station closed and new station opened on track realignment.
Passengers
2018/19Increase 181,768
2019/20Decrease 165,724
2020/21Decrease 33,782
2021/22Increase 98,128
2022/23Increase 140,554
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Welshpool railway station is a railway station on the Cambrian Line in Powys, mid-Wales. It was first opened in August 1860, but the current station was opened in May 1992 to allow for track re-alignment, the same day that the original closed, and is a short distance from the original. The station serves the town of Welshpool (Welsh: Y Trallwng), as well as its surroundings.

History

[edit]
G.J. Churchward designed GWR 4300 Class 2-6-0 No. 7309 exits the locomotive depot at Welshpool in 1957

Built by the Oswestry & Newtown Railway, the original station opened on 14 August 1860.[1] The line was initially operated by the London & North Western Railway before being absorbed by the Cambrian Railways, which became part of the Great Western Railway at the grouping which came into effect on 1 January 1923.

Midland Counties Dairy bought and operated the creamery at Cilcewydd. A siding from the station gave access for milk trains to the creamery.

About 100 metres north of the station were exchange sidings with the narrow gauge Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway which opened for freight traffic in 1903 and closed in 1956 with a separate station serving passenger traffic until 1931. By 2017 the only remains are part of the cattle dock which has mixed gauge track embedded into concrete track bed. All other remains of this station and the site of the railway were obliterated by the construction of the new A483 road.

Present

[edit]
The present Welshpool station

There was some severe rationalisation of services under the Beeching cuts in the 1960s, with the old Cambrian main line to Whitchurch via Oswestry closed to passengers in January 1965 and most local stations towards Aberystwyth following suit later that year. Two of the four platforms at the old station were later taken out of use.[1] Subsequent development of the A483 road Welshpool bypass (opened in July 1993)[2] required the railway line to be shifted to the south. To enable this the original station was closed, and a new single island platform constructed by British Rail south of it, to allow realignment in May 1992.

The replacement station platform is reached by a pedestrian bridge crossing both the railway and the A483, with long uncovered inclines to the north and stepped access from the south. There are no facilities beyond a ticket vending machine, small shelter, bench seating, passenger information displays and a customer help point (though the National Rail Enquiries station page does have directions to a local travel agent with National Rail ticketing facilities).[3] The original station building can still be seen across the road, and has been converted into a shop and café.

The passing loop was later extended to 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to allow for an hourly train service, and to reduce the impact of delays on the line.

Services

[edit]

Trains run from here westwards to Machynlleth and then either Aberystwyth or Pwllheli via Barmouth (most trains convey a portion for both routes) and eastwards to Shrewsbury & Birmingham International. There is a basic two-hourly service each way - on weekdays & Saturdays with additional hourly Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth services until mid morning & again during late afternoon and early evenings. On Sundays there is a two-hourly service on the Shrewsbury - Aberystwyth axis, but only a limited service along the coast to/from Pwllheli (three in summer and one in winter).[4]

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Shrewsbury   Transport for Wales
Cambrian Line
  Newtown
Disused railways
Buttington
Line open, station closed
  Great Western Railway
Oswestry & Newtown Railway
  Forden
Line open, station closed
Heritage Railways  Heritage railways
Walking connection with Welshpool Raven Square on the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Disused Stations - Welshpool (1st Site)
  2. ^ Hansard
  3. ^ Welshpool station facilities National Rail Enquiries
  4. ^ GB eNRT May 2017 Edition, Table 76 (Network Rail)

Further reading

[edit]
  • Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2008). Shrewsbury to Newtown. Middleton Press. pp. 64–77. ISBN 9781906008291. OCLC 228374968.
[edit]

Media related to Welshpool railway station at Wikimedia Commons