Starting Point: Welshpool Station. Finishing Point: Welshpool Raven Square Station. Distance: 1 Mile.
There had been a few schemes to connect Llanfair Caereinion to the railway network. Taking advantage of the Light Railways Act the successful scheme to build a narrow gauge railway from Welshpool was completed in 1903. Passenger services were short lived, being replaced by bus services in 1931. The line remained open for freight until 1956. From 1963 a preservation society reopened the line from the Llanfair Caereinion end. It reached Raven Square on the western edge of Welshpool in 1981 but it was not possible to reopen the connection across the town to the mainline station. Most of the course of the route through the town is intact amongst the developments that have come since the railway closed and a walking trail with information boards has been established.
Welshpool
Having arrived by train I arrived at the current mainline station. Since 1992 trains have called at a new island platform station to the east of the original station as a bypass has been built through the station site.
Below - My train from Shrewsbury in the current Welshpool station.
The grand station building of the original station survives alongside the bypass. More information about the station can be found on Disused Stations page about the original Welshpool station
Below - The original station building.
Below - Note the faded station name board on the right.
Below - The first of the information boards for the Town Trail can be found next to the station building.
Below - North of the station are the surviving cattle pens. As shown on the old map there used to be a large cattle market west of the goods yard.
Below - Mixed gauge rails can be seen at the cattle dock with standard gauge and the 2 ft 6 in gauge of the W&LLR.
Below - Site of the mixed gauge crossing of a connection between in to the cattle market. The passenger facilities were alongside the old mainline station where the roundabout is now.
Below - A Tesco supermarket now occupies the site of the cattle market.
Below - The bridge across the canal.
It is worth taking a little detour along the canal, there is another bit of narrow gauge railway track to see, though this is not linked to the W&LLR but was used to move goods between the canal and a building alongside.
Below - Canal goods warehouse. This is now home to the Y Lanfa Powysland Museum. I didn't have time to visit on this occasion but did have a look round on a previous trip.
1902 Map (bottom right of map)
The narrow gauge track can be seen along the eastern edge of the canal just south of Welshpool Lock. The old map shows that the building it ran in to had a saw pit and weighing machine. Just the bit of track along the canal edge can be seen, the old map shows a wagon turntable on the south side of the buildings with lines running off around the works yard.
Below - Surviving track along the canal wharf. The old map shows a crane around half way along the track.
Below - The buildings on the works site.
Returning to the railway route I picked up the route towards Raven Square again.
Below - Another of the frequent information boards.
Below - The railway took quite a twisty course between buildings and following the course of Lledan Brook, some of the buildings on the left have been removed and the road widened.
Below - Information board at the Narrows where the line ran in a narrow passage between buildings.
Below - Information board where the line passed Boot Street.
Seven Stars
Close to the commercial centre of Welshpool there was an unstaffed halt here. It had a platform at ground level with just a small wooden waiting shelter and a bit of signage. There is nothing left to see of this station.
Below - The line crossed Brook Street to then skirt round the northern edge of the town. A piece of old wall marks the site of the railway boundary.
Below - Information board where the line passed the back of the library.
Below - Mural next to the library showing the line passing through the town.
Below - The area on the northern edge of the town was developed around the time the railway closed, the course of the railway has become a back alley for the houses of Bron Y Buckley. The level of the track along what was once a hillside can be seen.
Below - A bit of embankment can be seen. One of the information boards was missing at this point.
Below - Information board where the line ran alongside Brook Street, at this point the railway ran alongside a quarry. The former quarry has since been developed with retail and industrial units now occupying the former quarry.
Welshpool Raven Square
The western end of the town was also served by a halt with a low wooden platform and simple facilities. When the preservation scheme reached Welshpool in 1981 this became the location of its Welshpool terminus, avoiding the need to cross the widened A458 with its roundabout junction with Brook Street and Raven Street. The same roundabout also now gives good road access to the station site. Nothing of the original station survives but the heritage railway has used items rebuilt from elsewhere to build a station quite in character with the line whilst providing sufficient facilities for its current role as terminus of a heritage railway.
Below - The Town Trail information board at Raven Square station.
Below - Original W&LLR loco The Earl at the Welshpool Raven Square terminus of the line. The water tower was recovered from Pwllheli. The station building was rebuilt from Eardisley in Hertfordshire and is a wooden building in character with the railway.
Below - The Earl with an original goods brake wagon. With passenger services ending in 1931 the original coaching stock didn't survive in preservation. The preservation scheme relied largely on vehicles obtained from mainland Europe where the gauge was more common. In recent years replicas of original stock have been built.
Below - The Earl with a goods wagon and replica GWR carriages.
Llanfair Caereinion
I did of course take a ride on the train while I was there. More information about the heritage railway can be found on their website. The site also has more information about the history of the line.
Below - The Earl shunting the goods brake van at Llanfair Caereinion.
No comments:
Post a Comment