Oswestry railway station geograph-2510794-by-Ben-Brooksbank

Oswestry railway station is a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

heritage Heritage may refer to: History and society * A heritage asset is a preexisting thing of value today ** Cultural heritage is created by humans ** Natural heritage is not * Heritage language Biology * Heredity, biological inheritance of physical c ...

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads. The town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

, England. It was closed when passenger services were withdrawn in 1966. The station building today is used as commercial premises although the Cambrian Railways Society are restoring it.

History

Great Western Railway

The railway was first opened by the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

(GWR) who opened its single platform station on 1 January 1849 on a branch from

Gobowen Gobowen is a village in Shropshire, England, about 3 miles north of Oswestry. The population according to the 2011 census was 3,270. History The village was previously called ''Bryn-y-Castell'' ("Hill of the Castle" in English) after the Norma ...

. Under the

Railway Act 1921 The Railways Act 1921 (c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament enacted by the British government and intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four la ...

, the

Cambrian Railways The Cambrian Railways owned of track over a large area of mid Wales. The system was an amalgamation of a number of railways that were incorporated in 1864, 1865 and 1904. The Cambrian connected with two larger railways with connections to the ...

was allocated to the GWR. The GWR closed its competing station on 7 July 1924 and diverted all services to either pass through or terminate at the adjacent former Cambrian Railways station. The main GWR service integrated was the shuttle to

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

via Gobowen on the Shrewsbury-Chester line. The GWR immediately made the Cambrian Railways/

London & North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

engine shed its divisional base for the new Oswestry locomotive division, allocating it code: OSW. In 1929, the GWR improved the facilities, adding electric lighting to the entire complex, extra inspection pits, and a GWR standard-pattern single-ramp coaling stage. A further improvement programme occurred in 1939, when the wooden roof was replaced with steel trusses, allowing the introduction of improved clearances, increased ventilation and additional glass shuttering. An administrative oddity occurred throughout the period of control by the GWR, in that a singular ex-LNWR engine was stabled but not allocated to Oswestry shed from 1923, only attached to the shed after 1946 when the UK railway system was nationalised under

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

ways.

Cambrian Railways

Proposed to be formed from the amalgamation of a series of local regional railway companies, as a result the new company called Cambrian Railways (CR) proposed to base its headquarters in Oswestry. Using existing Parliamentary Act approval for development of a station, it proposed to build closer to the centre of the town than the existing

(GWR) station, which had opened in 1849. On completion, the CR station would complete the mainline for the

, from Whitchurch on the

Crewe and Shrewsbury Railway The Crewe and Shrewsbury Railway was a railway company which was previously owned by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR), built to connect Crewe with the Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway which was jointly owned with GWR. Authorised in 1 ...

, to

Welshpool Welshpool ( cy, Y Trallwng) is a market town and community in Powys, Wales, historically in the county of Montgomeryshire. The town is from the Wales–England border and low-lying on the River Severn; its Welsh language name ''Y Trallwng'' m ...

in Mid-Wales. The first connection to the station was made from the south by the

Oswestry & Newtown Railway The Oswestry and Newtown Railway was a British railway company that built a line between Oswestry in Shropshire and Newtown Montgomeryshire, now Powys. The line opened in stages in 1860 and 1861. It was conceived to open up the area to rail tran ...

, which operated its first train on 1 May 1860. After a legal tussle between the two competing companies, LNWR and GWR, Parliament authorised building the CR/LNWR sponsored line to Whitchurch in August 1861, driven by the need to regenerate Ellesmere. However, the proposed route was heavily fought over by land owners, with the eventual tracks running via Fenn's Moss, requiring additional civil engineering, support and drainage to overcome the local bog conditions. On 25 July 1864 the CR was formally created, allowing the first CR train to the run from Whitchurch into Oswestry two days later on 27 July 1864.

Facilities

The station consisted of two main platforms, which each had two bays either end, creating a total of six platforms: one main up, one main down, two bays up, two bays down. Built to standard gauge, there was an allowance to build a third freight-bypass track down the middle of the running road, which was completed later by the GWR in 1923. The station building was designed by a local architect in keeping with CR constituent design philosophies, but was substantial and included a great deal of office accommodation and a Boardroom. This was to allow, once the first CR train had run into the station from the north, the CR to formally move its headquarters and administration base to the station building. After the station opened, the CR demolished the temporary wooden 2-road O&NR shed, located just north in the fork between the GWR junction to

and the CR mainline to Whitchurch. Designed, engineered and hence based on standard LNWR practice, when completed it comprised: 4-road running shed; 2-road lifting shed;

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

; coal tip; plus associated offices and mess rooms. On the opposite side of the tracks, the CR later built its own railway works. Its construction of 22 locomotive roads and an 11 carriage and wagon works sidings, hastened Oswestry's boom as a railway town: from a population of 5,500 in 1861; to nearly 10,000 40 years later. A war memorial, designed by Allan G Wyon, to 53 CR employees who died serving in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

was erected after the war and stood in the station until after its final closure (1971) when, in 1975, Oswestry Town Council moved it into the Cae Glas Park where it stands today.

Closure

In 1963, the station was reallocated to become part of the

London Midland Region The London Midland Region (LMR) was one of the six regions created on the formation of the nationalised British Railways (BR), and initially consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) lines in England, Wales and Northern Irelan ...

. In the review under the

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised British Rail, railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Develop ...

the Cambrian Railways line from Whitchurch to

was decreed surplus to demands, and listed for closure. On 18 January 1965, passenger services to Welshpool and Whitchurch finished, and the locomotive shed closed. A shuttle service to Gobowen operated by

Diesel Multiple Units A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

continued until 7 November 1966 when both the station closed to passengers and the works closed. Freight services continued to run until 1971, but following this much of the station was demolished, to leave only the main building. A single line from Gobowen through the station to

Llanyblodwel Llanyblodwel is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England; the spelling "Llanyblodwell" was commonly used in the past, and the village was sometimes simply referred to as "Blodwel". The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census ...

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envi ...

was used by freight trains until 1988 but since closure the track has remained in place .

Present

Private ownership

The station was sold in the 1980s to local businessman Den Hinton and became Oswestry DIY & Home Centre. The offices and former Cambrian Railways boardroom on the first floor were converted into eight flats and two bedsits. The ground floor was opened up to form a large retail area and the rear platform was enclosed to provide storage. The building was sold to Owens Motor Factors in 1993 who renamed their car parts business Cambrian Autoparts. During their redevelopment of the car park adjoining the building (which covered the land that previously carried the Oswestry to Gobowen line) a large

air raid shelter Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack (but many ...

was uncovered which had tunnels running off it to the old railway works. In the late 1990s the site was purchased by

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

with the aim of developing a supermarket on the land behind the station and using the original station building as the frontage and entrance foyer which would incorporate small, specialist retail units. After a fierce (and controversial) planning battle, permission was refused and the site remained empty until its purchase by the local authority in 2005.

Cambrian Heritage Railways

The single railway track still runs through the station, and is the subject of a plan by

Cambrian Heritage Railways The Cambrian Heritage Railways is a heritage railway company, trust and society based at both Llynclys and Oswestry in its newly restored Oswestry railway station, Shropshire, England. Formed after the 2009 merger of the Cambrian Railways S ...

(CHR) to reopen the line between Oswestry and

, and eventually to Gobowen to reconnect with the mainline. CHR has agreed leases with

Shropshire Council Shropshire Council is the local authority of Shropshire (district), Shropshire, in England, comprising the ceremonial county of Shropshire except Telford and Wrekin. It is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority, having the powers ...

for an section of the

between Gobowen and Blodwel. The lease runs for 50 years from 2014. On 17 August 2014, Beyer Peacock 0-4-0ST No. 1827 hauled the first steam passenger services from Oswestry for the first time since January 1965. Passengers were carried in the CHR's

brake van Brake van and guard's van are terms used mainly in the UK, Ireland, Australia and India for a railway vehicle equipped with a hand brake which can be applied by the guard. The equivalent North American term is caboose, but a British brake van ...

over the first half-mile of track towards Gobowen.

Transport & Works Act Order

The CHR applied for a Transport & Works Act Order for transfer of

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

's residual rights to itself and this was granted on 28 February 2017. This permits the CHR to reopen the route from Gobowen to Blodwel Quarry subject to level crossings of the A5 and

A483 The A483, officially described as the Swansea to Manchester Trunk Road, although now ending in Chester, is a major road in the United Kingdom. It runs from Swansea in Wales to Chester in England via Llandovery, Llandrindod Wells, Oswestry and W ...

being replaced by a tunnel and overbridge respectively.

Cambrian Railways Museum

The station's former goods depot now serves as the Cambrian Railways Museum. Displays include photographs, signs, lamps, signal box fittings, and artefacts related to the history of the Cambrian Heritage Railways.

Services

References

External links

Oswestry station @ Disused-Stations.org.ukVideo footage of Oswestry railway station
{{Shropshire railway stations Former Cambrian Railway stations Grade II listed buildings in Shropshire Heritage railway stations in Shropshire Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1860 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1966 Oswestry