The Silkin Way near Malins Lee and Dawley and Stirchley

The Coalport branch line was a

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

London and 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 ...

branch line in

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, which ran between Hadley Junction near

Oakengates Oakengates is a constituent town and civil parish in Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire, England. The towns parish population was recorded as 8,517 in the 2001 census. Etymology The name is not derived from "oak" or "gates" but is derived from the ...

on the

Stafford to Shrewsbury line Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in the ...

and a terminus at

Coalport East railway station Coalport East was a London and North Western Railway station at Coalport, situated on the north bank of the River Severn. It formed the terminus of the Coalport Branch Line which ran from Hadley Junction near Oakengates on the LNWR Stafford to ...

on the north bank of the

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

Coalport Coalport is a village in Shropshire, England. It is located on the River Severn in the Ironbridge Gorge, a mile downstream of Ironbridge. It lies predominantly on the north bank of the river; on the other side is Jackfield. The settlement was ...

Commercial history

The branch line opened on 17 June 1861. Passenger services were little used, with the line's existence being mainly supported by freight traffic. There were sidings at locations including Blists Hill Ironworks and the Coalport China factory of John Rose and Co. The line was closed to passengers in 1952 and to regular freight on 5 December 1960, the line to Stirchley finally closed to even sporadic traffic on 6 July 1964.

Preservation

On 9 April 1980 the gauge Telford Town Tramway was opened by the Reverend W. Awdry on the trackbed of the Coalport branch alongside Randlay Pool in

Telford Town Park Telford Town Park is a park and Local Nature Reserve in Telford in Shropshire. In 2015, it was voted "UK's Best Park" in the inaugural public competition organised by Fields in Trust History The Anglo-Saxon period saw the first real chang ...

. The tramway only lasted a few years before it closed in the mid-1980s. The tram has since been preserved by the

Telford Steam Railway The Telford Steam Railway (TSR) is a heritage railway located at Horsehay, Telford in Shropshire, England, formed in 1976. The railway is operated by volunteers on Sundays and Bank Holidays from Easter to the end of September, and at Christmas. ...

running on its own circular track by Horsehay Pool. The interchange siding at Blists Hill now forms part of the

Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust is an industrial heritage organisation which runs ten museums and manages multiple historic sites within the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site in Shropshire, England, widely considered as the birthplace of t ...

’s

Blists Hill Victorian Town Blists Hill Victorian Town is an open-air museum built on a former industrial complex located in the Madeley area of Telford, Shropshire, England. The museum attempts to recreate the sights, sounds and smells of a Victorian Shropshire town ...

site. Four miles of the former trackbed now form part of the Silkin Way, a cycling and walking route managed by

Telford and Wrekin Council Telford and Wrekin Council is the local authority of Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. The district of Telford and Wrekin was grant ...

.Telford and Wrekin Council guide
Retrieved 11 January 2017 It runs south of the former Malins Lee railway station to just north of the former Coalport East railway station.

References

External links

an

Geograph 1963 photos of Coalport East
Geograph 1964 photoGeograph photo of Madeley Market StationMadeley local history with photoLNWR Society history
Closed railway lines in the West Midlands (region) Rail transport in Shropshire London and North Western Railway Railway lines opened in 1861 Railway lines closed in 1964 1861 establishments in England 1964 disestablishments in England {{England-rail-transport-stub