The Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway was a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

which ran for linking

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

and

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

, England, via

Ross-on-Wye Ross-on-Wye is a market town and civil parish in Herefordshire, England, near the border with Wales. It had a population estimated at 10,978 in 2021. It lies in the south-east of the county, on the River Wye and on the northern edge of the Fore ...

. It was opened on 1 June 1855 as a

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...

line, it was amalgamated with the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

in 1862. In 1869 the railway was converted to

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 in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

. The railway was closed to passengers on 2 November 1964, freight services between

Ross-on-Wye railway station Ross-on-Wye served the town of Ross-on-Wye, in Herefordshire, England. It was a junction railway station: the terminus of the Ross and Monmouth Railway, which joined the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway just south of the station. Hist ...

and

Grange Court railway station Grange Court railway station was a junction station on the South Wales Railway in Gloucestershire (on the present day Gloucester to Newport Line) where it met the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway. History Opened on 1 June 1855 by the ...

continued on until 1 November 1965.

History

Opening

On 1 June 1851

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

passed the ( 14 & 15 Vict. c. xl) allowing the railway's construction and although construction was delayed by bad weather in January 1853 the line was tested out by locomotives on 31 May 1855; the next day the railway was officially opened, 1 June 1855.

Train services

The ''

Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'', founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less freq ...

'' on 14 June reported that the opening had been a great success. There were six passenger trains a day from Hereford and five from Gloucester.

Fatality

On 13 March 1856 the line suffered its first fatality when Charlotte Brian fell asleep on the line while intoxicated and was run over by the 7:30pm train from Hereford. She died of her injuries.

Ross and Monmouth Railway

In 1873 another railway was opened to

, this was the Ross and Monmouth Railway. The railway remained independent for just over 7 years until the line was amalgamated with the

(GWR) on 29 July 1862, the GWR operated the railway from then on until the

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...

of Britain's railways in 1948; the line then became part of the

Western Region of British Railways The Western Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right on completion of the "Organising for Quality" initiative on 6 April 1992. The Region consisted principally of ex-Great We ...

until its final closure.

Gauge conversion

The railway was converted from

along with the

South Wales Main Line The South Wales Main Line (), originally known as the London, Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway or simply as the Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway, is a branch of the Great Western Main Line in Great Britain. It diverges from the co ...

. The work was carried out by 450 men in 5 days from 15 to 19 August 1869. In each mile, 3,800 bolts had to be withdrawn, 83,600 in total, new holes bored in the sleeper and then the bolts put through in their new position. The work was in the hands of J. Ward Armstrong, divisional engineer, Hereford division, and

William Lancaster Owen William Lancaster Owen (8 November 1843 - 28 November 1911) was a British civil engineer primarily with the Great Western Railway. Career In 1868 he took a commission as a First Lieutenant in the 1st Gloucestershire Engineer Volunteer Corps which ...

with the plans having been approved by William George Owen, engineer-in-chief to the Great Western Railway. Ten first-class coaches and buses provided by Mr. J. J. Hughes (owner of Bayswater buses) provided passenger services between Hereford and Ross, and Ross and Gloucester. In 1890 Ross-on-Wye Station was replaced with a structure designed by the GWR civil engineer's department.

Decline and closure

The railway slowly declined over the years as cars stole away more and more traffic. Passenger services were finally withdrawn on and from 2 November 1964 due to the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...

, the line between

Hereford railway station Hereford railway station serves the city of Hereford, in Herefordshire, England. Managed by Transport for Wales, it lies on the Welsh Marches Line, between Leominster and Abergavenny; it is also the western terminus of the Cotswold Line, for s ...

and

was closed completely but the line south of Ross-on-Wye remained open until 1 November 1965 for freight only.

Route

The line consisted of two distinct parts, one south of Ross-on-Wye which went through the

Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the Counties of England, county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangle, triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and no ...

and the other northern section along the

River Wye The River Wye (; ) is the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, fourth-longest river in the UK, stretching some from its source on Plynlimon in mid Wales to the Severn Estuary. The lower reaches of the river forms part of Wales-England bor ...

. The southern section started at junction, with the

Gloucester to Newport Line Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west; it is ...

, went through the hills of the

requiring only one tunnel at

Lea Line Lea or LEA may refer to: Places Australia * Lea River, Tasmania, Australia * Lake Lea, Tasmania, from which the Lea River flows * RAAF Base Learmonth, IATA airport code "LEA" England * Lea, Cheshire, a civil parish * Lea, Derbyshire, a set ...

to . The Ross to Hereford section required a lot of engineering to cross the meanders of the Wye four times with embankments or tunnels crossing the neck of each one.

Stations

There were eight main stations, , , , , Fawley, , and . There were also three halts, , and .

References

External links

A website with information about the railways of Herefordshire.

Ross-on-Wye town's website with information about the railways of the town.
{{Transport in Gloucestershire History of Herefordshire Rail transport in Herefordshire Rail transport in Gloucestershire History of Gloucestershire Railway companies established in 1851 Railway lines opened in 1855 Railway companies disestablished in 1862 Closed railway lines in South West England Closed railway lines in the West Midlands (region) Standard gauge railways in England 7 ft gauge railways Transport in Monmouthshire British companies established in 1851