Hopton Heath railway station


Hopton Heath railway station is a railway station in Hopton Heath, a hamlet in Shropshire, England. It lies on the Heart of Wales Line, south west of Shrewsbury.
The station is situated in a very rural area; the nearest sizeable settlement is Hopton Castle and further afield are the larger villages of Clungunford and Leintwardine. The station was for a number of years the least used National Rail station in Shropshire, however passenger numbers have recently increased and now Broome is the county's least used station.
The station and line were constructed by the Knighton Railway and opened in 1861. Further construction and route openings in 1865 and 1868 subsequently put the station on a through route between Shrewsbury and Swansea.
The railway station is located below street level, to the south of the B4385 road bridge. The original station building is now private housing. Originally there were two tracks running through, but one has been lifted with the "singling" of the line in general back in the early 1960s. In addition to the main building, the station has retained its stone weighbridge hut next to the entrance.
The station has two platforms: the original Shrewsbury-bound platform extends entirely to the south of the bridge; the remaining passenger platform extends under the bridge, though at present only the part to the south is usually used by passengers.
A wooden waiting shelter is located on the platform, along with CIS display, customer help point and timetable poster board are provided to offer train running information.
Access to the platform is via steps from the road bridge or alternatively via a level footpath which runs south from the station to the "Ashlea Pools" holiday park entrance.
Since 6th July 2020, trains have not called at the station due to the short platform and the inability to maintain social distancing between passengers and the guard when opening the train door.

Services

There are four southbound and five northbound trains a day from Monday to Friday, four each way on Saturdays and two on Sundays. This is a request stop, whereby passengers have to signal to the driver to board or alight from the train. A normal weekday service operates on most Bank holidays.
All trains serving the station are operated by Transport for Wales.

Bus service

A local bus service calls near the station, which travels between Ludlow and Knighton and calls at the nearby villages of Bedstone, Clungunford and Leintwardine. Currently 3 buses per day call at Hopton Heath in each direction.