Railways of Shropshire


The English county of Shropshire has a fairly large railway network, with 19 National Rail stations on various national lines, as well as a small number of heritage and freight lines, including the famous heritage Severn Valley Railway running along its eastern border with Worcestershire.
The majority of the county's public rail services are run by Transport for Wales, the remainder are run by West Midlands Trains and Avanti West Coast.

National Rail services

National Rail services in Shropshire are centred about Shrewsbury station, which is managed by Transport for Wales. The station is at the junction of the Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury Line, Shrewsbury to Chester Line, the Welsh Marches Line and the Cambrian Line. Craven Arms station is at the junction between the Welsh Marches Line and the Heart of Wales Line, although services on the Heart of Wales Line begin at Shrewsbury, rather than Craven Arms itself. There are direct train services from Shrewsbury to the cities of Manchester, Birmingham and Cardiff, as well as the port at Holyhead where regular ferries to Dublin depart.
There are no electrified railways, as such, in the county despite the surrounding railway nodes of Crewe, Chester and Wolverhampton all being electrified.. This has meant that since the mid-1990s rail privatisation there has been a reluctance to establish a direct service to London by the cross-country railway companies, notably Virgin Trains West Coast, who previously ran services to London Euston from the county in 2000. There was a direct service to London Marylebone, provided by the open-access company Wrexham & Shropshire, which operated from 28 April 2008 to 28 January 2011 and used diesel locomotives. On 11 December 2014, Virgin Trains recommenced direct services between Shrewsbury and London Euston.

Freight only lines

There are two freight only lines in operation in the Telford area. One is the line from Madeley Junction on the Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton Line to Ironbridge Power Station via the historic industrial area of Coalbrookdale. The other is the newly restored line from Wellington to the Telford International Railfreight Park in Donnington which links the Terminal at Donnington with the Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton Line.
There is also the short Abbey Loop line in Shrewsbury which is generally only used by freight trains.
The Gobowen to Blodwell line, which runs through Oswestry, has been a mothballed line since the 1980s. It previously served a small number of stone quarries in the area. In 2008 the line was bought by the County Council and will likely be used in part by the Cambrian Heritage Railways being set up in the area and also as a cycle path from Oswestry to Gobowen.

Former railways

There are many closed lines in Shropshire, including
Many were closed in the 1960s, although the county did not fare too badly under Dr Beeching's massive nationwide railway cuts. The Heart of Wales Line was saved from closure. However, some previously major railway centres in the county, such as Oswestry, Newport and Market Drayton, now have no public railways.

Heritage railways

There are three heritage railways in Shropshire: the Severn Valley Railway from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster, the Telford Steam Railway at Horsehay, and a restored section of the Cambrian Railways, as being run by Cambrian Heritage Railways between Llynclys and Pant.
Cambrian Heritage Railways have also taken on the former Cambrian Railway Society plans to restore part of the Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway at Nantmawr for use as a heritage railway. The CHR have a second operating base at Oswestry railway station, with a small collection of locos and rolling stock.
As well as the heritage only lines, the national lines of Shropshire witness a regular number of special charter trains with heritage diesel and steam locomotives and historic carriage stock in operation.

Stations

Here are listed the 19 National Rail stations in current use in the county.
StationPlace2015/16 usage2016/17 usage2017/18 usageManaged byCo-ordinatesLineDistance from ShrewsburyPlatformsRequest stop?DFT station category
Albrighton railway stationAlbrighton95,32299,38098,972West Midlands TrainsShrewsbury-Wolverhampton35 km 2NoF2
Broome railway stationBroome / Aston on Clun1,5647821,150Transport for WalesHeart of Wales36.5 km 1YesF2
Bucknell railway stationBucknell5,6965,5164,324Transport for WalesHeart of Wales45.5 km 1YesF2
Church Stretton railway stationChurch Stretton127,748132,352130,380Transport for WalesWelsh Marches20.5 km 2NoF1
Cosford railway stationCosford 81,53084,38487,626West Midlands TrainsShrewsbury-Wolverhampton32.5 km 2NoF2
Craven Arms railway stationCraven Arms109,478100,91496,996Transport for WalesWelsh Marches 2NoF1
Gobowen railway stationGobowen 213,900221,138218,684Transport for WalesShrewsbury-Chester28.5 km 2NoE
Hopton Heath railway station1Hopton Heath1,7541,3321,006Transport for WalesHeart of Wales41 km 1YesF2
Knighton railway stationKnighton221,62620,71421,440Transport for WalesHeart of Wales52.5 km 2NoF1
Ludlow railway stationLudlow299,776299,802300,742Transport for WalesWelsh Marches44 km 2NoE
Oakengates railway stationOakengates55,83059,00667,408West Midlands TrainsShrewsbury-Wolverhampton21.5 km 2NoF2
Prees railway stationnear Prees6,6746,8387,374Transport for WalesWelsh Marches2YesF2
Shifnal railway stationShifnal144,532166,046181,702West Midlands TrainsShrewsbury-Wolverhampton28 km 2NoF2
Shrewsbury railway stationShrewsbury1,979,2482,087,8202,211,520Transport for WalesJunction of several linesn/a5NoC1
Telford Central railway stationTelford Town Centre1,139,0701,207,4061,211,078West Midlands TrainsShrewsbury-Wolverhampton23 km 2NoC2
Wellington railway stationWellington631,176665,778693,438West Midlands TrainsShrewsbury-Wolverhampton3NoE
Wem railway stationWem100,678105,044110,636Transport for WalesWelsh Marches17 km 2NoF1
Whitchurch railway stationWhitchurch125,430138,246140,746Transport for WalesWelsh Marches30 km 2NoF1
Yorton railway stationYorton / Clive9,3048,7887,686Transport for WalesWelsh Marches11.5 km 2YesF2

1 Sometimes written as "Hoptonheath".
2 Although the town of Knighton is in Powys, Wales, the railway station is in Shropshire, England.

Tunnels

There are four railway tunnels in use at present in Shropshire:
A notable disused tunnel exists running beneath High Town of Bridgnorth, which once carried the railway from Bridgnorth station northwards towards the Ironbridge Gorge. The tunnel continues to be maintained and is in good condition. There is the possibility of the Severn Valley Railway extending northwards through the tunnel, with the tunnel's owner BRB Ltd offering the heritage railway first refusal, however there would be substantial difficulties in reinstating the railway beyond the tunnel to the north of Bridgnorth.