Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury Station in 1962 (Wikimedia Commons)

Railways south of Shrewsbury (Ordnance Survey 1888-1913)

Next stations pre-closure

Towards the north	Towards Hartlebury and Kidderminster
The Severn Valley line terminated at Shrewsbury.	Berrington (4¼ miles)

Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, situated on the River Severn.

Shrewsbury station, formerly known as 'Shrewsbury General', is a major junction between various GWR and LNWRLondon & North Western Railway routes, and was the northern terminus of the Severn Valley Railway, which connected it to Bridgnorth, Bewdley and Hartlebury.

Severn Valley Branch

Shrewsbury was the northernmost station on the Severn Valley Branch until the end of passenger services between Bewdley and Shrewsbury and closure of the line north of Alveley Colliery in 1963. The Branch diverged from the Shrewsbury-Hereford line at Sutton Bridge Junction, which still exists today as the junction for the former Cambrian Railways line to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli . Severn Valley line services generally used the now-closed bay platforms 1 and 2 at Shrewsbury station.

Shrewsbury Abbey oil terminal

The Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway opened in 1866 with a small terminus station in Shrewsbury at Abbey Foregate. The railway, which was later re-opened by Col Stevens in 1911 as the Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Railway (S&MRMidland Railway), crossed over the Severn Valley branch via a bridge which was situated around ¼ mile south of Sutton Bridge Junction, just past the end of the carriage shed which lay alongside the branch.

When the S&MRMidland Railway closed in 1960, the bridge was removed and BRBritish Rail or British Railways built a short spur from the Severn Valley branch which served a new oil depot at the Shrewsbury Abbey station. Access to the spur was controlled by a ground frame which was unlocked by the section token, with trains of up to ten tanks being propelled to and from the terminal. The short stub of the Severn Valley branch providing this connection was the last part of the railway to remain in use, eventually closing in July 1988.

Shrewsbury Shed

Locomotives for services from the northern end of the Severn Valley Branch were provided by Shrewsbury Shed which was located in Coleham Yard, between the station and Sutton Bridge Junction to the east of the railway. A brief chronology of the Shed is as follows:

• The original 1856 Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway (S&H) locomotive servicing depot was a single-road straight shed.
• As part of the joint purchase of the S&H, the GWRGreat Western Railway and LNWRLondon & North Western Railway agreed to build a new six-road shed on the same site to an LNWRLondon & North Western Railway design, with the original S&H shed becoming a wagon repair depot.
• In 1877 the LNWRLondon & North Western Railway added their own 10-road shed at the south of the Yard
• In 1883 the GWRGreat Western Railway built a new roundhouse to the rear/east of the existing former joint facilities, and added their own coaling stage.
• In 1932 the GWRGreat Western Railway demolished the old S&H shed and built a new steel-framed three road straight shed on the site.
• The depot closed to all steam locomotives in March 1967.

The buildings in the Yard to the east of the line have all been demolished and the area redeveloped. However in 2008 a small TMDTraction Maintenance Depot, also referred to as Diesel Depot was built to the west of the line on the site of the former extensive joint GWRGreat Western Railway/LNWRLondon & North Western Railway goods yard. Access is controlled by Sutton Bridge Junction Signal Box.

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  OSOrdnance Survey Map of 1927 showing Coleham Yard

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  Shrewsbury MPDMotive Power Depot in 1949, ex-GWRGreat Western Railway shed (left) and ex-LNWRLondon & North Western Railway (right)

See also

• Pre-1963 map
• List of former stations

References

Links

• Adrian the Rock - Signals at Shrewsbury
• Abbey Station and its Environs in Regular Use on Shrewsbury Railway Heritage Trust