Shrewsbury Railway Station: A tale of two Thomases

Some say its striking facade was designed to mirror the nearby old Shrewsbury School (now the town library) on Castle Gates.

However, it is also said that its look was influenced by an Oxbridge college with its mildly Tudor character, central clock tower and mullion windows.

The architect was T.M. Penson who was also responsible for a number of other stations on the Welsh Marches.

Railway enthusiasts will know that the station was operated jointly by the Great Western Railway and the London North Western Railway.

Thomas Penson should be given tremendous credit for giving our town such a beautiful station, opened in 1849 with just two storeys, but then having a lower storey added in 1901 – amazingly by jacking up the original building and then excavating underneath it.

Yes Thomas did a first class job. But there is another Thomas involved in this story – one Thomas Brassey, the master railway builder who brought the railways to Shrewsbury.

Now then. I am indebted to regular reader Alun Johnson of Brook Street, Shrewsbury, who wrote to me the other day: "Much has been said of Charles Darwin who lived in Kent and of Admiral Benbow who cleared off to sea for a career. but nothing has really been said of a man who lived in the town and contributed to its well-being . . . namely, Thomas Brassey who has been called the railway builder extraordinaire.

"Subject to confirmation," says Alun, "I believe he lived in a big house in Abbey Foregate near the end of Monkmoor Road, had houses built in Belle Vue, and his wife laid the foundation stone for Holy Trinity Church on Belle Vue Road."

Alun complains: "All we have to remember him in Shrewsbury is a road leading to a small business park. Surely Thomas Brassey needs more recognition in the town than he has been afforded in the past."

It's a fair point. And this is why:

Between 1826 and 1830 Brassey was introduced to the famous engineer George Stephenson and his assistant Joseph Locke who, at that time, were undertaking the construction of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. This was a highly significant moment in Brassey's career.

He had already impressed as a surveyor under Thomas Telford during the building of the London to Holyhead Road. Now Stephenson and Locke were offering Brassey important work in railway construction.

Brassey recruited his own team of navvies initially 1,000 strong. Eventually, this number rose to 100,000 and they became known as Brassey's Army.

Thomas Brassey worked for Stephenson on several projects, explains historian Dr Barrie Trinder, in his pamphlet on the master builder.

These included the 21-mile-long Chester to Crewe line, completed in 1840. He built large sections of the present West Coast Main Line, and between 1846 and 1849, he worked on the North Staffordshire Railway. He completed the Shrewsbury-Chester line in 1848 and also the 42-mile Severn Valley Railway a nine-year-project, which was completed in 1862.

Both Chester and Shrewsbury railway stations were completed in 1848.

Brassey's 'pick and shovel army' of navvies (who must also be remembered of course) worked through most counties of mainland Britain.

Incredibly, though, Brassey's railway building overseas equals his construction activities in Britain.

He built the 82-mile long Paris-Rouen Railway. He built a railway for the British army during the Crimean War and was responsible for building several important railways in Australia and India. He became known as The King of Contractors.

And whilst his achievements can be celebrated in other parts of the world, his legacy in Britain and, come to that, right here in Shropshire, ought to be marked too.

Dr Barrie Trinder says: "Thomas Brassey engineer and King of Contractors, was a truly remarkable man. He deserves to be honoured as a truly 'Great Briton'.

"We should remember him and his teams of navvies the nxt time we speed aboard our modern trains along vast sections of railways still in regular use today."

Dr Trinder – and of course Alun Johnson – make a compelling argument.

Phil Gillam's new novel of family life, Shrewsbury Station Just After Six, is now available from Pengwern Books and from amazon.co.uk, and also on Kindle.