Historic Shrewsbury railway station opening its doors

About £70,000 of Shropshire Council money has been spent on restoring the Abbey Railway Station in Abbey Foregate, which dates back to 1866 and is the last surviving building from the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Light Railway, and will be opened to the public.

With the work on the site nearing completion after being started last year, the site will be opened to visitors tomorrow and Sunday as part of the Heritage Open Days initiative.

The station will open for free on both days between 10am and 4.30pm.

It is intended that the site will become an information centre about Shrewsbury's railway and industrial heritage. But with some internal work still to be completed, there are no exhibitions or displays yet.

Councillor Mansel Williams, chairman of the Shrewsbury Railway Heritage Trust, which was formed in 2003, said he was delighted the work had nearly been completed.

"The building is finished and ready. The only thing we have got left is for surfaces to be decorated. We are not at a point where we can put on an exhibition or display yet. But people will be able to get inside safely and look around. It is a great thing for Shrewsbury and Shropshire. I think the finished figure will be about £70,000 to bring it from a derelict site to a usable site now used as a railway visitor centre.

"We are hoping this will be fully completed this autumn but this is an opportunity for people to see the building."

Councillor Williams added that when the site was fully completed, it should act as another tourist attraction for the town, especially as it is near neighbours with Shrewsbury Abbey and the headquarters of Shropshire Wildlife Trust.

"Taken together, the Abbey, the Wildlife Trust and the new Abbey Station will fascinate and delay residents of the town and its region and, vitally, visitors to this historic part of town," he said.