Lost charm of a busy and scenic rail line

For regular rail travellers from Shropshire through Mid Wales, the inclusion of the Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth line in a series about "lost railways" may come as a surprise.

The book's caption to this Shrewsbury picture is: "The train approaching Sutton Bridge Junction on June 30, 1965, is the down Cambrian Coast Express and there is serendipity in that the locomotive on that day, ex GWR Manor class 4-6-0 No 7812 Erlestoke Manor, was subsequently preserved on the Severn Valley Railway, where it has performed superbly for many years and can even on occasion be seen carrying a Cambrian Coast Express headboard, which was sadly lacking on the express itself on this day."

But author Tom Ferris of Shrewsbury explains: "The 80-mile link is not lost in the sense that some of the other long-closed railways covered in the series are lost.

"In fact, the service frequency today is as good as it has been since the final stretch of the railway into Aberystwyth was opened in 1864.

"What has been lost is much of the infrastructure, character, and charm, that it had in its heyday."

He sees the fate of the fine Gothic-style station which once served Welshpool as a metaphor for the decline of Britain's railways since the 1960s.

Built as a rail company headquarters, at its peak it boasted four platforms and two signal boxes.

"Fast forward to the 1990s, when it was decided that Welshpool needed a bypass and this would run parallel to the railway line on the outskirts of the town.

"To accommodate the road the alignment of the railway was moved to the east and a new station was built, accessible by ramps and footbridges and providing very basic facilities on an island platform.

"The space between the original station and the modern version, once filled with platforms and tracks, was taken up by the bypass leaving the imposing main buildings isolated from the railway.

"Fortunately it was converted to a retail outlet and still survives."

Tom is a lifelong train buff who has been an active working member of the Severn Valley Railway for over 30 years serving as a guard and an assistant stationmaster at Bridgnorth.

He said that the aim of the series was to revive nostalgic memories of some of the more interesting and scenic railways which served Wales and the border counties when the railway network was in its prime.

He was taking readers on a photographic journey along their lengths, highlighting as many of the stations and engineering features as possible.

The new books cover the railway lines from Chester to Holyhead; Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth; the Mid Wales Line which ran from Moat Lane Junction near Caersws to Brecon; and the Vale of Neath route in south Wales which passed over one of the lost railway wonders of Victorian Britain - the 200 foot high Crumlin viaduct.

A passenger's view from a train passing over the viaduct was one of the most spectacular on the railway system. Some thought was given to preserving it, but it was deemed to be in poor condition and was condemned. In 1966, before demolition started, it was used in some scenes in the movie Arabesque starring Sophia Loren and Gregory Peck.

Like the Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth line, the Chester to Holyhead line is still busy and active, but, says Tom, has become much more basic since the end of the steam age.

The Lost Lines of Wales titles are available through bookshops or direct from the publisher via their web site https://www.graffeg.com/product/lost-lines-4-book-bundle-2/