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| Hereford
and the railways |
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1853
– The Year the Railways
came
By
1841 the lines had reached
Gloucester in the form
of the Birmingham and
Gloucester Railway.
In 1844 the Bristol
and Gloucester Railway
connected Gloucester
to Bristol.
These lines were of
the standard gauge (then
called narrow gauge)
of 4 feet 8½ inches,
but the Great Western
Railway of Isambard
Kingdom Brunel used
the broad gauge of 7
feet. The broad gauge
rails connected Gloucester
with London in 1845.
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An illustration showing James Clayton’s
design for Barton station
for the Newport, Abergavenny
and Hereford Railway. |
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Proposals for building a
railway connecting Gloucester
with Hereford pre-date
the construction of
the lines connecting
Gloucester to Bristol
or Birmingham.
These were two plans
of 1836: one for a route
through Newent and Ledbury
and the other for a
route through Ross-on-Wye.
Later in the year a
plan for connecting
Hereford with Shrewsbury
was launched. |
Nothing came directly of these proposals,
but a few years later
things began to move again.
Royal assent for a line
connecting Hereford to
Gloucester was given in
1845 and connections to
Shrewsbury and to Newport
on 2 August 1846.
The Railway connecting
Chepstow to Swansea via
Newport and Cardiff had
opened in June 1850. The
railway system was still
patchy however - South
Wales had not been connected
to London until the bridge
over the lower Wye at
Chepstow was opened in
July 1852. |

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A train steams south from Barton Station,
over the Hunderton Bridge
towards Abergavenny and
Newport |
In April 1852 the railway
line from Shrewsbury to
Ludlow opened and on the
24th the first ever timetable
was printed in the Hereford
Times with the warning
that the times shown were
Greenwich Time not the
local time. |
| London
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depart |
6.00 |
| Ludlow |
depart |
2.30 |
| Hereford
by coach |
arrive |
5.30 |
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| Hereford
by coach |
depart |
7.00 |
| Ludlow |
depart |
11.00 |
| London
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arrive |
7.00 |
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The
cutting for the Shrewsbury
and Hereford Railway at
Barrs Court, just to the
north of Hereford was
started August 1852. By
the end of September 1852
the first steam locomotive
ever seen in Herefordshire
was working on the section
of the Newport, Hereford
and Abergavenny line to
the south of the city
and the stone piers of
the bridge over the Wye
at Hunderton were under
construction. To the north
of the river, the embankment
towards the site of Barton
Station was under construction.
By the summer of 1853
massive earthmoving was
taking place on the outskirts
of Hereford as the three
lines converged on the
city. Inevitably, the
scale of the works and
the volume of materials
encouraged pilfering and
gangs of youths were soon
busy stealing brass bearings
from trucks being used
for railway construction.
But there were dangers
to the young as well as
opportunities in this
unfamiliar environment
and a boy was run over
by a tip wagon when playing
on the railway workings
at the Barton near Hereford |
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Work on the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester’s
line through Eign towards
the river was was also
well under way. This was
being constructed as broad
gauge – it was part of
the Great Western Railway
empire. Oddly, despite
this, it was with this
line that the Shrewsbury
and Hereford was going
to connect. Disputes between
the railway companies
would mean that, despite
the inconvenience and
frustration of its citizens,
Hereford was to get two
railway stations – at
opposite ends of the city. |
The Hunderton Bridge now
carries cyclists and
pedestrians over the Wye |
The final brick in the
tunnel under Dinmore
Hill on the Shrewsbury and Hereford
line was ceremoniously
laid on 16th September.
It had taken 2½ years
to build and used 3¼ million
bricks all made on the
hill and from the north
end of the tunnel.
In mid October the first
locomotive arrived at
Barrs Court over Shrewsbury
and Hereford rails and
on 29th October the first
passenger train arrived
at a temporary station
at Barrs Court. This carried
the directors of the Hereford
and Shrewsbury railway
and their guests. They
had failed to make any
formal arrangement with
the city and were disappointed
that there were no celebrations
to mark the event |

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The Banquet in the Shire Hall to celebrate
the opening of the Railway.
This was an affair for
the gentry and tradesmen
of Hereford.
The navvies were also
catered for. At the old
foundry in Friars Street
they ate beef, pork and
lamb and were given a
quart of stout each. |
The
formal opening of the
railway system in Hereford
was arranged for Tuesday
6th December which was
declared a local holiday.
At 1pm a train of 31 carriages
drawn by three locomotives
drew into Hereford from
Newport. It carried 640
passengers and was watched
by crowd estimated to
number between twenty
and thirty thousand people,
many more than the population
of Hereford at the time.
A parade through the decorated
city streets met the train
and a civic banquet was
held in the Shire Hall.
The navvies who built
the line were feasted
at the old foundry in
Friar Street and balls
were held at both the
Shire Hall and the old
town hall. |
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28th January 1854 saw the
first special train to
pass through Hereford.
It was carrying 250 Mormons
from South Wales to Liverpool
to embark, said the Hereford
Times disapprovingly ‘for
their Paradise of polygamy
and the bowie knife beside
the Great Salt Lake.’
The Hereford Times reported
that ‘the ordinary trains
were much delayed in the
early part of the day.’ |
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A southbound train at Barton Station |
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Ross
and Gloucester
This
broad-gauge line crossed
the Wye four times and
so four bridges had
to be built. Four tunnels
also needed to be driven.
The line proved difficult
to construct and In
January 1853 work was
delayed because of extremely
wet weather which flooded
the tunnel at Lea. In
April a workman received
fatal injuries when
he slipped under tip
truck he was pushing
and it ran over him.
John Baker, a sub-contractor,
was killed in late July
in the cutting at Dinedor
by a collapse of earth. |
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The
railway bridge at Eign
at Hereford was built
to carry the Hereford
to Gloucester line over
the Wye |
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Worcester
Line
The
Hereford to Worcester
railway line Act passed
in 1853 and work started
1854. The engineer for
this line was a local
man, Stephen Ballard,
the man who had been
responsible for constructing
the Hereford and Gloucester
canal between Ledbury
and Hereford. The line
was opened from Worcester
to Great Malvern and
Malvern Wells in May
1860. But the winter
of 1860/61 was the most
severe in living memory.
In early January there
was a fatal accident
at Haywood crossing
between Dinmore Tunnel
and Moreton Station
on the Shrewsbury to
Hereford line. A broken
wheel on the 12.40 from
Shrewsbury caused all
the carriages to be
thrown off the embankment.
The River Lugg had flooded
the fields around and
the water had then iced
over. The derailed carriages
crashed through the
ice into the water and
two women were drowned. |
Work on the Hereford to Worcester
line had stopped and
the workmen were left
to find other means
of support. Nearly 150
men, many with wives
and families, were found
employment at the workhouse
and paid for by the
city rate payers – 9d
per day ‘with a liberal
allowance of bread.’
On the Stoke Edith estate
to the east of Hereford,
Lady Emily Foley, a
keen supporter of railways,
employed large numbers
of navvies on coppice
work until such time
that railway work could
begin again.
The line was opened into
Hereford in September
1861 via a junction
with the Shrewsbury
and Hereford line at
Shelwick just north
of the city. |

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Barrs Court Station in the 1920s |
Three stations were built between Hereford
and Ledbury. The middle
of these was built at
Tarrington, although it
was called Stoke Edith
Station. From here trains
ran regularly to Hereford
and Worcester and the
Great Western Railway
would run 'hop-picker's
specials' to bring in
the workforce needed to
pick the hops which were
a major crop in the area.
From 1885, passengers
could change at Ledbury
Junction Station for Ledbury
Town, Newent and Gloucester.
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Hay
and Brecon
The
railway was originally
incorporated under an
Act of Parliament in
1859. The route was
built in stages: the
nine miles from Hereford
to Moorhampton opened
in October 1862; a further
five miles to Eardisley
were completed in June
1863, followed by Eardisley
to Hay (seven miles)
in July 1864 and the
remaining 5½ miles to
Three Cocks Junction
on 19 September 1864
when a through service
to Brecon began. |
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It
was this final stage that
aroused most interest.
On the 1st October the
Hereford Times commented
on the improvement of
communication with Hay
- 'instead of going
to the coach office in
Broad-street, and paying
down a considerable sum
even for a seat on the
outside, we have only
to go to the Barton Railway
station, pay a trifling
sum at the little window,
receive the ticket courteously
rendered, take our seat
in the convenient carriages,
and in a twinkling we
are shaking hands with
our friends in Hay'. |
The Hay and Brecon train at Barton Station |
On
another page of the
same edition a reported
conversation between
two female travellers
makes the point vividly
- 'in the old coach
they charged 10s (50p)
and we was travelling
all day nearly'.
The journey time was
now one hour and the
return fare 1s 9d (less
than nine pence).
The clergyman and diarist
Francis Kilvert often
used this line. Kilvert
was a curate at Clyro
in Radnorshire, near
Hay-on-Wye, for seven
years from 1865. The
use that the locals
were making of the train
is suggested in his
diary entry for 28th
April 1870 - 'returned
[from Whitney to Hay]
by the market train
crowded with market
people'.
Kilvert's parental home was at Langley
in Wiltshire, and as
a consequence his journeys
entailed changing stations
at Hereford. For the
28th May 1870, he recounts
a furious drive on a
fly - a light horse-drawn
vehicle which would
have been waiting for
hire at the station
- from Barr's Court
Station, on one side
of town, to Barton Station,
on the other. |
He was not always a joyful
traveller. On 11th January
1872 he recorded 'left
Langley by the usual
early beastly train'.
Perhaps his mood is
understandable considering
that it was winter and
he had just spent a
pleasant Christmas break
with his family.
Despite
the ready availability
of rail transport and
its acceptance into
general use among many
sections of the population,
not everyone was completely
familiar with the longer
routes. On 29th February
1872 Kilvert recorded
‘there is a general
belief among the Clyro
and Langley people that
I cannot travel from
Radnorshire to Wiltshire
without going over the
sea’. |
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A
section of the disused
Hereford to Brecon railway
line near Norton Canon
in Herefordshire in
2001. This embankment
has since been removed.
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On
Monday 2nd September
that year he finally
left Clyro 'As the
train went down the
valley of the Wye to
Hereford I waved my
handkerchief to all
the old familiar friendly
houses'.
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The
Herefordshire Branch
Lines
Other Herefordshire communities were keen
to get railways. Kington
was connected to Leominster
in 1857, Woofferton
to Tenbury Wells in
1861, and by 1870 the
dramatic Ross-on-Wye
to Monmouth line was
well under construction.
Other lines opened in
Herefordshire, but financing
them in these rural
areas proved difficult
and few were profitable.
The difficulties were
apparent in the amount
of time it took to build
these lines. |
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The
6 mile long Kington
and Presteigne Railway
took four difficult
years to build, from
the cutting of the first
turf in 1872, while
the 19 mile Golden Valley
line between Pontrilas
and Hay-on-Wye took
13 years. Work in this
line began in 1876.
Opened from Pontrilas
to Dorstone in 1881,
the final section to
Hay opened in 1889.
A
line designed to connect
Leominster to Worcester
through Bromyard took
even longer to build.
This was opened between
Worcester and Yearsett,
three miles short of
Bromyard, in 1874, but
it was not until 1877
that it reached Bromyard
itself. A line from
Leominster to Steens
Bridge opened in 1884,
but it was another 13
years before the final
section was opened to
Bromyard. |
Stations
in Herefordshire in 1903
(plus Monmouth. Monmouthshire;
Newent, Gloucestershire;
Ludlow. Shropshire; Hay-on-Wye,
Breconshire)
In 2003 only Hereford,
Leominster. Ledbury. Colwall
and Ludlow were still
open. |
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The
Railways in the 20th
Century
Steam railways were the main means of travel
for over a century.
Trains carried the nation’s
manufactured goods and
farm produce. They took
people to work and families
on holidays; and they
took young men away
to wars.
The First World War
placed a strain upon
the companies’ ability
to maintain their services.
By 1917 both the 1.40
pm Paddington to Hereford
service and the 12.50
pm Hereford to Paddington
were withdrawn.
The
middle years of the
20th century saw the
railway system go into
terminal decline. On
the Golden Valley line,
services between Pontrilas
and Hay were discontinued
during the Second World
War. The service between
Leominster and Bromyard
was withdrawn in 1952
and the Ross to Monmouth
line closed in 1959.
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Hereford
engine sheds in the
early 1960s. These ‘pannier’
tank engines were the
mainstay of shunting
on the old Great Western
Railway and its successor
– the Western Region
of British Railways.
These could have been
seen working at the
various marshalling
yards around Hereford. |
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The
1960s saw the closure
of all but two of the
county’s railway lines.
Only the north to south
line through Hereford
from Shrewsbury to Newport
and the line from Worcester
to Hereford remain.
All over the county
the small stations closed,
including most of those
on the remaining lines.
At the beginning of
the 21st century only
Colwall, Ledbury, Leominster
and Hereford retained
railway stations.
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The preserved Great
Western Railway locomotive
King George V at Hereford
Station in the 1980s.
For several years based
at the now-closed Bulmer’s
Railway centre in Hereford,
when newly built in
1927, the locomotive
was sent to the United
States for the centenary
celebrations of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
This was when it was
presented with the bell
on the front buffer
plate.
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The railways and stations in Herefordshire
in 2007.
The black squares are
closed stations and the
black lines closed tracks.
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Another preserved locomotive at Hereford
Station.
Number 4079 Pendennis
Castle was built in 1924.
After steam engines stopped
being used on British
railways, Pendennis Castle
worked special excursions
trains for a while. The
locomotive was sold in
1977 to an Australian
steam railway |
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