The Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway - (the abandoned section)

The abandoned length through the town ...

Those involved with the creation of the preservation line always intended to include the part of the line which ran through the centre of Welshpool. Sadly that was not to be. The local authorities were concerned about the effect of the railway traffic on road traffic in and around the town. Pretty much all that remains of that length of the line are photographs, short bits of film and memories. Road improvements and building clearance have changed parts of the old town.

Elements of the original route are difficult to identify. This is compounded by OS Mapping. The 1949 6" Ordnance Survey, which should have provided a definitive map of the town centre, seems to have used the route of an old tramroad to define the route of the line rather than undertake a local survey of the line. It also seems to have left the Seven Stars pub in place when it was actually demolished to make room for the railway. The result of these things being a rather unrealistic mapped route of the line through parts of the town.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/07/24/the-welshpool-llanfair-light-railway/

For some time I'd thought about looking at the lost length of the line. I was reminded of this when my wife decided that it would be good for us to visit the preservation line. After that journey, my interest was rekindled. The linked article above is the result. ....

 

Another cracking read Roger. Many thanks for taking the time to write this.
Is it just me or does the thin black line on the last image say that all is not totally lost!

 

We're an optimistic bunch at heart, aren't we? From Roger's superb post, I did pick up that the original construction of the line east of Raven Square wasn't the smoothest of railway constructions. Those bits where the red line doesn't match a frankly improbable course threading though the buildings tell a tale!

Thing is, even if there were a moderately uncontentious route from Raven Sq to the A483, the realignment of the ex-Cambrian line leaves it on the wrong side of a rather busy road. Then there's the awful truth that wherever cross-platform interchange with the big railway exists, in not a one of 'em is that a particularly significant source of passengers, let alone the main source. Believe me ..... I'd dearly love to be proven wrong on this one!

Pre-pandemic, Welshpool Railway Stn saw less than 190,000 passengers. The comparative number for Blaenau Ffestiniog was (drum roll please) ..... under 41,000. Tywyn did better at 105,000 (more than 30,000 better than Porthmadog). Aberystwyth - which boasts a University of Wales Campus - actually managed over ⅓ of a million! Fancy a guess at the number for Chirk, where the revived GVT will start from? Ever so slightly better than Porthmadog. For comparison, the closest station to me, Aldrington which I doubt anyone from outside Sussex will have heard of (it's a former 'halt' and for a while known as "Dyke Junction") managed 200,000 .... and that with half the services along the West Coastway and all to/from Victoria bowling straight through it's unstaffed, unadorned concrete slab platforms!

 

Interesting read, however the caption for the photo reading, "This photograph was taken from the North of the station site in 2011, before the railway was realigned and the new A483 built." is a little off the mark.

I'm not sure exactly when the railway was realigned, but certainly the Welshpool bypass has been thundering through the old station platforms with the modern station relocated for over 23 years, seeing as I've been regularly driving that route since '99 and it had been moved by then - so certainly if the photo was taken in 2011 it wasn't before the railway was realigned! The station car park is still outside the original station building with a footbridge over the road to the modern platforms, so the station signs being over there in the photo means nothing. ....In fact the earliest Google streetview images of the new main road date from 2009 and clearly show the railway having been realigned by then as well.

 

Wiki states railway realigned 1992, road opened 1993.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Thank you for pointing this out. I will adjust the text. Best wishes. Roger.

 

@Roger Farnworth

Thank you for that

I was wondering if, given the work you have put into it, if you have thought about securing the contents of your website, for example by putting it on Wayback?

One of my Great Grandfathers had his obituary on Waterguard.org which suddenly vanished - fortunately the relevant bit is on Wayback and it would be a great pity to lose all your work.

 

That would tie in - I can only vaguely remember a time where we'd go through the centre of Welshpool to head towards N'Town.
A college trip in that direction in '94 didn't go through the centre of town ...but it would seem that was probably less than a year after the road was opened. ...it's a little scary to think that must be about 28 years ago now - eek.

 

You think you've got problems ..... last time I went through thataway by train, it was most definitely the old station, in a Class 101 (which had sat idling at Shrewsbury for hours prior to departure at some bob forsaken pre-dawn hour). Working back, 1978 I think.

 

The black line is superimposed by me. Sadly there is little chance of the old route being recovered. Too much conflict with the road system in the town.

 

Now that is a thought. I know that there is an XML function with the plan I am on with Wordpress but I have not thought to access it. Time I did so!

 

Indeed, but it does not stop me dreaming. It's always been a long term objective of mine to make a representative model of how the town section would look today. That way I can use my Zillertalbahn models in a real context.

 

Sounds like an excellent plan.

 

Excellent

 

For pete's sake don't base it on the real life "solutions" Stuttgart are still trying to build their way out of!

 

Ha. Indeed. Luckily my Lilliput 009 locos run without issues. Though sometimes I wonder about changing the pickup method to something that runs on the tread of the wheel. The biggest problem is the cat hairs that get everywhere! It's like the full size loco coming across multiple saplings over the track!

 

Is there a good reason to have two threads on the W&L (with almost identical titles)?

 

Does W & L run a shuttle bus from Welshpool during special events??

 

They did for the Beyer Bash in May and the site suggests that they plan to do the same for the gala.

It's not that much of a walk across the town but the bus is a definite help if you have a mobility impairment.

 

Thank You. Have only visited once before and loved it
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