The Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway was a railway line connecting the Welsh port city of Newport via Abergavenny, to the major English market town of Hereford.
Sponsored by the LNWR, it opened on 6 December 1853. For a great deal of its length it ran through joint stations, allowing various railway companies based in the South Wales Valleys to access the industrial Midlands and Northwest England.
On post-World War I amalgamation, it was taken over by the Great Western Railway, and then on nationalisation post-World War II became part of the Western Region of British Railways. Surviving the Beeching Axe, it now forms the southern section of Network Rails Welsh Marches Line.
Incorporated on 3 August 1846, in 1847, the Act was passed for the Taff Vale Extension, from Coedygric North Junction, Pontypool westwards to the Taff Vale Railway at Quakers Yard. The railway company was formed by the amalgamation of the Hereford Railway, the Llanfihangel Railway and the Grosmont Railway.
Surveyed and designed by Chief Engineer Charles Liddell, he noted that at its northern end, the terminus at Hereford Barton was not big enough to take the five railways converging on the major market town. So it was agreed by the joint GWR/LNWR Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway and the broad gauge GWR sponsored Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway, the construction of Hereford Barrs Court. A joint opening of both stations took place on 6 December 1853.
Liddell faced the problem of bridging two key natural geographic barriers to connect with the Taff Vale Railway at Quakers Yard, the Ebbw Valley and the Rhymney Valley. After agreeing a tendering process with the board, the winner was agreed to be Thomas W. Kennard. While Liddell was the key architect of both the Crumlin Viaduct (built from wrought iron due to its projected height), and the Hengoed Viaduct (built from stone, on a curve), Kennard acted as designer and engineer for both projects, and supplier for the Crumlin, where his father Robert Kennard's company Falkirk Iron Co supplied the innovative Warren trusses.
On 2 January 1854, the line opened from Hereford to Coedygric, Pontypool on the Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company line. The station at Abergavenny was opened.
In 1860, the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway merged with the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway and Worcester and Hereford Railway to form the West Midland Railway.
On 1 October 1862, Abergavenny Junction was opened to the Merthyr, Tredegar and Abergavenny Railway. Abergavenny Junction closed in 1958.
On 9 June 1958, the majority of stations on the line were closed to goods traffic.
|
|||||||||||||||||