Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway

The Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway was a railway running from Shrewsbury, England to Llanymynech, with a branch to Criggion. It opened in 1911, running the reconstructed Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway which continunued to be owned by the Shropshire Railways Company, and was one of the Colonel Stephens Railways. It lost its passenger services in 1933, although some limited bank holiday services for tourists continued until 1937.

The line was taken over by the War Department in 1941 and extensively reconstructed to serve munition stores. It was finally closed in 1960.

The terminus of the line was at Shrewsbury Abbey station not at Shrewsbury railway station. This was because the joint operators, Great Western Railway (GWR) and the London and North Western Railway (LNWR).^[1] refused to let the smaller company have access to mainline services. After the main railway closed Shrewsbury Abbey was retained as an oil depot siding connected to a stub of the Severn Valley branch. The site finally closed in 1988. A new road in the area has been named "Old Potts Way" as a reminder of what was known as the Potts Railway.

A number of the stations shown in the diagram were added after the closure of the original Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway.

Locomotives

1907-1941

• 1 Gazelle 0-4-2WT Dodman, King's Lynn (preserved at the Colonel Stephens Railway Museum, Tenterden, Kent)
• 2 Hecate (1st) 0-4-2ST re-named Severn in 1916
• 3 Hesperus 0-6-0 ex-LSWR 282 Class "Ilfracombe Goods"
• 4 Morous 0-6-0ST Manning Wardle
• Walton Park 0-6-0ST Hudswell Clarke
• 5 Pyramus (1st) 0-6-2T new from Hawthorn Leslie in 1911
• 6 Thisbe (1st) 0-6-2T new from Hawthorn Leslie in 1911
• 5 Pyramus (2nd) 0-6-0 ex-LSWR 282 Class "Ilfracombe Goods"
• 6 Thisbe (2nd) 0-6-0 ex-LSWR 282 Class "Ilfracombe Goods"
• 7 Hecate (2nd) 0-6-0T ex-LB&SCR A1 Class Number 681 Beulah. Bought from the Government in 1921 after war service , scrapped 1930.^[2]
• 8 Dido 0-6-0T ex-LB&SCR A1 Class Number 638 Millwall. Bought from the Government in 1923 after war service for £470 in November 1921. Scrapped 1931.^[2]
• 9 Daphne 0-6-0T ex-LB&SCR A1 Class Number 683 Earlswood. Bought from the Government in 1923 after war service .Withdrawn 1932. Sold to Southern Railway, January 1939, Scrapped at Eastleigh, April 1949.^[2]
• Un-named 0-6-0 ex-LNWR 17in Coal Engine
• Un-named 0-6-0 ex-LNWR 17in Coal Engine
• Un-named 0-6-0 ex-LNWR 17in Coal Engine

The Hawthorn Leslie locomotives were new in 1911 but all the others were second-hand. Both the Hawthorn Leslies left between 1914 and 1916. Thisbe and Pyramus were sold to the government in 1916 and seem initially to have gone to the Cannock Chase Military Railway. Thisbe went to the Woolmer Instructional Military Railway where she lasted until 1931 whilst Pryamus was sold for industrial use in 1921. They were replaced by two "Ilfracombe Goods" locomotives which took the same names.

1941-1960

Locomotive stock in 1941 consisted of: Gazelle, Hesperus and the three LNWR 0-6-0s. These were supplemented by various War Department locomotives, including ex-GWR 2301 Class 'Dean goods' 0-6-0s and Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0STs. From 1945, the Criggion branch was operated by a Sentinel steam locomotive (works no. 7026) owned by the British Quarrying Company.

References

Sources

• Turner, Keith & Susan (1982). The Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0 7153 8233 0. 

• Johnson, Peter (2008). The Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway. Hersham: Oxford Publishing Co. ISBN 978 0 86093 619 0. 

External links

• BBC: The Railway that refused to die
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/content/articles/2008/10/08/potts_line_railway_feature.shtml