Golden Valley Railway

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the Golden Valley Railway in Herefordshire. For the active line of a similar name between Swindon and Gloucester, see Golden Valley Line
Golden Valley Railway
Legend
Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway
Hay-on-Wye
Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway
Clifford
Westbrook
Dorstone
Peterchurch
Vowchurch
Abbeydore
Elm Bridge Munitions Depot
Welsh Marches Line
Pontrilas
Welsh Marches Line

The Golden Valley Railway was a 19-mile-long single-track branch railway line that ran along the valley of the River Dore from Pontrilas in Herefordshire, England, to Hay on Wye in Brecknockshire, Wales (although Hay station itself lay just inside England), via six intermediate stations at Abbey Dore, Vowchurch, Peterchurch, Dorstone, Westbrook, and Clifford.[1]

History

Opening

The line, which was built between 1876 and 1889, was opened on 1 September 1881 from Pontrilas as far as Dorstone and was extended to Hay on Wye in 1889. It closed in 1898 after running into financial difficulties, but was bought and reopened by the Great Western Railway in 1901.

World War II

During World War II, the line gained additional significance. Construction materials for RAF Madley were brought through the yard of Vowchurch station,[2][3] while just south of Abbeydore a level-crossing protected junction provided access to service the MoD's Elm Bridge Munitions Depot.[4]

Closure

The line passed to British Railways Western Region in 1948. The last train to Hay ran in 1949 and to Dorstone in 1953. After the closure and lifting of the railway to Dorstone in 1953, the residual stub was maintained as a freight-only facility to service Elm Bridge Munitions Depot, until its closure in 1957.[4]

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.