Eardington Halt railway station

Not to be confused with Erdington railway station.
Eardington Halt

Halt in 1997.
Location
Place Eardington
Area Shropshire
Coordinates 52°30′06″N 2°24′00″W / 52.5017°N 2.4001°WCoordinates: 52°30′06″N 2°24′00″W / 52.5017°N 2.4001°W
Grid reference SO729894
Operations
Original company West Midland Railway
Pre-grouping Great Western Railway
Post-grouping Great Western Railway
Operated by Severn Valley Railway
History
1 February 1862 Station opened
9 September 1963 Closed
23 May 1970 Reopened
1983 Closed
Stations on heritage railways in the United Kingdom
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Eardington Halt is a closed railway station on the Severn Valley Railway near Eardington, south of Bridgnorth, in Shropshire.

Eardington opened as one of the original stations on the Severn Valley line, with a brick waiting room and single platform, but was not readily accessible from the nearby villages of Chelmarsh and Eardington and was demoted to a halt.

In the later years under British Railways control, Eardington Halt had much of its custom from fishermen at weekends and during the summer months. Although mistakenly thought by some people to have been closed as part of the Beeching axe in 1963 Eardington's planned closure pre-dated his report.

Eardington reopened when reached by preservationists in 1970 reaching up from Bridgnorth. Several attempts were made to restore the halt but Eardington was deleted from the timetable in 1982 because of poor custom, land slippage and the fact that the station is situated on a 1 in 100 gradient. Another problem is the combination of the shortness of the platform face, normal SVR practice of marshalling the guard's compartment in the centre of the train and the arched overbridge immediately to the north of the platform, which would prevent the traincrew from being able to see the guard if the train was stopped with the guard's van on the platform, as is correct practice.

The siding is now used for the storage of permanent way vehicles. A small band of volunteers have occasional "work-ins" to keep the station environs tidy.

There have recently been calls to restore the station for use on gala weekends and such. This has happened previously, during the Autumn 1998 steam gala, when the Hampton - Bridgnorth local called in each direction, despite not being booked to stop.

Preceding station Historical railways Following station
Bridgnorth
Line and station open
  Great Western Railway
Severn Valley Railway
  Hampton Loade
Line and station open
Bridgnorth
Line and station open
  Severn Valley Railway   Hampton Loade
Line and station open