Hereford railway station

For a history of railways in Hereford, see Railways in Hereford.
Hereford National Rail
Location
Place Hereford
Local authority Herefordshire
Coordinates 52°03′41″N 2°42′30″W / 52.0614°N 2.7083°W / 52.0614; -2.7083Coordinates: 52°03′41″N 2°42′30″W / 52.0614°N 2.7083°W / 52.0614; -2.7083
Grid reference SO515405
Operations
Station code HFD
Managed by Arriva Trains Wales
Number of platforms 4
DfT category C1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05 0.732 million
2005/06 Increase 0.800 million
2006/07 Increase 0.854 million
2007/08 Increase 0.899 million
2008/09 Increase 0.975 million
2009/10 Decrease 0.975 million
2010/11 Increase 1.017 million
2011/12 Increase 1.081 million
2012/13 Increase 1.086 million
2013/14 Increase 1.104 million
History
Original company Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway
Pre-grouping Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway
Post-grouping Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway
6 December 1853 (1853-12-06) Opened as Hereford Barr's Court
1893 Renamed Hereford
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Hereford from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Hereford railway station serves the city of Hereford, England. Managed by Arriva Trains Wales, it lies on the Welsh Marches Line between Leominster and Abergavenny, is the western terminus of the Cotswold Line and also has an hourly London Midland service from Birmingham. The station has four platforms for passenger trains, and two additional relief lines for goods services.

Accorded "Secure Station" status in 2004,[1] the station has a staffed ticket office, self-service ticket machines, a café, and indoor waiting rooms. Automated ticket barriers have been in operation since 28 February 2006.[2]

History

When the Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway reached Hereford from its initial section from Ludlow, it faced two problems:

The resolution was an agreement to create a new joint railway station, called Hereford Barrs Court. This would be a joint standard gauge/broad gauge station, sponsored jointly by the standard-gauge S&HR and the GWR-sponsored Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway. When the Midland Railway–sponsored Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway entered the town, they were given access rights, as was the later GWR-sponsored extension of the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway.[3]

In civil engineering preparation for this, and as the only company planning to enter the town from the north, in 1849 the company built a brick works north of Dinmore Hill, which was fed by clay from the earthworks of digging a tunnel south underneath it. In 1852, 2½ years later and having used 3¼ million bricks the tunnel was completed, freight traffic started in July 1852 to provide cash flow. However, construction continued, with the massive earthworks for a cutting to enter Barrs Court started in August 1852.[3]

The plan was to jointly open both stations between all four railways on 6 December 1853, with what was planned to be a Railway Fete. However, the first S&HR passenger service arrived on Saturday 28 October, which carried the chairman Mr Ormsby-Gore and engineer Thomas Brassey.[3] As the negotiations and financing of the joint station had taken so long, they arrived at an incomplete facility.[4] The final Victorian Gothic building that still exists today (2016) was designed by R.E. Johnson,[5] which opened after the Railway Fete,[2] reported to be attended by 60,000 people. The station opened on 6 December 1853, and the name was simplified to Hereford in 1893.[6]

2-6-0 on pilot duty in 1959

Hereford Council applied pressure to the LNWR to close Hereford Barton, and after the post-World War I amalgamation of the railways, the London Midland and Scottish Railway agreed conversion of Hereford Barton into a joint GWR/LMS goods depot, with consolidation of all passenger services on the current site. The Hereford Barton loop closed post the Beeching Axe, and the site is now redeveloped as a supermarket.[7]

Services

Railways in Hereford

Legend
 Welsh Marches Line (S&HR)
Cotswold Line (OW&WR)
Hereford, Hay & Brecon Rly
Hereford Barrs Court
Hereford Barton
River Wye
Rotherwas Junction
Welsh Marches Line (NA&HR)
 Hereford, Ross & Gloucester Rly

Hereford, Ross
and Gloucester Railway

Legend
 Welsh Marches Line (S&HR)
Cotswold Line (OW&WR)
Hereford, Hay and
Brecon Railway
Hereford Barrs Court
Hereford Barton
River Wye
Rotherwas Junction
ROF Rotherwas
Welsh Marches Line (NA&HR)
Dinedor tunnel
Holme Lacy
Ballingham tunnel
Ballingham
River Wye (Ballingham Bridge)
Fawley Tunnel
Fawley
River Wye
Backney Halt
River Wye
 Ross-on-Wye
Ross and Monmouth Railway
 Weston under Penyard Halt
Mitcheldean Road & Forest of Dean
Junction Railway

 Mitcheldean Road
 Lea Line tunnel
 Longhope
 Blaisdon Halt
Gloucester to Newport Line
Grange Court
Grange Court Junction
 Gloucester to Newport Line

Hereford is served by trains operated by Arriva Trains Wales, London Midland, and Great Western Railway. It is the terminus of the routes from Birmingham New Street & London Paddington via Worcester Foregate Street and is served by all trains on the Manchester Piccadilly to Cardiff and Carmarthen route. Trains run hourly to Birmingham, Manchester, Shrewsbury & Cardiff Central (Mon-Sat) two-hourly to Wrexham General, Chester and Holyhead and less frequently to Oxford, Reading and London.

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Abergavenny   Arriva Trains Wales
Welsh Marches Line		   Leominster
Terminus   London Midland
Hereford to Birmingham		   Ledbury
  London Midland
Hereford to Dorridge		  
  Great Western Railway
Cotswold Line		  
Historical railways
Holme Lacy   Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway
British Railways		   Terminus

Bus Connections

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ "Award for rail station". Hereford Times. 29 January 2004. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
  2. 1 2 "Full steam ahead at railway station". Hereford Times. 6 March 2006. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Hereford and the railways". archenfield.com. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
  4. ↑ Cavalcade of a Century, 1832-1932, 100 years of the Hereford Times. Hereford Record Office - BH74.
  5. ↑ Marks, R.; Farnworth, R. (27 January 2007). "Hereford Barrs Court". The Railway Station Gallery. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
  6. ↑ Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 118. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
  7. ↑ "Hereford.uk.com". Archived from the original on 4 August 2007. Retrieved 5 November 2007.

External links

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