Leominster and Kington Railway

[ ] Leominster and Kington Railway
Kington and Eardisley Railway Kington Titley Junction Kington and Eardisley Railway Forge Crossing Halt England Wales border Presteign Marston Halt Pembridge Ox House RAF Shobdon Kingsland Welsh Marches Line Leominster Worcester, Bromyard and Leominster Railway Welsh Marches Line

Leominster and Kington Railway was one of four branches which served the Welsh Marches border town of Kington, Herefordshire.

Opened in August 1857, its peak was during World War II, when it served two US Army hospitals. Declining after the war due to competition from buses, it closed to passengers in 1955, and to freight from 1964.

Today, a 1-mile (1.6 km) section is preserved at Titley Junction railway station.

Proposed in 1853, the company was formed by William Bateman-Hanbury, 2nd Baron Bateman of Shobdon Court. It received Royal Assent as a broad gauge line in July 1854, subject to provision for a junction with the standard gauge Kington and Eardisley Railway be provided.

On 14 November 1854, the company agreed the offer of Thomas Brassey and William Field to construct the line for £70,000. Further, they would work from opening and pay the shareholders a 4% dividend per annum. Engineered by David Wylie of Shrewsbury, Lady Bateman cut the first sod at Kington, with a silver spade into a special built barrow that can be seen preserved today at the Leominster Museum. Section from the Leominster railway station of the Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway to Pembridge, opened for goods traffic on 18 October 1855, at a cost of £7,000 per mile.

But, with additional costs, the company was struggling, and in April 1856 Brassey and Field, who held £20,000 or one quarter of the company's stock, advanced the company £10,000 at 5%. The second section from Pembridge to Kington opened in August 1857. There were no tunnels or viaducts on the entire single-track line of 13 miles 25 chains (21.4 km) in length, which had cost £80,000 to construct.

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