Shrewsbury Abbey railway station

Shrewsbury Abbey
The site of the station in 2005 before restoration
Location
Place	Shrewsbury
Area	Shropshire
Coordinates	52°42′25″N 2°44′37″W / 52.7069°N 2.7435°W / 52.7069; -2.7435Coordinates: 52°42′25″N 2°44′37″W / 52.7069°N 2.7435°W / 52.7069; -2.7435
Grid reference	SJ498123
Operations
Original company	Potteries, Shrewsbury and North Wales Railway
Pre-grouping	Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway
Post-grouping	Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway
Platforms	1
History
13 August 1866 (1866-08-13)	Station opened
21 December 1866	Closed
December 1868	Reopened
22 June 1880	Closed
14 April 1911	Reopened by S&MR
6 November 1933	Closed for public services
1939	Reopened (for restricted service) by War Department
29 February 1960	Closed completely
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z

Shrewsbury Abbey was a railway station in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England part of the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway. It was named after the nearby Shrewsbury Abbey. The station had an adjacent goods yard and wagon building works.

Shrewsbury Abbey was originally planned to be just one station on a railway from Llanymynech to Market Drayton but when financial problems halted the project, it became the permanent terminus. However it was never connected to Shrewsbury Station. All passenger services would have to change here. This was because access to the mainline station was rejected on financial grounds and the obstruction of Shrewsbury station's joint operators, the Great Western Railway (GWR) and the London and North Western Railway.

Shrewsbury Abbey station opened on 13 August 1866 as the temporary end of the Potteries, Shrewsbury and North Wales Railway (always known locally as 'The Potts'). It was built on part of a monastery that had been destroyed during the Reformation. In 1876 a railway carriage and wagon building works of the Midland Wagon Company operated next to the station. It closed in 1912.

When the station became the permanent terminus after financial difficulties caused the abandonment of the planned extension to Market Drayton, it struggled to make money. On 22 June 1880 Shrewsbury Abbey closed for the first time when the railway could no longer continue services; a rare example of a railway closure in Britain in the 19th century.

Several attempts were made to reopen the railway and in the 1890/91 a start was made on remodelling the station before financial problems again caused work to cease. The station was finally reopened on 13 April 1911 with a rebuilt line now known as the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway. It finally closed to all passengers (except specials) on 6 November 1933.