Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway

The Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway was an independently developed English railway, the first to run train services in Herefordshire.

Built between 1850 and 1853, it crossed a number of services by both the Great Western Railway (GWR) and London and North Western Railway (LNWR) companies, became a joint railway from 1862.

Today, the line forms the northern section of Network Rail's Welsh Marches Line, served mainly by Arriva Trains Wales.

In 1846, the British Government approved an Act of Parliament for the construction of the independent Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway Company. Running a length of 50.5 miles (81.3 km), the only stipulation was that it was built to standard gauge.

The company initially appointed the Liberal Member of Parliament for Shrewsbury, Henry Robertson as engineer. Due to financial problems work on the line didn't begin until 1850 when Thomas Brassey was appointed. A well known railway engineer and investor, Brassey agreed to work for no fee, and took a 3.5% share holding in the company. In 1854 the cost was transferred to an 8-year lease, which proved to be very profitable for Brassey.

The first section of the line from Shrewsbury to Ludlow opened on 21 April 1852, as the line south of this point required the construction of the short Ludlow tunnel.

The second section through to Hereford posed problems. Firstly, the existing Hereford Barton station of the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway was not big enough to cope with all four railway companies planning on entering the important market town. Secondly, the entrance route into Hereford from the north required extensive civil engineering.

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