Branch Lines to Leominster and Kington

Branch Lines to Leominster and Kington

Neil Parkhouse

208 pages. 275x215mm. Printed on gloss art paper, casebound with printed board covers.

ISBN13 : 9781915069627

£35.00

Leominster today is a two platform station on a double line of plain track but once it was the junction for branch lines heading east to Bromyard and Worcester, and west to Kington and New Radnor. Before reaching Kington, this latter branch passed through Titley Junction, where further branches from Eardisley, on the Hereford, Hay & Brecon line, and Presteign also came in. All of these branches are now long gone, with some having much longer working lives than others, but all once performed a vital function for the communities they served. The earliest, to Kington from Leominster, opened in 1857 and along with the branch to Presteign (which BR had more correctly renamed Presteigne), it was also the last to go when the freight service was withdrawn on 24th September 1964, outlasting the branch from Worcester to Bromyard by two weeks. Travelling through some of Britain’s most rural countryside in Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Radnorshire, we start our journey at Worcester Shrub Hill station, where we also pay a visit to the engine sheds. Heading then over the River Severn and through the western outskirts of the city, we take the line to Bromyard and Leominster at Bransford Road Junction. Work began on building the line in 1864 but mired in financial difficulties from the start, it was only finally completed in 1897. After only fifty-five years, that last section from Leominster then closed in September 1952, leaving the rest as a branch to Bromyard. We stop at Leominster to study the station in detail, which still retains its original buildings today but is otherwise a shadow of its former self, before heading off west. With two different companies involved in their construction, the Leominster & Kington Railway and the Eardisley & Kington Railway (which followed the course of the 3ft 6ins gauge horse-drawn Kington Railway of 1820), these lines are traversed by date of build and company who built them. Thus, after arriving at Kington, we then head to Eardisley to travel the obscure branch up to Titley Junction (opened in 1874) and then via Kington to New Radnor (opened in 1875) and finally Titley Junction to Presteign, also opened in 1875. Passenger service withdrawals west of Leominster were early, all pre-Beeching, with Eardisley to Titley Junction going in 1940, to New Radnor and Presteign in 1951 and Leominster to Kington in 1955. In a departure from previous volumes in this series, we have therefore included a fine selection of early postcard views along with the ususal array of colour slides, to show these stations in their heyday, as well as track plans courtesy of OS extracts and a fine selection of colour plans of the lines to Kington from GWR 2-chain surveys. So join us here as we travel through some glorious countryside, on ex-GWR diesel railcars and Class ‘122’ units between Worcester and Bromyard, or in the brake van of a short freight hauled by a Class ‘14XX’ 0-4-2 tank on its way to Presteign or passing the delightful Forge Crossing deep in the woods near Kington. Marvel at the sight of Dolyhir station when the tracks were still in place or enjoy watching the trains at Worcester when ex-GWR steam still just reigned supreme – all in glorious colour!

Branch Lines to Leominster and Kington - Sample Images

The late Roy Denison took several excellent views at Kington on 10th September 1964, showing the branch goods being shunted and also around the station site, just a fortnight before the line closed for good. CollettClass '14XX' 0-4-2T No. 1420 had first run round its train on arrival here, by means of the trailing crossover just visible in front of the goods shed doorway, and was now carefully shunting the wagons back into one ofthe sidings. The shunter meanwhile stands with his distinctive hook-ended shunting pole in hand, having just uncoupled the brake van from the rest of the train, which the engine will then draw forward and deposit on another siding. The pole was used for unhooking the chain link couplings, obviating the need to get between the wagons, which was always an inherently dangerous practice. Shunting of the other wagons onto the sidings where they were required could then proceed. Note the other chap here, wearing a leather apron, which looks a bit clean for him to be the local coal merchant, and also the water crane on the end of the Up platform of the replacement station of 1875 on the right. The original station building was beyond the goods shed, to the left. Further slides taken by Roy on his visit here can be found later on in this volume. Roy Denison

Suckley station building differed from those at Leigh Court and Knightwick, being constructed of timber but otherwise was almost identical in layout and design. This change is explained by the fact that the station was a slightly later provision, opening on 1st February 1878, three months after the line to Bromyard had been completed and opened, with the building being transferred here the short distance from Yearsett, where it had formed the original terminus. The station was opened with just the single platform and to the right in this circa 1905 view is the original timber-built signal box that was provided. Note the circular 'S' (Signal) and diamond-shaped 'T' (Telegraph) enamelled plaques hung on the walls. These were displayed if attention to either was required, the crew of a passing train then passing this 'message' up the line to the relevant department at Worcester. Station master, signalman/porter (E.H. Jakeman and W. Perks respectively in August 1903) and a young lad porter pose for posterity and note, too, the station name displayed in the glass of the platform lamp. Ray Jones/Parkbarn Archive