Admaston railway station

Admaston
General information
Location	Admaston, Shropshire England
Coordinates	52°42′41″N2°32′56″W / 52.71145°N 2.54887°W / 52.71145; -2.54887
Grid reference	SJ630127
Platforms	2
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway
Pre-grouping	Shrewsbury and Wellington Joint Railway
Post-grouping	Shrewsbury and Wellington Joint Railway
Key dates
1 June 1849	Station opens as Admaston
30 June 1952	Station renamed Admaston Halt
7 September 1964	Station closes

Admaston railway station was a railway station serving the village of Admaston in Shropshire, England. It was located on what is now known as the Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton Line.

History

The station was opened by the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway in 1849, and was shared with the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company. The line through the station was taken over by the London and North Western Railway. It initially closed to traffic just a few months after opening, but reopened again in the summer of 1850. ^[1] It only appeared in LNWR timetables for their Shrewsbury to Stafford route in its early years, as Great Western Railway trains between Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton ran through without stopping there, though the line had come under joint ownership by 1854. Platforms, a station house and a brick single storey ticket office on the down (westbound) side were eventually provided in the final years of the nineteenth century, by which time GWR trains were calling on a regular basis (though not particularly frequently - the 1895 timetable had three trains to Birmingham and two to Stafford operated by the respective companies, whilst six trains called in the other direction). After the 1923 Grouping, joint operation passed to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and GWR. The station remained quite modestly served thereafter (eight eastbound and seven westbound calls by 1947), though the line itself carried heavy volumes of freight and passenger traffic.

It is recorded however, that as late as 1933, 10,000+ tickets and 400+ parcels were delt with at Admaston.

The line then passed on to the Western Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948, with Admaston becoming an unstaffed halt at the end of June 1952. After which time, passengers boarding for Shrewsbury would purchase their tickets through the train window at Walcot and, the station signals were converted to colour aspect to enable them to be operated from Wellington number 4 signal box. ^[1]

In January 1963, the line and station were transferred from the Western Region of British Railways to the London Midland Region. Shortly afterwards consent to closure was granted by the then Transport Secretary Ernest Marples the following May. The last train called here on the evening of 5 September 1964, with closure to passengers coming into effect two days later. ^[1]

Preceding station	Historical railways			Following station
Wellington Line and station open		GWR / LMS Joint Line Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway		Walcot Line open, station closed

The site today

Trains on the Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton Line pass the site. There are few signs today that the station was ever there, all that remains is the privately owned station house some way back from the line, the steps down to where the platform used to be on the east side (now used by track maintenance personnel), plus a short piece of retaining wall also on the eastbound side The booking office was under the railway bridge set in an arch, it of course is still there too, ^[2] A feasibility study was undertaken regarding the possibility of reopening in 2003, one assumes lack of parking space was a concern. ^[3]

Notes

1. Disused Stations - Admaston Disused Stations Site Record; Retrieved 3 August 2017
2. Admaston station site (1991) Brooksbank, Ben Geograph.org.uk; Retrieved 3 August 2017
3. Admaston Station Feasibility Study

References

• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN   978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC   60251199. OL   11956311M.
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN   978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC   228266687.
• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN   978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC   22311137.

Further reading

• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2009). Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury. Middleton Press. figs. 103-104. ISBN   9781906008444. OCLC   286385795.

External links

• Station on navigable O.S. map