Hay-on-Wye railway station

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Hay-on-Wye
Hay-on-Wye geograph-3624932-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg
The site of the former station in 2001
General information
Location Hay-on-Wye, Powys
Wales
Coordinates 52°04′42″N3°07′29″W / 52.0783°N 3.1247°W / 52.0783; -3.1247 Coordinates: 52°04′42″N3°07′29″W / 52.0783°N 3.1247°W / 52.0783; -3.1247
Grid reference SO229428
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original company Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway
Pre-grouping Midland Railway
Post-grouping London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
11 July 1864Opened
1962Closed [1]

Hay was a railway station serving the town of Hay-on-Wye in Powys, Wales, although the station was located just across the English border in Herefordshire. Hay had one of the earliest railway stations in the country, being part of a horse-drawn tramway.

Contents

Railway lines from Hay station

A 1905 Railway Clearing House Junction Diagram showing (lower left) railways in the vicinity of Hay-on-Wye (shown here as Hay) Bromshall, Clifton (Molyneux), Hay, Liskeard, Patricroft & Uttoxeter RJD 148.jpg
A 1905 Railway Clearing House Junction Diagram showing (lower left) railways in the vicinity of Hay-on-Wye (shown here as Hay)

The Hay Railway, a horse-worked freight tramroad, opened from the Brecon & Abergavenny Canal at Brecon to Hay on 7 May 1816. The line was opened from Hay to Clifford Castle on 30 July 1817. The line was not completed between The Lakes at Clifford and Eardisley until 1 December 1818 because of the problem of the river crossing at Whitney-on-Wye. The Hay Railway was sold in 1860 to the Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway (HH&BR) which made use of parts of its route.

The HH&BR was a struggling local line, much of it built by Thomas Savin, contractor and builder of many Welsh lines. It was completed in 1864. Like most local lines it was eventually rescued by a larger company not the Great Western Railway, in whose territory it might be thought to lie but the Midland Railway, which used it and other lines which it acquired or had running powers over, to put together a through route from Birmingham to Swansea via Hereford, Brecon, the Neath and Brecon Railway and the Swansea Vale Railway.

The Golden Valley Railway, which had its northern junction at Hay and ran through the Golden Valley to Pontrilas, was built between 1876 and 1889, was closed down in 1898, and then rescued by the Great Western Railway in 1901. It survived as a passenger line until 1941 and goods until the 1950s.

The whole of the Hereford to Brecon line including Hay was closed on 31 December 1962 and completely dismantled by 1963.

See also

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The Golden Valley Railway was a railway company which constructed a branch line from Pontrilas in Herefordshire, England, to Hay on Wye. Pontrilas was on the Great Western Railway main line between Newport and Hereford. The Golden Valley company opened the first part of its line from Pontrilas to Dorstone in 1881. It was constantly beset with shortage of money, but opened an extension to Hay in 1889. Its directors had grand ideas of extending further to Monmouth and forming part of a long distance trunk route. It issued misleading promotional material which secured significant investment from the public, but exposure of the falsehoods resulted in collapse.

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The Kington and Eardisley Railway took over the Kington Tramway, which served the Welsh Marches border town of Kington, Herefordshire. In 1874 it opened a 6 miles 72 chains (11.1 km) line south from Titley Junction to a junction with the Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway, 5 chains east of Eardisley. A year later it replaced the remainder of the tramway with a branch west to New Radnor. Between these two branches it had running powers on the Titley Junction to Kington section of the Leominster and Kington Railway. The Eardisley branch closed in 1940, the New Radnor branch in 1951.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eardisley railway station</span> Former railway station in Herefordshire, England

Eardisley railway station was a station in Eardisley, Herefordshire, England. The station was opened on 30 June 1863, closed to passengers on 31 December 1962 and closed completely in 1964. The former station site, now an industrial estate, is to the south of the village, on the A4111.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moorhampton railway station</span> Former railway station in Herefordshire, England

Moorhampton railway station was a station in the hamlet of Moorhampton, to the east of Norton Canon, Herefordshire, England. The station was opened for freight traffic on 24 October 1862 and closed on 31 December 1962. The station, now a caravan site, was on the B4230 Station Road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willersley and Winforton</span> Human settlement in England

Willersley and Winforton is a civil parish in west Herefordshire, England, and is approximately 14 miles (20 km) west-northwest from the city and county town of Hereford. The parish contains the village of Winforton and the farming hamlet of Willersley. The nearest towns are the market towns of Hay-on-Wye 5 miles (8 km) to the south-west, and Kington 6 miles (10 km) to the north. The physicist Sir Thomas Ralph Merton KBE, DSc, FRS, lived at Winforton during the Second World War.

References

  1. "Railways - Horse and Steam". Glasbury Historical Society. Retrieved 9 March 2017.

Further reading

Preceding station Disused railways Following station
Glasbury-on-Wye
Line and station closed
  London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway
  Whitney-on-Wye
Line and station closed
  Great Western Railway
Golden Valley Railway
  Clifford
Line and station closed