General information | |
---|---|
Location | Ledbury, Herefordshire England |
Coordinates | 52°02′42″N2°25′30″W / 52.045°N 2.425°W |
Grid reference | SO709386 |
Managed by | West Midlands Railway |
Platforms | 2 |
Other information | |
Station code | LED |
Classification | DfT category E |
Passengers | |
2018/19 | 0.219 million |
2019/20 | 0.219 million |
2020/21 | 67,320 |
2021/22 | 0.163 million |
2022/23 | 0.188 million |
Notes | |
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road |
Ledbury railway station is located on the outskirts of the town of Ledbury,on the Worcester to Hereford line in the English Midlands. It has regular services to Birmingham,plus several direct trains a day to London Paddington.
The line was originally built by the West Midland Railway who opened Ledbury station on 15 September 1861. A branch line from Ledbury to Gloucester,via Dymock and Newent opened in July 1885 for which a new signal box was opened at Ledbury replacing one or perhaps two earlier signal boxes and controlling a small engine shed on the north side of the station and a goods yard on the south.
The Newent branch was closed in 1959, and the goods yard and engine shed closed in 1965, leaving just the station itself. The modern station comprises two platforms with waiting shelters and car parking facilities, the station is unusual in having a privately run ticket office located in a wooden chalet by the entrance.
The station master's house is on the approach to the station forecourt and is Grade II listed. [1]
Following the singling of the double track between Hereford and Ledbury in 1984, the station area bears the only section of double track, where trains travelling in opposite directions can pass each other, between Shelwick Junction, near Hereford and the East portal of Colwall New Tunnel beneath the Malvern Hills at the former Malvern Wells station and near to Great Malvern.
The single-track Ledbury Tunnel, immediately to the east of the station, was notorious among steam locomotive crews for its bad atmosphere, the result of its unusually narrow bore combined with a steep gradient and a curve at the north end.
The station was featured in episode six of the second series of Great British Railway Journeys broadcast on 10 January 2011, in which Michael Portillo travels from Ledbury to Shrewsbury.
Parts of this article (those related to December 2023 timetable) need to be updated.(December 2023) |
Ledbury has a passenger service every day except Christmas Day and Boxing Day (25 and 26 December). Monday to Saturday this service comprises typically one train per hour in each direction between Birmingham New Street and Hereford, with extra trains in the morning and evening peaks on weekdays. Some early morning and late evening trains start/terminate at Worcester Shrub Hill instead of Birmingham New Street. This service is reduced to a 2-hourly service on Sundays. [9] These trains are operated by West Midlands Trains, which took over from London Midland on 10 December 2017. [10]
Trains between Hereford and London Paddington also call at Ledbury. Monday to Friday, there are six services eastbound to Paddington, and five westbound. This is reduced to five eastbound and four westbound on Saturdays and four eastbound and five westbound trains on Sundays. All trains to London are operated by Great Western Railway. [11]
The Cotswold Line is an 86+1⁄2-mile (139.2 km) railway line between Oxford and Hereford in England.
Didcot Parkway is a railway station serving the town of Didcot in Oxfordshire, England. The station was opened as Didcot on 12 June 1844 and was renamed Didcot Parkway on 29 July 1985 by British Rail, to reflect its role as a park and ride railhead. It is 53 miles 10 chains down the line from London Paddington and is situated between Cholsey to the east and Swindon to the west.
Stroud railway station serves the market town of Stroud in Gloucestershire, England. It is a stop on the Gloucester–Swindon Golden Valley Line and was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It is located 102 miles 13 chains (164.4 km) west of London Paddington.
Totnes railway station serves the town of Totnes in Devon, England. It was opened by the South Devon Railway Company in 1847. Situated on the Exeter to Plymouth Line, it is 222 miles 66 chains measured from the zero point at London Paddington via Box.
Dorchester West railway station is one of two railway stations serving the town of Dorchester in Dorset, England. The station is managed by Great Western Railway. The station is located on the Heart of Wessex Line between Castle Cary and Weymouth, 161.63 miles from the zero point at London Paddington, and is at the southern end of a single track section from Maiden Newton. The line becomes double at the station and remains so to just before nearby Dorchester Junction, where the line joins the South West Main Line from London Waterloo to Weymouth.
Swindon railway station is on the Great Western Main Line in South West England, serving the town of Swindon, Wiltshire. The station is 77 miles 23 chains down the line from the zero point at London Paddington and lies between Didcot Parkway and Chippenham. It is managed by Great Western Railway, which also operates all of the services from the station.
Abergavenny railway station is situated south-east of the town centre of Abergavenny, Wales. It is part of the British railway system owned by Network Rail and is operated by Transport for Wales. It lies on the Welsh Marches Line between Newport and Hereford.
Redruth station serves the town of Redruth, Cornwall, United Kingdom, and is situated on the Cornish Main Line between Truro and Camborne. The station is 309 miles 68 chains from the zero point at London Paddington measured via Box and Plymouth Millbay.
Camborne railway station serves the town of Camborne, Cornwall, England. The station is 313 miles 40 chains from the zero point at London Paddington measured via Box and Plymouth Millbay.
Evesham railway station is in the town of Evesham in Worcestershire, England. It is between Honeybourne and Pershore stations on the Cotswold Line between Oxford and Hereford via Worcester and Great Malvern. It is operated by Great Western Railway. Trains to London Paddington take about 1 hour 45 minutes. It is one of the few railway stations in the United Kingdom to have shown a steady decline in use since 2004.
Colwall railway station is a railway station on the Cotswold Line serving the village of Colwall in Herefordshire, England. The station has one platform with seating. There is no ticket office; a passenger-operated Permit to Travel machine is installed, and there has been a ticket machine since 2015.
Droitwich Spa railway station serves the town of Droitwich Spa in Worcestershire, England. It is located just to the south-west of Droitwich Spa Junction of the Worcester to Leamington Spa Line and the Worcester to Birmingham New Street line. The station is managed by West Midlands Trains, who also operate all trains serving it.
Worcester Foregate Street railway station, opened by the Great Western Railway in 1860 serves the city of Worcester, Worcestershire, England. It is one of the two stations serving the city, with the other station, Worcester Shrub Hill, being located to the east. A third station, Worcestershire Parkway, is located just outside the city to the south-east.
Great Malvern railway station is one of two stations serving the town of Malvern, Worcestershire, England on the Hereford to Worcester section of the Cotswold Line. It is situated downhill from the centre of Great Malvern and close to Barnards Green. The station retains most of its original Victorian station design by the architect Edmund Wallace Elmslie and is a Grade II listed building.
Pershore railway station is a railway station serving both the town of Pershore and village of Pinvin in Worcestershire, England. The station is on a single-track section of the Cotswold Line. The station and all trains serving it are operated by Great Western Railway.
Malvern Link railway station serves Malvern Link in Worcestershire, England. It is one of two stations serving the town of Malvern, the other being Great Malvern station.
Malvern Wells railway station was a station on the Worcester and Hereford section of the Great Western Railway at Lower Wyche, between Great Malvern and Colwall. On timetables it was listed as Malvern Wells GW to distinguish it from the nearby Midland Railway station which later became known as Malvern Hanley Road.
The Worcester and Hereford Railway started the construction of a standard gauge railway between the two cities in 1858. It had needed the financial assistance of larger concerns, chiefly the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway, and the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway. It opened its line progressively from 1859 to 1861, delayed by exceptionally difficult tunnelling at Colwall and Ledbury. The company was purchased by the West Midland Railway in 1860, and that company amalgamated with the Great Western Railway in 1863.
Ledbury Signal Box is a typical Great Western Railway traditional lever frame signal box which remains in daily use at Ledbury Station, Herefordshire, England on the railway line from Worcester to Hereford.
The Cathedrals Express was a named passenger express introduced in 1957 on the Western Region of British Railways. It connected the cathedral cities of Hereford and Worcester to London Paddington.
Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Hereford | West Midlands Railway Birmingham-Hereford | Colwall | ||
West Midlands Railway Dorridge-Hereford | ||||
Great Western Railway Cotswold Line | ||||
Historical railways | ||||
Ashperton | Great Western Railway Worcester and Hereford Railway | Colwall | ||
Disused railways | ||||
Ledbury Town Halt | Great Western Railway Ledbury and Gloucester Railway | Terminus |