The Cotswold Line is an 86 1⁄2-mile (139.2 km) railway line between Oxford and Hereford in England.
Kidderminster railway station is the main station serving the large town of Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England and the wider Wyre Forest district. The station is operated by West Midlands Trains, and is on the Birmingham to Worcester via Kidderminster Line. Regular commuter services run to Birmingham and Worcester, with several direct daily services to/from London Marylebone. It shares its station approach with the adjacent Severn Valley Railway station.
The Birmingham to Worcester via Kidderminster line is a suburban railway line from Birmingham Snow Hill to Worcester via Stourbridge and Kidderminster. It is one of the Snow Hill Lines, with trains operated by West Midlands Trains and Chiltern Railways using a variety of rolling stock including Class 172 and Class 168 diesel units. It is a future aspiration of Network Rail to electrify the entire line, as well as the Chiltern Main Line to London Marylebone.
The Stour Valley Line is the present-day name given to the railway line between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, in England. It was authorised as the Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Stour Valley Railway in 1836; the title was often shortened to the Stour Valley Railway.
The Wellington to Craven Arms Railway was formed by a group of railway companies that eventually joined the Great Western Railway family, and connected Wellington, Shropshire and Shifnal, with Coalbrookdale, Buildwas, Much Wenlock and a junction near Craven Arms. Its objectives were dominated by the iron, colliery and limestone industries around Coalbrookdale.
The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway (OW&WR) was a railway company in England. It built a line from Wolvercot Junction near Oxford to Worcester, Stourbridge, Dudley and Wolverhampton, as well as some branches.
The Tenbury and Bewdley Railway was an English railway company that built its line from Bewdley in Worcestershire to Tenbury station, which was in Shropshire. The line connected the Severn Valley Railway at Bewdley with the Tenbury Railway at Tenbury. The Tenbury Railway connected at Woofferton with the Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway main line. Two railways were sometimes referred to as the Wyre Forest line or simply the Tenbury Line.
Hereford has seen a history of expansion and decline in its railway history.
The South Wales Railway was a main line railway which opened in stages from 1850, connecting the Great Western Railway from Gloucester to South Wales. It was constructed on the broad gauge. An original aspiration was to reach Fishguard to engender an Irish ferry transit and transatlantic trade, but the latter did not materialise for many years, and never became an important sector of the business. Neyland was the western terminus of the line until 1906.
The Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway was an English railway company that built a standard gauge line between those places. It opened its main line in 1853.
The Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway was a railway company formed to connect the places in its name. When it sought Parliamentary authorisation, it was denied the southern section, and obliged to use the Monmouthshire Railway between Pontypool and Newport.
The Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway (HH&BR) was a railway company that built a line between Hereford in England and a junction with the Mid-Wales Railway at Three Cocks Junction. It opened its line in stages from 1862 to 1864. It never had enough money to operate properly, but the Midland Railway saw it as a means of reaching Swansea, and from 1869 the Midland Railway was given exclusive running powers over the HH&BR. There was then a long-running dispute over whether the Midland inherited rights of access previously granted to the HH&BR.
Yarnton Junction was a three-platform station serving the village of Yarnton, Oxfordshire. It was built in 1861 at the junction of the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway and Witney Railway, north of Oxford. British Railways closed the station to passengers in 1962 and it was demolished c. 1965.
The Coleford Railway was a railway company that constructed a short railway from near Monmouth to Coleford, close to the Forest of Dean. The company was sponsored by the Great Western Railway. It was built on part of the course of the Monmouth Railway, a horse-operated plateway, and it was intended that its primary business would be the conveyance of minerals and forest products from the Forest of Dean.
The Buckinghamshire Junction Railway, often known as the Yarnton Loop, was a standard gauge railway between Buckingham Junction on the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway (OW&WR) and Oxford Road Junction on the Buckinghamshire Railway. It was opened on 1 April 1854 to enable OW&W trains to and from Wolverhampton to connect with London and North Western Railway trains to and from London Euston.
The Coleford, Monmouth, Usk & Pontypool Railway (CMU&PR) was a standard gauge railway of 16 miles (26 km) which ran from Monmouth to Little Mill, near Pontypool in Monmouthshire, Wales. It was intended to convey the mineral products of the Forest of Dean to the ironworks of South Wales, by connecting to the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway at Little Mill Junction. The NAHR made the onward connection over its Taff Vale Extension line. The CMU&PR intended to acquire the Monmouth Railway, actually a horse-operated plateway, and convert it to locomotive operation.
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.
The Tenbury Railway was a standard gauge railway that connected Tenbury in Worcestershire, England, with the nearby main line at Woofferton. It opened in 1861. An independent railway company, the Tenbury and Bewdley Railway continued to Bewdley in Worcestershire, opening in 1864. The route formed by the two railways was sometimes referred to as the Wyre Forest line or simply the Tenbury Line.
