Leominster and Kington Railway

Leominster and Kington Railway was one of four which serve the Welsh Marches border town of Kington, Herefordshire.

Opened in August 1857, its peak was during World War 2, when it served two US Army hospitals. Decling post war due to competition from buses, it closed to passengers in 1955, and frieght from 1964.

Today, a 1 mile (1.6 km) section is preserved at Titley Junction railway station.

Construction

Proposed in 1853, the company was formed by William Bateman-Hanbury, 2nd Baron Bateman of Shobdon Court. It received Royal Assent as a broad gauge line in July 1854, subject to provision for a junction with the standard gauge Kington Railway be provided.

On 14th November, 1854 the company agreed the offer of Thomas Brassey and William Field to construct the line for £70,000. Further, they would work from opening and pay the shareholders a 4% dividend per annum. Engineered by David Wylie of Shrewsbury, Lady Bateman cut the first sod at Kington, with a silver spade into a special built barrow that can be seen preserved today at the Leominster Folk Museum. The Leominster to Pembridge section opened for goods traffic on the 18th October, 1855, at a cost of £7,000 per mile.

But, with additional costs, the company was struggling, and in April 1856 Brassey and Field, who held £20,000 or one quarter of the companies stock, advanced the company £10,000 at 5%. The second section from Pembridge to Kington opened in August 1857. There were no tunnels or viaducts on the entire single track line of 13 miles 25 chains (21.4 km) in length, which had cost £80,000 to construct.

Inspected by Colonel Yolland for the Board of Trade on the 22nd July, 1857, a certificate authorising the opening was withheld because a level crossing had been built at Pembridge instead of the overbridge authorised by the Act of Parliament.

Titley Junction was the busiest intermediate station on the line with up to 30 trains a day passing through. It was the connection point for the LK&R with the Kington and Eardisley Railway south to the Hay Railway, and the L&KR's own line to Presteigne. After completion of this extension, the K&ER extended north from Kington to New Radnor.

Kington & Presteigne Railway

The Kington & Presteigne Railway opened on 9 September 1875. Commencing at Titley Junction, it passed through Leen farm, to Staunton-on-Arrow, in front of the Rodd farm via Corton into Presteigne. By 1929 it was possible to join one of the three steam trains a day - each way - and make the 6 hour journey to London. The passenger service on this line ended in 1951, but a freight service continued to run every other day until the line was finally closed for good in 1961.

Operations

Eventually, it was agreed to open the line under a temporary order, subject to retrospective application and government approval of the level crossing. The line opened on Tuesday July 28th, 1857, with a train consisting of 32 coaches and 2 engines travelling from the joint GWR/LNWR station at Leominster to Kington, stopping briefly at all stations along the line. When they reached Kington, the directors retired to the Oxford Arms Hotel, where with 300 guests then Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Hastings CB presided over lunch. The return journey was completed with diner for the same 300 guests at the Royal Oak Hotel, Leominster, presided over by Lord Bateman. Bateman remained chairman for 22years, and had a private station built at Ox

In 1862 the line was leased to the West Midland Railway Company, which taken over by the Great Western Railway, amalgamated the line on 1st July, 1898. This meant that by 1874 a journey from Kington to Leominster took 40 minutes, to Hereford 1 hour 20 minutes, and to Shrewsbury 3 hours and 30 minutes.

As the line was rural, and based in the Welsh Marches farm district, the main revenue was earned from transporting goods to the various markets. Sheep and cattle which had been driven to Kington on the various drovers trails, were now transported to their original destination of Hereford by train. Often on market days, seven or eight cattle trucks were attached to the Hereford bound passenger service, specifically for bull transportation.

The rural railway lines were often very informal and there are stories of trains being stopped between stations to make grocery deliveries or to pick up eggs for market.

left: The bridge next to Titley Junction Station

During WWII traffic on the Kington line increased because of the hospital camp built nearby at Hergest. In 1940 the first train rolled in carrying men injured at the Battle of Dunkirk. In 1943 two US General Hospitals were completed in the area and US Artillery arrived to await D-Day. By September 1944, one of these hospitals had received 11 hospital trains carrying up to 300 patients per train. Between the 4th January and the 28th April, 1945 the other hospital had received 10 trains and admitted 2,413 patients. All the hospital trains arrived from Southampton.

After the war the Kington to Leominster line struggled to compete with the local bus companies but until 1955 a total of 13 men were employed at the Titley, Pembridge and Kington stations. The last passenger train left Leominster bound for Kington at 8.25pm on the 5th of February, 1955, carrying 70 passengers - the driver was a Mr E Chapman of Leominster. At Kington a black flag was hung.

Ten minutes after arriving in Kington the final return journey to Leominster was made. For 9 more years this line continued to carry goods before finally closing in 1964.

References

• Helen J. Simpson. The day the trains came - the Herefordshire railways.

External links

• History of the Leominster and Kington Railway