Hereford-Wolverhampton
After I had attended 'Lionsmeet' during the day, John from the Hereford Society very kindly gave me a lift back to Hereford station. I had decided to return to Wolverhampton by a different route from the outward journey, by travelling to Shrewsbury on the former LMS/GWR Joint Line, there changing to a Wolverhampton train on the former GWR route. I'd previously travelled over the Hereford-Shrewsbury line on 26th July 2014 and described that trip in the post here.
In pre-grouping days, shown in the map below, five routes served Hereford but today Hereford is a just a through station on the Welsh Marches line from Crewe to Newport, plus the route I'd used to get to Hereford that morning which converges with the Welsh Marches line at Shelwick Junction, a couple of miles north of Hereford.
Pre-grouping railway map showing Hereford-Wolverhampton (W & A K Johnston, 'Railway Map of England and Wales 11th Edition').
Click for larger image
Waiting for the slightly late-running Manchester service which would take me to Shrewsbury gave me the opportunity to collect a few pictures around the station although intermittent rain made conditions less than ideal. There are four roads through the station, two central Relief lines and two main lines, flanked by platforms. The Down platform (Southbound) has two faces and the outer face is used by terminating services from Birmingham. There is one signal box, south of the station on the Down side. Local points and shunting signals are mechanically operated, with power operation of more distant connections. Running signals are multiple aspect colour light.
Hereford station 28th July 2018: Looking north from platform 3.
Hereford station 28th July 2018: Looking south from platform 3, showing signal box. Note barrow crossing, protected by lights.
The 3-coach Arriva Trains Wales diesel multiple unit arrived, already fairly full, but I managed to find a seat. As we set off north in the rain I noticed, on the Up side, the remains of the two triangles which once served other railways converging on Hereford. In the early days of railway preservation, this area was home to the Bulmer's Railway Centre. Bulmer's established in Hereford in 1887 and I think were the largest cider maker in the world at one point. They are now owned by Heineken. In turn, we passed Shelwick Junction, Moreton-on-Lugg then the two single-bores of Dinmore Tunnel.
Shelwick Junction, Hereford, showing the signalling equipment room. 28th July 2018:
Just after Leominster signal box, we stopped at Leominster station. Once Leominster spawned at branch heading east to Worcester, south of the station and a second branch to the west, north of the station.
Hereford-Shrewsbury line, Leominster signal box, 28th July 2018.
I didn't even spot the site of Woofferton Junction, six miles beyond Leominster, where the branch to Tenbury Wells and Bewdley once diverged. Our next station stop was Ludlow and, seven miles further on, we paused at Craven Arms with its unattractive modern mechanical signal box.
Hereford-Shrewsbury, Craven Arms Signal Box in the rain, 28th July 2018:
We made our stop at Church Stretton and then continued to Shrewsbury.
Twelve miles further on, we passed the standard Great Western design signal box at Sutton Bridge Junction, where the single Central Wales line diverges. The Great Western liked to dignify their signal boxes with a single, cast-iron name plate showing the name in full so I noticed the imposing length of the sign mounted on side facing the tracks reading 'SUTTON BRIDGE JUNCTION SIGNAL BOX'.
Shrewsbury area rail: Sutton Bridge Junction signal box, 28th July 2018.
The running signals at Sutton Bridge Junction are tubular post semaphore on a mixture of upper- and lower-quadrant patterns, all modified to feature better-protected access arrangements to meet modern Health and Safety requirements.
Shrewsbury area rail: Sutton Bridge Junction 2-doll Down Home, 28th July 2018.
We then passed the imposing bulk of Severn Bridge Junction which controls the south end of Shrewsbury station. This massive box always delights me because it is a London and North Western pattern construction (although, in my view, the original clean proportions have been marred by modern Health and Safety modifications).
Shrewsbury area rail: Severn Bridge Junction signal box, 28th July 2018.
Severn Bridge Junction is now signalled by a haphazard collection of upper-quadrant semaphore, lower-quadrant semaphore and colour light signals!
At Shrewsbury, I changed to a Wolverhampton train (now operated by West Midlands Railway) after an interesting, but tiring, day.
Related articles on this site
To Hereford by rail.
A Trip to South Wales (Part 2).
Railways around Shrewsbury.
My pictures
Where necessary, clicking on an image above will display an 'uncropped' view or, alternately, pictures may be selected, viewed or downloaded, in various sizes, from one of the albums below:-
Shrewsbury-Hereford line.
Shrewsbury area railways.
Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury Line.
Wellington, ex-Great Western Railway.
West Midland Railways.
[Link to 'Lionsmeet' event added 26-Aug-2018]
