Landscape Detective

Railways continued the process of change begun by the canals. The movement of materials became quicker and cheaper, and the steam powered railways of the 1830s brought about a whole new age of transportation.

This is Oswestry railway station. Oswestry was the Headquarters of the Cambrian Railway Company until its amalgamation with the Great Western Railways in 1922. From Oswestry 300 miles of track were maintained and even in the 1960s a thousand railway men worked in and around the area. It was the arrival of the railway which led to the growth of Oswestry, and yet today Oswestry has no rail links at all.

Another town which came into existence because of the railways is Craven Arms. It takes its name from the railway station, which in turn is named after the Craven Arms Hotel, built around 1800 by the Earl of Craven as a coaching inn. Until the19th century the town was a collection of small settlements in the parish of Stokesay. The building of the Shrewsbury and Hereford railway in 1852 brought the town into being. The geographic location attracted other lines so that by 1870 an important junction had developed here. To satisfy the needs of the expanding workforce, housing was built around the station and a small estate developed.

The railway network stayed virtually intact until Beeching's 'Reshaping Report', which found that a third of the rail network produced only 1% of rail income. As a result Beeching axed branch lines across Britain. Shropshire was particularly badly affected with almost all of the branch lines closing in the 1960s. Disused lines and stations, either derelict or converted to private dwellings, are today a common feature of the landscape.

A disused railway track runs along Northway Wood, Wenlock Edge. The disused railway line is now used by walkers, riders and cyclists. The railway was opened in 1867 but is now a bridleway maintained by the National Trust.

During the nineteenth century intensive industrial activity in the Oswestry coalfield sparked a large investment in the transportation network throughout the area. The remains of this network are still often visible in the landscape today. This photograph shows the path of the old railway at Gronwen.

The last train to run on these tracks, passing Much Wenlock station, was on the 21st of July 1962. The line transported passengers from Much Wenlock to Wellington and was established in 1862. The station is still standing, but is now a private house. 157 stations were originally built in Shropshire, but today only 20 remain open.

The decline in railways has coincided with the rise in vehicle transport.