Buildwas railway station
Buildwas railway station was an important bustling junction station after the opening of the Severn Valley Railway on 1 February 1862. Although the station served both the Severn Valley Railway and Wellington to Craven Arms Railway, it was an interchange station in open countryside with no passenger access except by rail.[2]
| Buildwas | |
|---|---|
 The station in 1962 | |
| Location | |
| Place | Buildwas |
| Area | Shropshire |
| Coordinates | 52.6342°N 2.5167°W |
| Grid reference | SJ651041 |
| Operations | |
| Original company | Severn Valley Railway |
| Pre-grouping | Great Western Railway |
| Post-grouping | Great Western Railway |
| Platforms | 3 |
| History | |
| 1 February 1862 | Opened |
| 9 September 1963 | Closed[1] |
| Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom | |
| Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z | |
The station had three platforms, with two platforms at a lower level serving the Severn Valley Railway and one at a higher level serving the Wellington to Craven Arms Railway.[3] At its peak, the station had a total of eleven staff, including the station master. Up to 1923 the area was controlled by two signal boxes, the Station signal box controlling the station area and the Junction signal box controlling the junction between the Severn Valley line and the double track line across the Albert Edward Bridge towards Lightmoor Junction. These were replaced with a single signal box approximately midway between its predecessors in 1923. This box was subsequently enlarged to accommodate a frame containing 113 levers on 9 December 1931. The track layout was altered several times during its existence including the additional CEGB sidings opened in 1932.
The planned closure of the northern end of the Severn Valley Line including Buildwas station pre-dated the Beeching report. Following closure, the station was demolished to make way for Ironbridge B Power Station. Coal for the power station was offloaded close to the site of the original station until the power station stopped generating electricity in November 2015.
The Telford Steam Railway has aspirations to operate to this site, running over the Albert Edward Bridge to a new terminus on or close to the site of Buildwas station.
Power Station Regeneration Project
The Ironbridge Power station closed in 2015 and the site was decommissioned by Uniper until sold to the Harworth Group in June 2018. Regeneration of the site is set to include approximately 1000 new homes with the potential of the reopening of a train station on the site. Both Telford Steam Railway and National Rail have expressed interest in the reintroduction of both heritage and passenger services to the site using the disused tracks, which currently links the power station to the Birmingham-Shrewsbury line near Telford.
References
- Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
- Vanns, Michael A. (2013). Severn Valley Railway, A View from the Past. Shrewsbury: Shrewdale Publishing. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-9575898-0-3.
- Marshall, John (1989). The Severn Valley Railway. Newton Abbot: David St John Thomas. p. 111. ISBN 0-946537-45-3.
Further reading
- Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2008). Craven Arms to Wellington. Middleton Press. figs. 54-65. ISBN 9781906008338. OCLC 750867075.
- Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2007). Kidderminster to Shrewsbury. Middleton Press. figs. 95-101. ISBN 9781906008109. OCLC 154801530.
| Preceding station | Disused railways | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cressage Line and station closed |
Great Western Railway Severn Valley Railway |
Ironbridge and Broseley Line and station closed | ||
| Coalbrookdale Line and station closed |
Great Western Railway Wellington to Craven Arms Railway |
Farley Halt Line and station closed |