A brief history of the Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth line.
1859 to 1997.

Beginnings.
First and foremost it is worth noting that the line that is now known as the Cambrian Main Line between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth was not planned and constructed as such rather it is an amalgam of a number of independently built lines conceived and built solely for local purposes rather than part of a national planned scheme. The line and its surviving stations are but a shadow of the rail network that once stretched across rural Mid Wales until the 1960’s.

The railway mania years of the 1840’s had passed Mid Wales by and the local populace were increasingly aware of the benefits of the coming of the railway age and wanted to take part. A number of abortive schemes were planned and put forward for Parliamentary approval but the first to get off the ground was the Newtown & Llanidloes Railway in 1859. The construction of this line launched the career of the great Welsh industrialist David Davies of Llandinam. The line was built using local labour and the capital to finance the project was sourced locally a pattern that was to repeated with nearly all the sections that make up today’s route.

For the record the original railways that make up today’s route consisted of:

Great Western Railway & London & North Western Railway Joint Line (1863) Shrewsbury to Welshpool meeting the Oswestry and Newtown at Buttington Junction.

Oswestry & Newtown Railway (1861). Buttington Junction to Newtown. Closed North of Buttington Junction 1964.

Newtown and Llanidloes Railway (1859). Newtown to Moat Lane Junction. Closed South of Moat Lane Junction to Passengers 1963 and Freight 1967.

Newtown and Machynlleth Railway (1861). Newtown to Machynlleth.

Aberystwyth and Welsh Coast Railway (1863). Machynlleth to Aberystwyth.

The smaller local companies soon realised that amalgamation into a larger body was the way forward and merged to form the Cambrian Railways in 1864 with its headquarters in Oswestry. In addition the Cambrian Railways included the Mid Wales Railway and the Oswestry, Ellesmere & Whitchurch Railway. Thus the main Cambrian Line was formed between Whitchurch (Shropshire) and Aberystwyth, passengers for Shrewsbury (and beyond) had to change at Welshpool right up until the 1960’s with the exception of some through workings such as the Cambrian Coast Express.

A number of small branch lines were built these included:

Great Hanwood to Minsterly. Opened 1861 Closed 1965
Abermule to Kerry. Opened 1863 Closed 1956
Caersws to Van. Opened 1871 Closed 1940.
Cammaes Road to Dinas Mawddwy. Opened 1867 Closed 1951


In addition to the above mentioned lines, the Aberystwyth line diverges from the Shrewsbury to Hereford line a mile or so south of Shrewsbury station at Sutton bridge Junction, at Dovey Junction the line from Barmouth and Pwllheli joined the route and at Aberystwyth there was a connection with the line from Carmarthen (closed 1962).

Oswestry.
A note must be made of Oswestry’s primary role in the railways of Mid Wales, this was largely by chance as sections of it’s populace were so angered by the Shrewsbury and Chester line avoiding their town that they decided to build a line of their own heading off south avoiding a connection with the hated S & C and hence into Mid Wales. In due course the headquarters of the Cambrian Railways was established here and its locomotive and carriage works also, primarily due to the make up of the board of the Cambrian Railways consisting of Shropshire men and land being readily available in Oswestry. Up until 1967 Oswestry was a thriving railway town with the railway a major employer, some still argue that the town’s economy has still not fully recovered from this loss.

Cambrian Years. 1863 –1923.
The company was well noted for its lack of funds and the shoestring nature of operations, it’s journey times now seem incredibly slow by modern standards. However it opened up Mid Wales to the outside world and provided the area with the benefits that the railways brought to our forefathers. In 1921 the infamous Abermule crash occurred due to slack working practices allowing two trains to enter a single-track section simultaneously costing the lives of 23 people the company was roundly criticised worldwide at the time.

Holiday Line.
One of the major impacts of the railway coming to Mid Wales was the development of several small Cardigan Bay settlements into holiday resorts including Aberystwyth all these resorts were of course served by rail. The early rail companies actively promoted these resorts as a way to boost revenues on lines running through sparsely populated rural areas. The route from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth being just one of four routes to reach the coast of Mid Wales. The 1950’s were probably the heyday of rail traffic with summer Saturdays seeing literally a procession of heavily loaded arrivals and departures to destinations in the West Midlands and Manchester area. The most famous train to traverse the route the “Cambrian Coast Express” started life as a holiday train from the coast to London and was eventually established as a daily working with the respective UP & DOWN workings crossing near Welshpool on the double track section in the 1950’s. The last steam hauled express ran in March 1967. British Rail carried on the tradition of serving the holiday market after the rationalisation of the 1960’s and ran Saturdays only locomotive hauled trains up until the early 1990’s. These are much missed as not only did they bring tourists in to the area but they also provided commodious accommodation for travellers, since their withdrawal no summer trip on the Cambrian is complete without the obligatory overcrowding on a small Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU).

Great Western Years. 1923-1947.
The Cambrian Railways was the largest single company taken over by the Great Western at the 1923 grouping. At its peak in the 1920’s the 82 mile route from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth consisted of 25 intermediate stations, 18 miles of double track in four sections Aberystwyth- Llanbadarn Fawr, Moat Lane Junction-Newtown, Forden-Buttington Junction and Hanwood-Shrewsbury, 64 miles of single track with 16 crossing loops. There were engine sheds located at Shrewsbury, Welshpool, Moat Lane Junction, Machynlleth and Aberystwyth.

The terminus at Aberystwyth was redeveloped in the 1920’s and typically for the day consisted of no less than five platforms to cope with the traffic from it’s two lines and the holiday traffic. The station building remains largely intact with just one platform in use for main line operations. The GWR did much to replace elderly non standard locomotives and rolling stock, though famously rebuilt Victorian express locomotives in the 1930’s –the so called “Dukedogs” to provide motive power on the lines due to the light axle loadings precluding use of more modern motive power. A new class of 4-6-0 engines the Manor class were built in 1938 primarily for use on restricted loading routes such as the Cambrian and these were associated with the Cambrian nearly up to the end of steam with Aberystwyth and Machynlleth sheds vying with each other to keep these engines immaculately turned out. Indeed they were widely known to be better kept than many express locomotives on the major lines.

British Railways and Nationalisation till the end of steam 1947-1967.
Initially there was little change and there followed an Indian summer of rail use to serve the holiday trade on the coast as more people were granted paid leave in the years before foreign holidays and the growth of the private motorcar ensued. Though there was a boom in usage in the summer months little in the way of investment took place, journey times and working practices in the 1950’s were similar to the late Victorian age, it was not until the late 1950’s that even through trains to Shrewsbury were introduced on a regular basis apart from the daily Cambrian Coast Express and the holiday trains. Some modern Diesel Multiple Units started filtering their way through in the late 1950’s to the main line but the numerous branches remained steam worked till the end.

Though trade was declining to road competition the inadequate nature of the Mid Wales road network would surely have seen a modernised rail network remain at the forefront of it’s transport links. It was not to be, the infamous Beeching report now widely regarded as a stitch up to destroy the rail network for the benefit of the road lobby who held sway over governments of the 1960’s recommended that the entire rail network of Mid Wales should be closed as “unprofitable” including the line between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth. Beeching of course failed to take into account the network benefits of branch lines, social exclusion issues and the effect of over reliance on road transport on congestion, pollution and the environment. Though no one is certain why the line to Aberystwyth and Coastline survived the axe the most fashionable theory is that the incoming Wilson government found the hole in the rail network map unacceptable for political reasons.

The mid 1960’s were a grim period with dirty tricks played to try and fiddle the books and “prove” lines were unprofitable like departing from Welshpool an Oswestry bound train minutes before the arrival from Aberystwyth making the service virtually useless so no one used it. The vast majority of the stations were closed and the infrastructure decimated just seven stations remained west of Shrewsbury with initially nine passing loops and no double track sections. Steam was ended as well as the Cambrian Coast Express all trains now ran through to Shrewsbury in the hands of Diesel Multiple Units with maintenance facilities now concentrated at Machynlleth.

British Rail 1967-1997.
The era was hallmarked by a total lack of investment for twenty years though central government had saved the line from closure they failed to provide BR with sufficient funds to update and modernise the service provided. Rolling stock became elderly and track maintenance skimped on. 1971 saw another attempt at closure first of all the Coast line was threatened but a superb campaign by the Cambrian Coast Line Action Group humiliated the powers that be and blew their arguments out of the water. Surely the main line would have followed if the coast had succumbed. Pressure to cut costs from central government forced BR to cut back facilities even further. A feature much followed by enthusiasts in the 1970’s and 1980’s were the summer Saturday locomotive hauled trains, double headed trains of 13 coaches in length were not uncommon. Freight gradually died away as rail was not allowed to fight road competition on a level playing field, the last freight being oil carried from Stanlow to Aberystwyth in the early 1990’s.

The mid to late 1980s saw some investment with the maintenance backlog caught up on the reintroduction of the Cambrian Coast Express, a new generation of DMU was purchased and Radio Electronic Token Block signalling introduced (RETB) and things looked up for a few years including significant slashing in journey times. BR declared the Cambrian to be the most modern up to date rural line in the UK. However pressure to make BR “profitable” so it could be privatised and general lack of funds from Central government soon dried up the improvements. The reintroduced CCE being cut again in 1991 and the service being put in the hands of an inadequate number of new generation DMU’s. The early 1990’s saw the future looking bleak for the line and saw the start of its first users group and SARPA’s predecessor- the Cambrian Rail Users Group or CRUG.

Post Privatisation 1997- to present.
December 2004 sees the third private franchise holder in seven years operate the line. Yet the basic service is hardly distinguishable from the end of BR days. 1999 saw the announcement of a proposal to run an hourly service along the line but so far it has come to nought despite being a relatively simple thing to implement. Some stations have a new customer information system- Project Inform yet others don’t. Newtown & Aberystwyth stations have become “nightspots” in their own right. The Cambrian has suffered as the increased funds available to the railway have been squandered on contractors and gold platted safety requirements. Yet numbers using the line continue to grow and grow clearly showing the demand that is there despite severe limitations with the service on offer. The line is to be the trial area for the new ERTMS signalling system.

The Cambrian Main line is very much alive and kicking despite what some misguided politicians would have us believe.