Mid-Wales Railway

The Mid-Wales Railway (MWR) was an early railway company operating in Mid-Wales.

Company Formation and Parliamentary authorisation

The company was formed in 1859 and parliamentary approval was received on 1 August for the northern section of the line from Llanidloes, Montgomeryshire to Llandovery, Carmarthenshire. Approval for the southern section from Newbridge-on-Wye to Three Cocks Junction in northern Brecknockshire was received on 3 July 1860.

Construction and opening of the railway

The first sod was ceremonially cut on 2 September 1859, but further work on the 46.7 mile line was delayed until 1862. A formal opening ceremony was held on 23 August 1864, and the line to Three Cocks Junction was opened goods traffic on 1 September.^[1] The Llanidloes and Newtown Railway had opened its line in 1859 and this enabled through working to and from the MWR line. The MWR worked the line of the Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway from 1 October 1868 until that company was taken over by the Midland Railway on 1 October 1869. The line from Builth Road to Llandovery was not built, but a connection to the Central Wales Extension Railway was completed on 1 November 1866,^[2] enabling goods trains to run to and through that station.

Amalgamation with Cambrian Railways

The Mid-Wales Railway encountered financial problems and the company's locomotives and rolling stock were sold. A working arrangement was signed with the Cambrian Railways (CamR) which took effect on 2 April 1888. Formal vesting of the line in the CamR followed on 24 June 1904.^[3]

Operations on the line

Normal goods and passenger trains along the MWRs route were supplemented in World War I by intensive coal trains, dubbed 'Jellicoe Specials', from the South Wales Coalfield travelling north towards Scapa Flow for use by warships of the Royal Navy.^[3]

Closure of the line

The whole of the MWR route, and its stations, from Llanidloes to Talyllyn Junction^[4] was closed throughout by British Railways on 31 December 1962.

References

Notes

1. ^ Kidner 1954, p. 9
2. ^ Kidner 1954, p. 12
3. ^ ^{a b} Awdry 1990, p. 34
4. ^ Butt 1995, p. 226

Bibliography

• Awdry, Christopher (1990), Encyclopedia of British Railway Companies, Patrick Stephens Ltd, ISBN 1-85260-049-7 
• Butt, R.V.J. (1995), The Directory of Railway Stations, Patrick Stephens Ltd, ISBN 1-85260-508-1 
• Kidner, R.W. (1954), The Cambrian Railways, The Oakwood Press, ISBN none