Gobowen railway station

Infobox UK station
name = Gobowen
for Oswestry
locale = Gobowen
manager = Arriva Trains Wales
borough = Oswestry
gridref = SJ303333
latitude = 52.8935
longitude = -3.0371
platforms = 2
start = 1846
lowusage0405 = 140,968
lowusage0506 = 145,211
lowusage0607 = 164,866


code = GOB

Gobowen railway station is a railway station on the Shrewsbury to Chester Line serving the village of Gobowen in Shropshire, England. It is the nearest station to the town of Oswestry.

As of April 2008, train services run on three routes. Two of these routes are operated by Arriva Trains Wales;
* Birmingham New Street to Chester via Wolverhampton, Shrewsbury and Wrexham General
* Cardiff Central to Holyhead via Hereford, Shrewsbury, Wrexham General, Chester and Bangor.

The third route is operated by Wrexham & Shropshire;
* London Marylebone to Wrexham General via Banbury, Tame Bridge Parkway, Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury.

Buildings

The station has two platforms:

* Platform 1 - For southbound services to Shrewsbury, Cardiff, Birmingham or London Marylebone
* Platform 2 - For northbound services to Wrexham General, Chester or Holyhead

The station buildings at Gobowen are Grade II listed. They were built in 1846 by the Shrewsbury and Chester railway in a notable Florentine (or Italianate) style with white stucco facing and a small turret. The awnings and the footbridge were added later by the Great Western Railway (the footbridge was demolished in 1987). Although a very small village, Gobowen was the junction station for the much larger regional town of Oswestry some three miles away. When rail services to Oswestry ceased in November 1966, Gobowen was retained as the railhead for the surrounding area. There is a scheme in progress to open this branch as a heritage railway. [cite news
title = Oswestry Advertizer
date = 2008-07-15
page = 3]

Today, the main building which was renovated in 2005 is used as small business space. The booking office is now located in the waiting room on the southbound platform. Unusually, it is not operated directly by the local train operating company, Arriva Trains Wales, but by an independent travel agent, Severn-Dee Travel.

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Gobowen_station,_circa_1910Image:Gobowen9.jpg|Locomotive_at_Gobowen_station,_circa_1956

External links

* [http://www.chester2shrewsburyrail.co.uk/ Chester to Shrewsbury Rail Partnership]
*IoE|255745

References

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