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If we were to look how railways are structured/are being structured in Europe then we'd end up with something like this: A limited company with the government as sole shareholder with wholly (or perhaps partly) owned subsidiary but separate infrastructure and operating companies (e.g Germany)...

Whilst it took place in 1966 it is arguable that the closure of Oswestry took place post-Beeching in so far as the station and associated branch to Gobowen as a passenger route were not identified for closure in the Beeching report. I do however accept that the closure did take place in what is...

There were indeed two running lines between Junction and Town - a main line and a relief, that merged just short of entering Junction station. There was a short spur off the relief line. However its alignment followed the running line rather than curving to the west. Based on the pictures I...

In the grand scheme of things I dont think repairing the sections washed out during the floods at the end of 1964 which prematurely ended through services would be a major issue to reinstatement. They wouldnt have been a major issue to reinstatement in 1964 had the line not already been...

The trackbed is obstructed in a few places, mainly on the site for Corwen station and goods yard, Cynwyd and Llandrillo stations. The former is why the new Corwen station is east of its predecessor. The degree of obstruction is less than between Ruabon and Llangollen so could in theory either...

On a railway that generally ran due east-west?! :D

The simple answer is no. The section on the Ruabon side of the Castle Street bridge has flats on it, only a short distance from Llangollen Station. Denbighshire County Council did refuse planning permission for the flats in an attempt to preserve the formation but an appeal was allowed by the...

Whilst I can understand the desire to want to maintain a direct link to Bala Town had the line remained open, I think it is unlikely any works to facilitate it would have taken place. My bet is that either a new road would be built to Bala Jcn, with Bala-Bala Jcn being closed and lifted or Bala...

If we assumed for a moment that we are 1960's BR managers faced with the same political pressures to cut losses as BR actually was, but we depart from history slightly and assume that the government is more open minded to the benefits of the type of route upgrade being carried out on the WCML so...

In terms of 4, Id assumed that the number of crossing loops would have been reduced. Id have put Llangollen, Corwen, someting at Bala or as you suggest Llanuwchllyn and Dolgellau. That does seem to leave some rather long sections though thinking about it, but I am not sure how it compares to...

Id take it a step further and go driverless. It is surely an ideal route.

You could probably run light rail between Oswestry to Gobowen without necessarily wiring the whole route. A section of Seville's tram network runs without wires through the city centre. However at tram stops there is a sector of overhead power (looks more that an inverted conductor rail than...

I had suggested something not unlike that myself in an earlier post. Id perhaps go further and straighten the route out north of Oswestry by realigning the route to stay to the west of and run parallel to the Oswestry and Gobowen by-passes to re-join the existing Shrewsbury to Chester line...

A bit if a what if, but it has always been one that I have thought about. Just to be clear from the outset, I am not suggesting Ruabon to Barmouth should be reopened, although I know it is something that some Welsh politicians have periodically called for. I am however interested to know...

Surely the problem with The Met is going to be capacity trying to fit in the existing Chiltern services, the existing Met services and125mph expresses. If the money was available and speed between the East Midlands and London is the issue we want to address , would not the money be better spent...

I think reopening is feasible if there was the political will/desire to do it. But I think the question of finding it a use first would be necessary. It is occasionally touted as a HS2 alternative, and perhaps it would offer some advantage to Leicester if it joined the MML at Wigston compared...

Despite having been born and grown up in Oswestry (late 1970s onwards) and lived there until my late 20's I cant comment on whether the town declined after the railway had left. However if it is true, then it may be a coincidence that any decline followed the loss of the branch shuttle to...

It was something that had crossed my mind, and it would give some credence to the suggestion it was an economy measure to avoid having to run an empty DMU to/from Gobowen each day. What I dont know is whether the DMU stabled at Oswestry? Given that the line stayed open anyway, surely the...

The most frustrating thing with any idea of reinstating services on this route is that were it not for the A5 level crossing, setting up a trial run shuttle for a 2-5 year period would be relatively straightforward - or perhaps it would have been 20yrs or so ago when deterioration of the...

And is doesnt specifically explain the closure of Oswestry-Gobowen to passengers. My personal view is that in addition to any 'official' reason, by 1966 a degree of momentum had been gained behind closure which enabled BR to look to trim beyond the Beeching identified dead wood.