The Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway again. ...

[rogerfarnworth]

I was reading (in August 2024) the July 1903 Railway Magazine and came across an article about the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway. The article marked the opening of the line at the beginning of April 1903.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2024/09/1...ailway-again-the-railway-magazine-april-1903/

After the first railway entered Welshpool on 10th June 1862 – the Oswestry (by 1903, the Cambrian) Railway, a series of three different schemes were proposed to connect Welshpool and Llanfair Caereinion. The first scheme was put forward in 1864, the second in 1875, the third in 1887. None of these schemes came to fruition. However, “in 1896 a ray of light (the Light Railways Act) illumined the gloomy darkness of uncertainty and failure. Before the measure had received the Royal assent, Dr. C. E. Humphreys (Llanfair) had launched a scheme for connecting Llanfair with the Cambrian Railways, by means of a line through the Meifod Valley and Four Crosses. This was not allowed to pass unchallenged. Immediately Welshpool … entered the lists with a Bill for a 2ft. 6in. gauge light railway, to run from Welshpool to Llanfair. If Llanfair was to have a railway (which was of all things most desirable) that railway, said they, must run from Welshpool. … A spirited war of routes resulted, terminated by the Light Railways Commissioners giving the award to Welshpool for a 2ft. 6in. gauge railway from Welshpool to Llanfair.”

A while back I posted a couple of articles about the town section of the line which had to be abandoned. ....

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/07/24/the-welshpool-llanfair-light-railway/

and

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/09/23/the-welshpool-llanfair-light-railway-an-addendum/

Those articles pull together a large number of photographs and maps associated with that part of the line.

The earlier thread on this forum can be found on this link:

The Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway

The abandoned length through the town ... Those involved with the creation of the preservation line always intended to include the part of the line which ran through the centre of Welshpool. Sadly that was not to be. The local authorities were concerned about the effect of the railway traffic...

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