Cambrian Railways

Creation of the Cambrian Railways: 1864

The Cambrian Railways Company was created on 25 July 1864 when the Cambrian Railways Act 1864 (27 & 28 Vict. c. cclxii) received royal assent. The company was formed by amalgamating most of the railway companies in mid Wales: the Oswestry and Newtown Railway, the Llanidloes and Newtown Railway, the Newtown and Machynlleth Railway and the Oswestry, Ellesmere and Whitchurch Railway. The shareholders of these constituent companies became the shareholders in the new Cambrian Railways Company. The Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway was not included in the amalgamation because it was still under construction. In all, the new company had lines totalling 97+1⁄4 miles (157 km) in length.

As well as incorporating existing railways, the new company had agreements to share traffic with the Mid-Wales Railway, the Manchester and Milford Railway and the Great Western Railway. This allowed it to control the transportation of goods and passengers across mid Wales.

The headquarters of the Cambrian Railways was at Oswestry railway station in Shropshire. The building still stands today, although detached from modern network main railway lines, and was in use for commercial purposes until 2004. After restoration in 2005, this building was reopened as the Cambrian Visitor Centre in June 2006; but on 11 January 2008 closed due to the terms of the lease not being settled. It has since reopened and, amongst other things, is as of 2009 being used as the headquarters for the newly formed Cambrian Heritage Railways (CHR) restoration project.

The largest station premises on the line were at Aberystwyth (part of which has been restored and reopened as a J D Wetherspoon in the mid-2000s).

Accidents

On 1 January 1883, a passenger train was struck by a landslide at Friog, Merionethshire. The locomotive and its tender were pushed into the sea. Both crew were killed.

On 11 June 1897, a passenger train was derailed at Welshampton, Shropshire due to a combination of defective track and excessive speed. Twelve people were killed.

On 17 January 1918, two freight trains were in a head-on collision at Parkhall, Shropshire due to irregular operation of tablet instruments by signalmen at Oswestry North and Ellesmere Junction signal boxes. The design of the circuitry connecting the instruments and the weather were contributory factors.

A head-on collision occurred at Abermule on 26 January 1921, killing 15 passengers, including Lord Herbert Vane-Tempest, chairman of the company and son of the fifth Marquess of Londonderry. The accident was caused by a confusion amongst the staff at Abermule whereby the driver of the train in the station was given back the token he had just handed over, for the section of track he had just travelled over – it would not have been possible to give him the token for the next section. The driver did not check which token he had and set off. He soon collided with the Aberystwyth to Manchester express coming the other way, which had the token for that section.