Private company

Kington and Eardisley Railway

Railway in England

The Kington and Eardisley Railway took over the Kington Tramway, which served the Welsh Marches border town of Kington, Herefordshire. In 1874 it opened a 6 miles 72 chains (11.1 km) line south from Titley Junction to a junction with the Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway, 5 chains (330 ft; 100 m) east of Eardisley. A year later it replaced the remainder of the tramway with a branch west to New Radnor.² Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

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The story

The two branches cost £263,459 to build, of which £5,100 was lent by the Great Western Railway (GWR). Under the Great Western Railway (Additional Powers) Act 1897 (60 & 61 Vict. c. ccxlviii), the company was bought by the GWR on 1 July 1897. Debenture shares were bought for £62 10s per £100 share and ordinary £100 shares for £2.

Titley Junction – Eardisley

When the Hay Tramway was authorised for conversion to a railway in 1859, it was decided that its extension, the Kington Tramway, would also need to be converted. The tramway shares were bought for £45 for each £100 share by an agreement dated 19 December 1861. The Kington and Eardisley Railway Act 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. lxvii) received royal assent on 30 June 1862, authorising the company to raise £100,000, buy and convert the Kington Tramway to standard gauge and build a link from Lyonshall to Marston, which was never built. Thomas Savin, the railway contractor, backed the scheme, though his £16,000 of shares were sold when he went bankrupt in January 1866. Running powers over the Leominster and Kington Railway from Kington to Titley Junction were agreed on 14 April 1868. The line opened on 3 August 1874.

Kington - New Radnor

After the Leominster and Kington Railway opened to Kington in 1857, most of the lime traffic from Burlinjobb (between Dolyhir and Stanner) was transferred from the 3 feet 6 inches (1.07 m) tramway (from 1862 owned by the Kington and Eardisley Railway) to the railway at Kington. The lime traffic was increasing and it was hoped to build a railway to Rhayader and Aberystwyth, so the Kington and Eardisley Railway got an act of Parliament, the Kington and Eardisley Railway Act 1873 (36 & 37 Vict. c. lxxix), for a railway from Kington to New Radnor, mainly parallel to the tramway, on 16 June 1873. It opened on 25 September 1875.

From Wikipedia’s article on Kington and Eardisley Railway, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.³

Products and brands

All the lines were worked by the GWR from their Kington shed using two locos. Initially they were 0-6-0 saddle tanks, then from about 1900 0-4-2 and 2-4-0 tanks, and finally GWR 5800 Class tanks. Passenger trains were formed of three or four coach sets of four wheelers, until eight wheel coaches were introduced in the late 1920s. Both branches were worked on the train staff system.