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Leominster and Kington Railway

Railway line in England

Leominster and Kington Railway was one of four branches which served the Welsh Marches border town of Kington, Herefordshire. Opened in August 1857, its peak was during World War II, when it served two US Army hospitals. Declining after the war due to competition from buses, it closed to passengers in 1955, and to freight from 1964.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

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Leominster and Kington Railway was one of four branches which served the Welsh Marches border town of Kington, Herefordshire.2

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Eventually, it was agreed to open the line under a temporary order, subject to retrospective application and government approval of the level crossing. The line opened on Tuesday, 28 July 1857, with a train consisting of 32 coaches and two engines travelling from the joint GWR/LNWR station at Leominster to Kington, stopping briefly at all stations along the line. When they reached Kington, the directors retired to the Oxford Arms Hotel, where with 300 guests then Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Hastings CB presided over lunch. The return journey was completed with dinner for the same 300 guests at the Royal Oak Hotel, Leominster, presided over by Lord Bateman. Bateman remained chairman for 22 years, and had a private station built at Ox House.

In 1862, the line was leased to the West Midland Railway, which taken over by the Great Western Railway, amalgamated the line on 1 July 1898. This meant that by 1874 a journey from Kington to Leominster took 40 minutes, to Hereford 1 hour 20 minutes, and to Shrewsbury 3 hours and 30 minutes.

As the line was rural, and based in the Welsh Marches farm district, the main revenue was earned from transporting goods to the various markets. Sheep and cattle which had been driven to Kington on the various drovers trails, were now transported to their original destination of Hereford by train. Often on market days, seven or eight cattle trucks were attached to the Hereford-bound passenger service, specifically for bull transportation.

Titley Junction was the busiest intermediate station on the line with up to 30 trains a day passing through. It was the connection point for the L&KR with the Kington and Eardisley Railway south to the Hay Railway, and the L&KR's own line to Presteigne.

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After completion of this extension, the K&ER extended north from Kington to a small station at New Radnor, in the hope of completing a cross-Wales mainline to Aberystwyth, but this never happened.

Kington and Presteigne Railway

The Kington and Presteigne Railway opened on 9 September 1875. Commencing at Titley Junction, it passed through Leen farm, to Staunton-on-Arrow, in front of the Rodd farm via Corton into Presteigne. By 1929 it was possible to join one of the three steam trains a day – each way – and make the 6 hour journey to London. The passenger service on this line ended in 1951, but a freight service continued to run every other day until the line was finally closed in 1964.

World War II

With need for new hospital capacity out of the reach of Nazi Luftwaffe bombers, the British government looked at sites in the Welsh Marches, which had the convenience of being accessible.

A hospital camp was built by the British Army at Hergest, which later acted as a clearing point for two general hospitals built by the US Army in 1943. The first dedicated hospital train arrived shortly after the Battle of Dunkirk in 1940. After the US Army Artillery arrived in late 1943, the camp had received 11 hospital trains for one hospital, carrying up to 300 patients per train. Between 4 January and 28 April 1945, the other hospital had received 10 trains and admitted 2,413 patients. All the hospital trains arrived from Southampton.

The camp was developed as RAF Shobdon, a glider training camp for both the Normandy and Arnhem campaigns.

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

Sources

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