Calling at... British railway stations: Hampton Loade

Hampton Loade is near to the Shropshire hamlets of Hampton and Hampton Loade. The station originally was just a single platform though in 1883 a second platform and passing loop were added.

Information
Type:	Preserved Railway (Severn Valley Railway)
Opened:	1862 (Closed 1963)
Re-opened:	1970
Platforms:	2

The station was opened as Hampton by the West Midlands Railway in 1862 (the name changed to Hampton Loade within weeks) on it's Severn Valley Railway route from Hartlebury to Shrewsbury and incorporated into the Great Western Railway the following year.

The station closed in 1963 during the Beeching Axe era (though the station had already been listed for closure even before the publication of the Beeching report) along with much of the rest of the Severn Valley Line [1]. The station was re-opened in 1970 as the Southern terminus of the then-new Severn Valley Railway preserved railway [2].

Hampton Loade remained the Severn Valley Railway's terminus until 1974 when the line was extended South to Highley, Arley and Bewdley.

As Hampton Loade retains its passing loop it is still important for SVR operations and is one of the more picturesque stations on the line along with Arley. Hampton Loade is the home of the thirty two mm gauge Paddock Garden Railway and a number of preserved items of rolling stock.