Leominster (LEO)

Leominster is a stop on the Welsh Marches Line in Herefordshire between Ludlow and Hereford. 

TfW 175 007 departs

Information
Type:	National Rail (Welsh Marches Line)
Station code:	LEO
Opened:	1853
Platforms:	2

The station was opened in 1853 by the Shrewsbury & Hereford Railway, a joint venture between the GWR and LNWR. Two branch lines were later opened from Leominster, to Worcester and to Kington. The station had five platforms with fast lines passing through the station [1]. The two branches were closed in the 1950s. The station had an elevated signalbox over one of the platforms, this was closed in 1964. A goods yard closed in 1967.

The station now has just two platforms with one train per hour stopping in each direction between Manchester Piccadilly and Carmarthen, operated by Transport for Wales. The station has a ticket office open part time in the main station building.

This footbridge crosses the line

Main station building

Platform shelter

Station footbridge, with lifts

Preparing to depart

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Worcester to Hereford (Middleton Press, 2004) Fig. 40

Kerne Bridge

Kerne Bridge was a stop on the Ross & Monmouth Railway in Herefordshire between Lydbrook Junction and Walford Halt. 

Information
Type:	National Rail (Ross & Monmouth Railway)
Opened:	1873
Closed:	1959
Platforms:	2

The station was opened in 1873, later becoming part of the Great Western Railway. The station was closed in 1959 though the line remained open until 1965. The station had a loop and a good siding. A camping coach was located at the station during the 1930s and 1950s.

After closure the main station building was used as an outdoor activity centre. Nowadays it is a private dwelling.

Kerne Bridge after closure (KD collection)

Hereford (HFD)

Hereford is the junction of the Cotswold Line and the Welsh Marches Line. On the latter it is between Abergavenny and Leominster.

WMR 170 502 waits at Hereford

Information
Type:	National Rail (Cotswold & Welsh Marches Lines)
Station code:	HFD
Opened:	1853
Platforms:	4

The station was opened in 1853 as Hereford Barrs Court [1]. It was jointly operated by the standard gauge Shrewsbury & Hereford Railway and the Great Western Railway's broad gauge Hereford, Ross & Gloucester Railway. The broad gauge line was converted to standard gauge in 1869. The station was renamed Hereford in 1893 when the GWR's Hereford Barton station was closed.

The station's original station buildings were replaced with the current structure in 1878-83 during a major rebuild of the station [2]. The station has four platforms with a footbridge connecting them.

The station is managed by Transport for Wales. It is served by Transport for Wales services along the Welsh Marches Line. West Midlands Railway services from Birmingham New Street terminate here as do GWR Cotswold Line services from London Paddington.

A pair of WMR 170s at Hereford

View of platform 3 and the main building

TfW 175 008 arrives with a Wales bound service

Footbridge

Hereford signal box

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Worcester to Hereford (Middleton Press, 2004) Map. XXX
[2] Ibid. Fig. 114

Colwall (CWL)

Colwall is a stop on the Cotswold & Malvern Line in Herefordshire between Great Malvern and Ledbury.

WMR 170 516 departs Colwall for Hereford

Information
Type:	National Rail (Cotswold Line)
Station code:	CWL
Opened:	1861
Platforms:	1

The station was opened in 1861 [1] by the West Midlands Railway, the station being the other side of the nearly one and half kilometre long Colwall tunnel which cuts through the Malvern Hills. The station originally had two platforms plus a goods yard. The yard was closed in 1964. The line was singled between Colwall and Ledbury in 1967 [2].

Although there is now only one platform remaining the footbridge which linked the two platforms has been retained for walkers who need to cross the line. The station is managed by West Midlands Railway (the current day version) whose Birmingham New Street-Hereford services stop at Colwall along with some selected Great Western Railway services between Hereford and London Paddington.

Station footbridge

View from the footbridge looking towards Malvern

Platform view

Looking towards Hereford, a WMR 170 approaches

Station view from the footbridge looking in the direction of Hereford

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Worcester to Hereford (MIddleton Press, 2004) Map. XXI
[2] Ibid. Fig. 66

Credenhill

Credenhill is a now closed station in Herefordshire on the Hereford, Hay & Brecon Railway between Hereford Moorlands and Moorhampton. It served a small village and also the former RAF Credenhill (now the headquarters of the SAS!)

Information
Type:	National Rail (Hereford, Hay & Brecon Railway)
Opened:	1863
Closed:	1962
Platforms:	1

The railway grew out of an early nineteenth century tramroad with the eventual line connecting Hereford to Three Cocks Junction where it joined the Mid-Wales Railway. Credenhill was an intermediate station on the first section that opened between Hereford and Moorhampton in 1863. The full line was opened the following year.

The line was later amalgamated into the Midland Railway and later the LMS. Although through passenger services did go through to Swansea for a time the line never became a trunk route. Later the station became part of British Railway's Western Region but remained a backwater.

Credenhill was closed in 1962 as passenger services along the line ceased. The line closing for good in 1964.

Credenhill, with Midland Railway style nameboards (KD collection)

Ledbury (LED)

An updated version of this station profile can now be found on our dedicated railway station website

Ledbury is on the line between Worcester and Hereford, part of the Cotswold Line, and also known as the Birmingham-Hereford Line.

Information
Type:	National Rail (Cotswold Line)
Station code:	LED
Opened:	1861
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the West Midlands Railway in 1861. Later on it was known as Ledbury Junction after the Daffodil Line from Ledbury to Gloucester was opened in the 1880s (the now closed Ledbury Town Halt is not far away). The current Ledbury signalbox was built to manage the junction and still remains long after the branch line was closed.

Most of the line from Malvern to Hereford is single-track though Ledbury is double tracked. Nowadays the station has just basic facilities, though does have a ticket office, and shelters though used to have brick station buildings with GWR style canopies [1]. A goods yard, for coal traffic, just ahead of the station by the signalbox is now closed though some of the tracks remain [2].

Ledbury has services to destinations such as Birmingham New Street, Hereford, London Paddington and Worcester Foregate Street.

170 510, then operated by London Midland, departs Ledbury

View towards Hereford from the footbridge

Ledbury signal box

Station sign

Footbridge

Two London Midland 170s depart

[1] Michael Welch, Diesels on the Western (Capital Transport, 2013) p. 8
[2] Ibid. p. 38

Ledbury Town Halt

Ledbury Town Halt was opened by the Ledbury & Gloucester Railway in 1885. The line - also known as the Daffodil Line - was built over part of the Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal which was leased to the GWR in 1863. Work began in the 1880s on converting part of it to a railway which ran from Ledbury Junction (the current Ledbury station) to Gloucester.

Information
Type:	National Rail (Daffodil Line)
Opened:	1885
Closed:	1959

Traffic on the line was light, the line being singled during the First World War, especially towards the end when a single railcar sufficed [1]. Closure of the line began in 1959 when Ledbury Town Halt was closed, though parts of the line did continue for freight until the early 1960s.

Nowadays there is little trace of Ledbury Town Halt, the track bed is now a walking trail (the Ledbury Town Trail) which was filled in to bring to the same height as the surrounding land. Photos of the station can be seen on this web page.

Looking North towards Ledbury station

The station was just about here but no trace remains

[1] Michael Welch, Diesels on the Western (Capital Transport, 2013) p. 8