page_title: Shrewsbury and Welshpool Railway
section_title: Minsterley branch
hierarchical_section_title: Shrewsbury and Welshpool Railway / History / Minsterley branch
caption_attribution_description: English: Breidden Station. View eastward, towards Shrewsbury, taken from the rear of an ex-GWR Diesel railcar (on a Rail Tour from Paddington to Towyn). This station, on the ex-GW&amp;LNW Joint main line - still open in 2010 - Shrewsbury - Buttington (and Welshpool) was called 'Middletown' until 1/2/28 and was closed on 12/9/60; the platforms were staggered. See also
context_page_description: The Shrewsbury and Welshpool Railway was a standard gauge railway which connected the towns of Shrewsbury and Welshpool. It opened in 1861 and the majority of the railway continues in use.
context_section_description: The Minsterley branch served the agricultural communities of the area, but its main purpose was to carry lead from the mines along the Stiperstones hills. These mines were connected to the S&WR at Pontesbury by the 2 ft 4 in (711 mm) narrow gauge Snailbeach District Railways which opened in 1873 and closed in 1959. The Minsterley branch closed for passenger service in 1951 and for freight traffic in the mid 1960s.
caption: Breidden Station in 1953
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "EPSON scanner image", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "78", "Image YResolution": "78", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Centimeter", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2010:06:02 22:57:05", "Image ExifOffset": "204", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "342", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4724", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "640", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "388"}