page_title: Mid-Wales Railway
section_title: From 1922
hierarchical_section_title: Mid-Wales Railway / From 1922
caption_attribution_description: English: Llanidloes station, with southbound Mid-Wales line train. View northward, towards Moat Lane Junction: ex-Cambrian Railway Mount Lane - Builth - Three Cocks line. Back in 1949, ex-Cambrian or ex-GW 0-6-0's worked most of the traffic on this line, which was closed on 31/12/62 although goods traffic continued as far as Llanidloes until 4/5/64. No. 2483 is a GW 'Dean Goods' 0-6-0 (built 5/1896, withdrawn 9/52).
context_page_description: The Mid-Wales Railway was a railway company intended to make a trunk route through Wales, connecting industrial areas of north west England with sea ports in south west Wales. In fact it was prevented from reaching its goal by competing proposals in Parliament, and it was limited to a line between Llanidloes and a junction with the Brecon and Merthyr Railway five miles east of Brecon. It was seventy miles in length and opened in 1864. It had found it impossible to raise share subscription, but the contractor partnership of Davies and Savin agreed to build the line and take shares in payment,
  The line ran through sparsely populated terrain and had steep gradients and sharp curves, so that there was little local traffic and the limited long distance business was costly to operate. Finding continued independence impossible to sustain, the company amalgamated with the Cambrian Railways in 1904.
  Use of the line declined in the 1930s and afterwards, and the very limited use of the line resulted in closure after the last day of operation on 30 December 1962.
context_section_description: The Government decided to merge most of the numerous independent railways of Great Britain into one or other of four new large companies, in a process called the "grouping of the railways" under the Railways Act 1921. The Cambrian Railways, of which the Mid-Wales Railway network was now a part, was to be a constituent of the new Great Western Railway group. Summary statistics prepared for the process showed that the Cambrian Railway group were not paying a dividend in 1921. Semmens claims that the Cambrian Railways finished the year with a good balance on its books, which showed a profit of £122,970. 
  Christiansen and Miller say "the increases in trade and fares were not sufficient to keep the small companies buoyant and everything was against them remaining independent any longer. Costs and wages had soared to such a level that it was impossible for a company the size of the Cambrian, which had limited potential, to meet expenses out of revenue."
  The new Great Western Railway was formed from its seven constituents from 1 January 1922. Due to the Amalgamation Tribunal not giving its assent until March, the actual date of amalgamation was 25 March 1922.
  During the 1930s the Great Western made great efforts to stimulate traffic on the Mid-Wales line by excursions and cheap tickets. Such events as the Brecon Agricultural Show, the Radnorshire Show, or the Shrewsbury Floral Fete were the occasion for cheap fares or special trains, though timetabled trains were more often used. There were some remarkable long distance excursions, such as Builth Wells to Liverpool, good value at 6 shillings. Another 6 shilling trip was an excursion from Llanidloes to Barry Island on a Sunday.
  Goods traffic on the line had always been varied. Although timber had been handled at two of the private sidings and stone at the Llanelwedd siding, there were no important industries; it was through traffic, apart from some local sheep transfers. Kidner quotes a foreman on the line from 1920 to 1964: there was slate from the Cambrian's northern lines going to South Wales; dolomite from the Llynclys quarry to Ebbw Vale and Dowlais, one train per day for many years. Some structural steel, fabricated or semi-fabricated, came off the Cheshire Lines railway and down through the Mid-Wales for export at Cardiff.
caption: A train at Llanidloes railway station in 1949
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