GWR Alveley Branch Line

## Alveley - Coalbrookdale Branch Line

The Alveley to Coalbrookdale Branch Line is a rural railway in the west of [country name], connecting the rural settlements of Alveley and Coalbrookdale. The line is owned by the Great Western Railway and was opened in March 1890. The line is one of the least used in the country, serving only the people of the immediate local vicinity.

### 1889-1947

The line was constructed by the Great Western Railway between October to December of 1889, it initially running only between Coalbrookdale and Helston. It was constructed due to demand for coal to be transported from Coalbrookdale Colliery to Helston for processing and shipping. The line was granted a *Light Railway Order* from the government on 7th January 1890, but the initial opening was set back to March due to heavy snow and bitter conditions.

The line was initially successful - despite being freight only. With high demand for coal exports from Fairview docks, the GWR had no shortage of work. Within the first two years, it ran a very good profit for the company.

The line continued to operate this way until 1910, when the GWR decided to expand the Railway into passenger operations, to the new town of Alveley. The extension took 5 months to build, and more than doubled the length of the line. The extension also saw the construction of three passenger stations, Coalbrookdale, Helston and Alveley.

The passenger services proved to be profitable, which came as a great surprise to the Great Western, as they were facing heavy competition from the London & Northwestern Railway in the region.

   The railway opened a fourth station, Macklebury Halt in 1912, which served the new McCains potato farms, which employed many people from Alveley.

In 1914, the line was closed to passengers to focus entirely on providing coal for the navy in the First World War. The stations fell into disrepair, as well as much of the trackwork North of Helston, due to its rare use and neglect over the period.

The line was repaired and reopened to passengers in January 1919.

The King visited the region, and travelled on the railway to celebrate it's 40th year in 1930. In a rare event, the royal train did not fit the loading gauge, and the King had to use a regular passenger train instead. Pannier tank 7714 was painted into royal blue for the occasion.

In 1939, the line once again closed to passengers, due to the outbreak of the Second World War. The GWR initially resisted closing to passengers, however busy coal trains between Coalbrookdale and Helston couldn't afford to be interrupted by passenger services.

This six year period left the railway in a very poor state. Alveley station, once a highlight of the town's architecture, looked to be all but abandoned. Incessive use of the Coalbrookdale to Helston section with overloaded coal trains, coupled with very lackluster maintenance, meant the GWR ordered the closure of the line entirely in March 1946, so repairs could begin.

However, in August that year - as works had just commenced - Falling Sands viaduct, a 200 meter span Victorian brick viaduct, collapsed in it's middle. This quickly spread to the outer sections, leaving the viaduct nearly completely gone. With it being a vital part of the line's infrastructure, the GWR concentrated efforts on the clean up operation. Following further surveys carried out later that year, the GWR deemed the viaduct uneconomical to repair, and chose to close the line permanently following a meeting on the 15th December 1946, with no public consultation.

The viaduct was believed to have collapsed due to excessive use beyond it's loading gauge during the war effort, weakening it to the point of collapse.

Passenger services officially ceased between Helston and Alveley on the 6th February 1947.

### 1959-Present

In 1959, the GWR was looking to expand back into the region, with Coalbrookdale now poised to become a prominent area for steel production.

While the track bed was still mostly intact, most of the track and signaling would need to be reinstalled. The GWR considered it to be affordable due to recent high profits, despite the heavy cost of rebuilding bridges. It was not considered for passenger use, and would serve freight trains to and from the steelworks only.

The reconstruction took a long time with many setbacks - the line officially reopened to freight traffic on the 4th June 1961. It was profitable and the GWR was ultimately successful in it's plan.

Local MP Johnathon Islington began a campaign in 1966 for the railway to begin running passenger trains. This lead to a petition of over 8,000 local people who pledged they would use the service very regularly if it were to be reopened. The GWR were not convinced that there was sufficient demand for the line to be affordable.

Mr. Islington lobbied the government successfully into offering a subsidy to the GWR to help cover the running costs. The GWR agreed, and began work repairing the railway.

Alveley station required a complete rebuild due to the heavy decay over it's 20 years of closure. Coalbrookdale was in a similar state, but was salvaged. Macklebury Halt was demolished, and a new platform erected in it's place.

Helston station (and the associated goods yard) was controversially not reopened. The GWR stated that due to the closure of the coal processing plants, there was little to no demand for services. The dwindling population of the village did protest, but to no avail. Much of the track around the goods yard was well preserved, and was reused on the rebuild of the railway.

Passenger trains began operations on 1st January 1969, this time under diesel traction. The line was brought up to modern standards of signaling and station facilities. Despite initial fears from the GWR that roads may cause to much competition, the line regain healthy passenger numbers.

throughout the 1970s-1980s, the line remained popular among residents, with rumours of an extension to Fairview via Crystal Palace. However, into the 1990's, these dreams came crashing down when the railway fell on hard times.

When the GWR fell into financial difficulty in 1994, the line was shortlisted for closure to help the company stay afloat. By complete luck, a large landslide on the Aylesbury line occurred, the GWR preferred to close that line instead.

Despite narrowly escaping a second closure, the towns gained population on the 2000's, becoming popular rural retirement areas. With this came a large resurgence in profitability for the GWR.

In the modern day, the line sees healthy passenger numbers, with a full scale overhaul of infrastructure planned for around 2025. It is widely considered a very lucky line to have escaped a 20 year closure, and then to have been saved by pure coincidence.

### Stations:

#### Alveley

Alveley railway station is the busiest station on the line, seeing an average of 45,000 passengers per year. It was built in 1910 and has been the most vital piece of infrastructure in Alveley since. It's closure in 1946 left the town without a rail link, which severely disrupted local people. It was rebuilt in the 60's,due to its neglect during closure making it structurally unsafe.

It has had two notable stationmasters, the first being Richard Sadlier, from 1923-29, who went on to become chairman of the GWR in 1947. Another was Abraham Charles, who went on to be a famous blues musician. He was said to have often practiced his music on the platform.

#### Coalbrookdale

Coalbrookdale railway station was opened on 7th August 1910, although it's associated freight yard opened with the line in 1890. It was the first passenger station to finish construction on the line. It sees a healthy number of passengers per year, averaging at around 32,000. The station has been through many refurbishments, but the building in place today is the original 1910 structure.

The station is the site of the only major accident on the line, when a goods train collided with a passenger service in 1933. 2 people were injured, but all involved survived. The brand new Collet Goods freight locomotive was written off and scrapped.

#### Helston (Disused)

Helston station was opened in 1910 and served to small village of Helston near Coalbrookdale, but was principally for the workers of the coal processing plants there. It was a generally unremarkable station, with no staffing and lackluster facilities. The station was damaged by flooding in 1919 and was closed for a 5 month period.

The station saw less use in its final years, until it was closed along with the rest of the line in 1946. When the line was reopened in the 1960's, Helston was left closed. The once bustling yard had also degraded heavily, seeing no use since the decline of the coal processing industry in the area. Parts of signaling equipment and trackwork were used in the rebuild of the line, due to its good condition. While many campaigned for it's reopening, it fell of deaf ears at the GWR, who had already firmly decided not to reopen it.

The original brick and mortar platforms remained in place, overgrown, for many decades after it's closure, but was demolished in the 2000's.

#### Endale Halt (Disused)

Endale Halt was a station built temporarily in 1940, to serve the army base that had been established to train conscripts for the two regiments based at Fairview. It was a basic wooden structure, and troops were transported there on empty coal wagons, due to the passenger coaches being stabled out of use at Alveley during the war. The base was closed after the war, and the station was dismantled in 1947, having been closed to passengers in December 1945. It is the shortest lived station on the line, and there is no trace of it left today.

#### Spudder's Halt

Spudder's Halt, opened originally as Macklebury Halt in 1912, is a small halt located adjacent to the McCain's potato farms. It sees the least passengers on the line per year, at just 15,000. They are nearly all workers on the potato farm.

The halt was rebuilt and renamed and as Spudder's Halt in 1969 when the line reopened. The name was decided by a local competition.

The station surprisingly won the GWR's annual *Best Kept Station of the Year* award in 1980, with the McCain family looking after the flower beds and upkeep of the station for a hobby.

### Locomotives:

In the early years, coal trains were operated by GWR Class 850's and Class 1901's. A lone 1016 Class was used for Shunting at Helston until 1919.

The railway predominantly used Dean Goods locomotives on coal trains from 1900 onwards, then being replaced by Collet Goods in the 1930's.

Pannier tank engines took passenger services, predominantly the 1500 Class, from 1910's until closure in the 1940's.

Later, Class 121 single carriage DMU's took over passenger trains upon reopening in the 60's until class 150's took over in the 80s, which operate on the line until this day.

Freight services to Coalbrookdale steelworks have historically been run by whatever was available at Fairview depot at the time, usually a Class 37 or a Class 20.