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Description

Back in 2009, with a group of friends, I did a tour of railways in Wales. One of the foremost of these was the 'Heart of Wales' line, formerly known as the Central Wales line, which ran services from Shrewsbury via Craven Arms down to (originally) Swansea Victoria. The 'Dodgy Doctor', in his report of 1963, recommended that the Central Wales line be closed but ultimately only the Pontardulais to Swansea Victoria part fell to the Beeching Axe. By the time of our visit, Swansea Victoria had long gone and trains ran into Swansea High Street, having left the Central Wales route at Llanelli.

In the days of steam, LMS and British Railways standard power worked the line, the class fives and 8Fs slogging up to the summits at Sugar Loaf and Llangunllo. During our visit, the trains were somewhat less impressive but the scenery was still well worth experiencing

Here, our single unit 153 323 has paused at Knighton on July 29, 2009 and the guard (or are they now all 'conductors'?) watches a couple of departing passengers (sorry, customers. I never could get used to the modern version).

A postscript to this picture that I found out during my research is that Knighton station, 400 yards from the town, is actually in Shropshire, England, whilst Knighton itself is in Powys, Wales. The border is in the car park. Could this only happen in the UK?!

Description

Back in 2009, with a group of friends, I did a tour of railways in Wales. One of the foremost of these was the 'Heart of Wales' line, formerly known as the Central Wales line, which ran services from Shrewsbury via Craven Arms down to (originally) Swansea Victoria. The 'Dodgy Doctor', in his report of 1963, recommended that the Central Wales line be closed but ultimately only the Pontardulais to Swansea Victoria part fell to the Beeching Axe. By the time of our visit, Swansea Victoria had long gone and trains ran into Swansea High Street, having left the Central Wales route at Llanelli.

In the days of steam, LMS and British Railways standard power worked the line, the class fives and 8Fs slogging up to the summits at Sugar Loaf and Llangunllo. During our visit, the trains were somewhat less impressive but the scenery was still well worth experiencing

Here, our single unit 153 323 has paused at Knighton on July 29, 2009 and the guard (or are they now all 'conductors'?) watches a couple of departing passengers (sorry, customers. I never could get used to the modern version).

A postscript to this picture that I found out during my research is that Knighton station, 400 yards from the town, is actually in Shropshire, England, whilst Knighton itself is in Powys, Wales. The border is in the car park. Could this only happen in the UK?!