Pontrilas railway station

Pontrilas
A busy scene at Pontrilas Station in 1907
Location	Pontrilas, Herefordshire England
Coordinates	51°56′37″N 2°52′35″W / 51.9435°N 2.8765°W / 51.9435; -2.8765Coordinates: 51°56′37″N 2°52′35″W / 51.9435°N 2.8765°W / 51.9435; -2.8765
Grid reference	SO397276
Platforms	3
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway
Key dates
1854	Opened[1]
9 June 1958	Closed[2]

Postcard from 1927 at the busy junction station

Arriva Trains Wales service passing the disused station

Pontrilas railway station was a former station which served the Herefordshire villages of Pontrilas and Ewyas Harold, and was a little distance from Grosmont, in Monmouthshire, Wales. It was located on the Welsh Marches Line between Hereford and Abergavenny. The Golden Valley Railway^[3] ran from here through to the Midland Railway line at Hay on Wye. The station is now a private house offering B&B and a self-catering cottage.^[4]

The station closed in 1958 (see Pontrilas).

The remaining railway infrastructure includes the operating signal box. The sidings are still in use for infrastructure work and, less often, as a freight loop. It is at the end of the long climb from Abergavenny; freight and steam specials on this route provide a noisy spectacle coming through the station site. In the southbound direction the long section between Pontrilas and Abergavenny frequently results in trains being held here awaiting a clear run into Abergavenny.

The branch line junction and bridge, crossing the A465 onto the Golden Valley Railway, has been demolished in road widening - only the abutment to the bridge remains.

During the 1990s rail freight operated to this set of sidings, delivering wood to Pontrilas Sawmill. Plans were even mooted to open a short siding into it; this would have had to cross the A465 or replace the missing Golden Valley bridge so was unlikely. Freight traffic ended when British Rail closed its Freightliner service.

A large online model railway retailer - OnTracks.co.uk – was based in the business unit below the signal box. The unit is now occupied by Golden Valley Hobbies who operate a similar online store.

There are plans to open a new station for the village.^[5][6]

In March 2020, a bid was made to the Restoring Your Railway fund to get funds for a feasibility study into reinstating the station. This bid was unsuccessful. ^[7]

References[]

Further reading[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pontrilas railway station.

• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2005). Hereford to Newport. West Sussex: Middleton Press. figs. 37-44. ISBN 9781904474548. OCLC 318952259.
• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2007). Branch Lines around Hay-on-Wye. Middleton Press. figs. 53-56. ISBN 9781904474920. OCLC 288983659.

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