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Shrewsbury And Welshpool Railway
The Shrewsbury and Welshpool Railway (S&WR) is a standard gauge railway which connects the towns of Shrewsbury and Welshpool. It opened in 1861 and the majority of the railway continues in use. History Incorporation The S&WR was incorporated in an Act of Parliament in 1856. Although initially an independent company, the line was to be operated and maintained by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). Opening Construction under the Act began in 1859, and by 1861 the line from Shrewsbury to Minsterley was completed, and opened on 14 February 1861. Construction of the main line to Welshpool was completed later in 1861 and officially opened on 27 January 1862. Minsterley branch 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 narrow gauge Snailbeach District Railways which opened in 1873 and closed in 1959 ...
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Standard Gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the most widely used track gauge around the world, with approximately 55% of the lines in the world using it. All high-speed rail lines use standard gauge except those in Russia, Finland, and Uzbekistan. The distance between the inside edges of the rails is defined to be 1435 mm except in the United States and on some heritage British lines, where it is defined in U.S. customary/Imperial units as exactly "four feet eight and one half inches" which is equivalent to 1435.1mm. History As railways developed and expanded, one of the key issues was the track gauge (the distance, or width, between the inner sides of the rails) to be used. Different railways used different gauges, and where rails of different gauge m ...
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Snailbeach District Railways
Snailbeach District Railways was a British narrow gauge railway in Shropshire. It was built to carry lead ore from mines in the Stiperstones to Pontesbury where the ore was transshipped to the Great Western Railway's Minsterley branch line. Coal from the Pontesford coal mines travelled in the opposite direction. The line ended at Snailbeach, the location of Shropshire's largest and richest lead mine, though there had been a plan to extend it further, which would have brought it closer to more lead mines. History The railway was incorporated by Act of Parliament on 5 August 1873 and opened in 1877. It was built with an unusual gauge of . The line was prosperous at first, carrying annually and paying a 3% dividend. However, in 1884, the Tankerville Great Consols Company mine, the largest user of the railway, closed, and tonnage fell to . In 1905, the Ceirog Granite Company opened a quarry near Habberley, and a branch was built to serve this. An extra locomotive was requir ...
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Railway Companies Established In 1856
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prepared flat surface, rail vehicles (rolling stock) are directionally guided by the tracks on which they run. Tracks usually consist of steel rails, installed on sleepers (ties) set in ballast, on which the rolling stock, usually fitted with metal wheels, moves. Other variations are also possible, such as "slab track", in which the rails are fastened to a concrete foundation resting on a prepared subsurface. Rolling stock in a rail transport system generally encounters lower frictional resistance than rubber-tyred road vehicles, so passenger and freight cars (carriages and wagons) can be coupled into longer trains. The operation is carried out by a railway company, providing transport between train stations or freight customer facilit ...
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British Railways
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British railway companies), Big Four British railway companies, and was privatisation of British Rail, privatised in stages between 1994 and 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission, it became an independent statutory corporation in January 1963, when it was formally renamed the British Railways Board. The period of nationalisation saw sweeping changes in the railway. A process of dieselisation and Railway electrification in Great Britain, electrification took place, and by 1968 steam locomotives had been entirely replaced by diesel and electric traction, except for the Vale of Rheidol Railway (a narrow-gauge railway, narrow-gauge tourist line). Passenger train, Passengers replaced freight train, ...
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Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ... with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838 with the initial route completed between London and Bristol in 1841. It was engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who chose a broad gauge of —later slightly widened to —but, from 1854, a series of Consolidation (business), amalgamations saw it also operate Standard gauge, standard-gauge trains; the last broad-gauge services were operated in 1892. The GWR was the only company to keep its identity through the Railways Act 1921, which ama ...
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Machynlleth
Machynlleth () is a market town, community and electoral ward in Powys, Wales and within the historic boundaries of Montgomeryshire. It is in the Dyfi Valley at the intersection of the A487 and the A489 roads. At the 2001 Census it had a population of 2,147, rising to 2,235 in 2011. It is sometimes referred to colloquially as ''Mach''. Machynlleth was the seat of Owain Glyndŵr's Welsh Parliament in 1404,''The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales''. John Davies, Nigel Jenkins, Menna Baines and Peredur Lynch (2008) pg527 and as such claims to be the "ancient capital of Wales". However, it has never held any official recognition as a capital. It applied for city status in 2000 and 2002, but was unsuccessful. It is twinned with Belleville, Michigan. Machynlleth hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1937 and 1981. Etymology The etymology of the name Machynlleth derives from "ma-" ield, plainand " Cynllaith". History There is a long history of human activity in the Machy ...
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Cambrian Railways
The Cambrian Railways owned of track over a large area of mid Wales. The system was an amalgamation of a number of railways that were incorporated in 1864, 1865 and 1904. The Cambrian connected with two larger railways with connections to the northwest of England via the London and North Western Railway, and the Great Western Railway for connections between London and Wales. The Cambrian Railways amalgamated with the Great Western Railway on 1 January 1922 as a result of the Railways Act 1921. The name is continued today in the route known as the Cambrian Line. History Creation of the Cambrian Railways: 1864 The Cambrian Railways Company was created on 25 July 1864 when the Cambrian Railways Act of Parliament received Royal Assent. The company was formed by amalgamating most of the railway companies in mid Wales: the Oswestry and Newtown Railway, the Llanidloes and Newtown Railway, the Newtown and Machynlleth Railway and the Oswestry, Ellesmere and Whitchurch Railway. Th ...
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Narrow Gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structure gauges, and lighter rails, they can be less costly to build, equip, and operate than standard- or broad-gauge railways (particularly in mountainous or difficult terrain). Lower-cost narrow-gauge railways are often used in mountainous terrain, where engineering savings can be substantial. Lower-cost narrow-gauge railways are often built to serve industries as well as sparsely populated communities where the traffic potential would not justify the cost of a standard- or broad-gauge line. Narrow-gauge railways have specialised use in mines and other environments where a small structure gauge necessitates a small loading gauge. In some countries, narrow gauge is the standard; Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, New Zealand, South Africa, and the ...
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Railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prepared flat surface, rail vehicles (rolling stock) are directionally guided by the tracks on which they run. Tracks usually consist of steel rails, installed on Railroad tie, sleepers (ties) set in track ballast, ballast, on which the rolling stock, usually fitted with metal wheels, moves. Other variations are also possible, such as "slab track", in which the rails are fastened to a concrete foundation resting on a prepared subsurface. Rolling stock in a rail transport system generally encounters lower friction, frictional resistance than rubber-tyred road vehicles, so passenger and freight cars (carriages and wagons) can be coupled into longer trains. The rail transport operations, operation is carried out by a ...
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Stiperstones
The Stiperstones ( cy, Carneddau Teon) is a distinctive hill in the county of Shropshire, England. The quartzite rock of the ridge formed some 480 million years ago. During the last Ice Age Stiperstones lay on the eastern margin of the Welsh ice sheet. The hill itself was not glaciated though glaciers occupied surrounding valleys and it was subject to intense freezing and thawing which shattered the quartzite into a mass of jumbled scree surrounding several residual rocky tors. At above sea level it is the second-highest hill in the county, surpassed only by Brown Clee Hill (). Stiperstones' summit ridge is crowned by several jagged outcrops of rock, which may be seen silhouetted against the sky. Geography The Stiperstones is noted for its tors of quartzite. The principal ones are named as follows, from north-east to south-west: * Shepherd's Rock () * Devil's Chair () * Manstone Rock () * Cranberry Rock () * Nipstone Rock () * The Rock () Manstone Rock is the highest o ...
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