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In
November 1987 it was withdrawn at Gateshead and a year later it
was acquired for use at Rowden Mill.
It
is currently painted 'mid-brunswick green' as D2371 and is fully
operational and dual braked. In a nearby siding stands a coach which
was originally built in 1936 as kitchen car M30088 for the Coronation
Scot. In
1958 it was converted into Inspection Saloon TDM 395279 when it
was known as the "movement manager's saloon". It was subsequently
pensioned off for use as a TOPS training coach at Luton.
In
1985 it was moved to Rowden Mill where it was tastefully modified
to provide self-catering accommodation for holidays. It is no wonder
that in March 1989 Rowden Mill received the British Rail Award in
the Ian Allan Railway Heritage Awards for the Best Renovated Non-Working
station.
In
1997 Rowden Mill celebrated its centenary by publishing a booklet
on the line as well as providing an open weekend with GWR Tank locomotive
no 1450 on site for the weekend. Just under 2½ miles away (or at
one time nine minutes by train) can be found Fencote, another splendidly
restored station. Like Rowden Mill it is situated in an isolated
area and it is hard to believe that either station ever had more
than a few passengers at one time.
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| This
coach at Fencote was acquired from the GWR Staff Association
at Dawlish Warren. Fencote station building and its platforms
are strictly private but visitors are welcome with permission.
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Fencote
is another strictly private property but visitors would be welcome
where prior permission has been received. This is a two platform
station with the waiting rooms, parcels office, ticket office and
even an old pillar box still intact.
Since
the author’s first visit to Fencote in 1989 much additional work
has been completed. The permanent way by the up platform has been
relaid, head-shunt and stop blocks completed and foot crossings
have been installed. In addition the signal box has been made operational
with a 23 lever frame installed with six already working and more
waiting connection.
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| Fencote,
between Bromyard and Leominster, has been delightfully restored
to its former glory. Posters recall the past – one reads ‘Barmouth
for mountains, sea and sand'. |
An
LMS Inspection Saloon, PMW 45044, stands at the up platform and
has been converted to a Camping Coach. The coach was acquired from
the GWR Staff Association at Dawlish Warren.
Runaway
train
From
the late 1940s there is a tale that there was a alarming incident
when a coal truck was being shunted from Fencote's yard to the ‘down'
platform. Unfortunately it was not known that the wagon's parking
brake was defective and, since the station stood at the highest
point on the branch (685 ft above sea level), the wagon continued
on its way.
Signalmen
along the line were alerted and, after gathering speed down a falling
gradient of 1 in 30, it passed through Steens Bridge (2½ miles on)
at around 60 mph! It was decided to set the line so the wagon would
run into the Leominster engine shed siding and stand back and wait.
The wagon duly arrived, smashed the stop blocks, demolished itself
scattering the coal down a bank.
Steens
Bridge station has given way to a small housing estate built on
the site with semi-detached bungalows built along what was the platform
edge.
A bridge
over the A44 Leominster road has been demolished. Beyond Stoke Prior
Halt the track curved sharply northwards to run parallel for over
a mile to the Shrewsbury & Hereford line. The trackbed along this
latter stretch has become part of today's A49 Leominster bypass.
Passing
as it did through delightful and unpopulated countryside, one had
the feeling that this was a line that was doomed to failure before
it really started.
Leslie
Oppitz lives near Welshpool in Wales and is author to numerous railway
books.
One
of his latest publications is 'Lost Railways of Herefordshire &
Worcestershire' which is available price £9.95 at all good bookshops.
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