Llanidloes railway station
| Llanidloes railway station | |
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The restored Georgian-style façade of Llanidloes railway station in 1990.
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| Location | |
| Place | Llanidloes |
| Area | Powys |
| Coordinates | 52°26′50″N 3°32′09″W / 52.4473°N 3.5357°WCoordinates: 52°26′50″N 3°32′09″W / 52.4473°N 3.5357°W |
| Grid reference | SN956844 |
| Operations | |
| Original company | Llanidloes and Newtown Railway |
| Pre-grouping | Cambrian Railways |
| Post-grouping | Great Western Railway |
| Platforms | 4 |
| History | |
| 1864 | Station opened |
| 31 December 1962 | Station closed |
| Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom | |
| Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z |
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Llanidloes railway station was a large junction railway station in Llanidloes, Powys, Wales. The Cambrian Railways, which completed the building in 1864, designed it to be both the station for the town and its company headquarters. This dual purpose gave Llandiloes station an imposing appearance.
The station closed passengers in 1962. The rest of the line was abandoned in 1967. The permanent way has been redeveloped as a bypass carrying traffic around Llanidloes town centre. The former station building has been restored and is now a business centre.
Llanidloes development into a major junction station arose because of the rapid and chaotic growth of the Victorian railway network in Great Britain. In 1859, the Mid-Wales Railway (MWR) had received an Act of Parliament to build and run a railway from Newtown to Brecon via Builth Wells and then on to Merthyr Tydfil, Cardiff or Neath. But just as the MWR began building north towards Llanidloes, problems arose when the Manchester and Milford Railway (M&MR) finally received parliamentary accent to connect the industrial north west of England directly with the port of Milford Haven via a series of interconnecting lines in 1860. The initial proposal had been put forward in 1846 but the scheme was not passed until it received backing from the London and North Western Railway. As a result of this timing, parliament had accidentally granted the M&MR and the MWR the same rights to build two separate lines through the same terrain.
In response the M&MR prioritised its work on completing the first section to Llandiloes by working west from Llangurig on what became known as the Llangurig branch. However, by 1861, surveyors and navvies from the competing companies were physically clashing south of the town.
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