Place Four Crosses Grid reference SJ271184 Post-grouping Great Western Railway | Area Powys Pre-grouping Cambrian Railways | |
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Original company Oswestry and Newtown Railway | ||
Four Crosses railway station was a station on the former Cambrian Railways between Oswestry and Welshpool.
History
Opened in 1860 as part of the Oswestry and Newtown Railway (O&NR), it served the village of Four Crosses in Powys, Wales.
The O&NR line south of Llanymynech to Newtown (Powys) was single track, with passing loops at each intermediate station. Four Crosses was the main crossing point for passenger trains from Oswestry to Newtown, and so was re-configured by the Great Western Railway in 1925, when a private sidings was also laid to the nearby creamery, giving milk trains direct access. The GWR improved the up platform, installed longer passing loops of 1,116 feet (340 m) in length, and reconfigured the 1896 signal box to cope with additional traffic.
In 1963, the former CR mainline was vested to the London Midland Region of British Railways, who decided to keep the parallel former Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway open. The line from Welshpool to Oswestry was hence closed in 1965, including Four Crosses station.
The station was immortalised in 1964 in the song "Slow Train" by Flanders and Swann.