Ludlow railway station
Ludlow | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General information | |||||
| Location | Ludlow, Shropshire, England | ||||
| Coordinates | 52°22′16″N 2°42′58″W / 52.371°N 2.716°W | ||||
| Grid reference | SO513750 | ||||
| Manager | Transport for Wales | ||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | LUD[1] | ||||
| Classification | DfT category E | ||||
| History | |||||
| Opened | 1852 | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2020/21 | Decrease 65,540 | ||||
| Interchange | Decrease 297 | ||||
| 2021/22 | Increase 0.200 million | ||||
| Interchange | Increase 1,638 | ||||
| 2022/23 | Increase 0.235 million | ||||
| Interchange | Decrease 822 | ||||
| 2023/24 | Increase 0.238 million | ||||
| Interchange | Increase 970 | ||||
| 2024/25 | Increase 0.271 million | ||||
| Interchange | Decrease 477 | ||||
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Ludlow railway station serves the market town of Ludlow, in Shropshire, England. It lies on the Welsh Marches Line between Shrewsbury 27 miles 42 chains (44.3 km) to the north[2] and Hereford to the south.
History
The station opened on 21 April 1852,[3] as the southern terminus of the first section of the Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway.[4] Trains travelling to or from the south of the station pass through the short Ludlow Tunnel (192 yards (176 m) long), which passes under Gravel Hill and has its tunnel entrance immediately south of the platforms. Clee Hill Junction, from where a freight-only branch line ran to the quarries in the nearby Clee Hills, to the east of Ludlow, from 1864 to 1962,[5][6] was situated 24 chains (about a quarter of a mile) to the north of the station.[7]
The goods shed (on the former goods yard that closed in 1968) adjacent to the railway line to the north of Station Drive is now home to the Ludlow Brewery. It has been renovated and is open to the public, with information on local railway history.[8]
Accidents and incidents
At 3.15 am on 6 September 1956, a northbound parcels train, hauled by GWR 4300 Class 2-6-0 No. 9306, overran signals and ran into the rear of an express passenger train from Penzance to Manchester London Road[9] carrying 150 passengers, but caused no deaths and only one serious shock casualty. The passenger train had halted because a lorry that had crashed into a level crossing at Onibury station had blocked the track.[10]
Facilities
There are two platforms — platform 1 is the northbound platform (for Shrewsbury) and platform 2 is the southbound platform (for Hereford). There is level access to the ticket office and platform 1, the footbridge can now be reached by a recently installed lift from that platform. Level access to platform 2 is via a ramp down from Quarry Gardens, which also provides a ramp to the platform from the footbridge. A long path also provides a level access route that runs over the tunnel entrance between the platforms.
Facilities include an independently-run ticket office,[11] where railway-related books and light refreshments are available to buy, car parking, small weatherproof platform shelters, and an accessible adapted toilet.[12]
Passenger volume
| 2004–05 | 2005–06 | 2006–07 | 2007–08 | 2008–09 | 2009–10 | 2010–11 | 2011–12 | 2012–13 | 2013–14 | 2014–15 | 2015–16 | 2016–17 | 2017–18 | 2018–19 | 2019–20 | 2020–21 | 2021–22 | 2022–23 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entries and exits | 213,843 | 224,250 | 242,381 | 272,381 | 287,800 | 270,682 | 288,058 | 292,734 | 297,798 | 287,350 | 308,384 | 299,776 | 299,802 | 300,742 | 286,854 | 266,090 | 65,540 | 199,780 | 234,958 |
| Interchanges | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 299 | 3,656 | 2,845 | 2,509 | 3,395 | 3,204 | 3,185 | 2,916 | 3,878 | 1,954 | 297 | 1,638 | 822 |
The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.
Services
Passenger services are currently provided by Transport For Wales. The standard off-peak weekday service in trains per hour is:[14]
- 1tph to Manchester Piccadilly, via Shrewsbury, Chester and Crewe
- 1tph to Cardiff Central, via Hereford and Newport; alternate services are extended to Carmarthen, Fishguard Harbour, Milford Haven or Pembroke Dock
- 1tp2h to Holyhead, via Shrewsbury and Chester
- 1tp2h to Cardiff Central, via Hereford and Newport.
| Preceding station | National Rail National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leominster | Transport for Wales Welsh Marches Line |
Craven Arms or Shrewsbury | ||
| Hereford | Transport for Wales Premier Service |
Shrewsbury | ||
See also
References
- ↑ "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
- ↑ Yonge, John; Padgett, David (August 2010) [1989]. Bridge, Mike (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 3: Western (5th ed.). Bradford on Avon: Trackmaps. map 27A. ISBN 978-0-9549866-6-7.
- ↑ Quick 2023, p. 300.
- ↑ Herbert Rake, The Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway, in the Railway Magazine, January 1908
- ↑ H C Casserley, Britain's Joint Lines, Ian Allan, Shepperton, 1968, 0 7110 0024 7, page 127
- ↑ E T MacDermot, History of the Great Western Railway: volume II: 1863 - 1921, published by the Great Western Railway, London, 1931
- ↑ British railways pre-grouping atlas and gazetteer (5th ed.). Shepperton: Ian Allan. 1974. ISBN 0-7110-0320-3. OCLC 256832221.
- ↑ WhatPub.com (CAMRA) Railway Shed, Ludlow
- ↑ Hall, Stanley (1990). The Railway Detectives. London: Ian Allan. p. 119. ISBN 0-7110-1929-0.
- ↑ "'Miracle' of disaster where there were no deaths". Shropshire Star. 21 May 2016. p. 20.'Nostalgia' special report by Toby Neal.
- ↑ Marshall & Pipe 2018, p. 68-69.
- ↑ "Ludlow station information". National Rail Enquiries. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
- ↑ "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
- ↑ "Timetables". Transport for Wales. 18 May 2025. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
Bibliography
- Marshall, Geoff; Pipe, Vicki (2018). The Railway Adventures: Places, Trains, People and Stations. September Publishing. ISBN 978-1910463871.
- Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2008). Shrewsbury to Ludlow. Middleton Press. pp. 115–120. ISBN 9781906008215. OCLC 520487698.
- Quick, Michael (2023). Railway Passenger Stations in Great Britain: A Chronology (PDF) (5th ed.). London: Railway and Canal Historical Society.
External links
- Train times and station information for Ludlow railway station from National Rail
- South Shropshire Access Group — information about disabled access in Ludlow (pdf link)
- Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
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- Use British English from June 2017
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- Railway stations in Shropshire
- DfT Category E stations
- Former Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway stations
- Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1852
- Railway stations served by Transport for Wales Rail
- Ludlow
- 1852 establishments in England