The Oswestry and Newtown Railway (O&NR) was a British railway company that built a line between Oswestry in Shropshire and Newtown Montgomeryshire, now Powys. The line opened in stages in 1860 and 1861. It was conceived to open up the area to rail transport, when local opinion formed the view that the trunk railway companies would not do so. Subscription money for the construction proved very difficult to generate. It was the action of a contractor partnership, Davies and Savin, in agreeing to accept shares as the majority of their payment for construction work, that saved the company from failure.
Forming a local network with other local concerns, the amalgamated with them, forming the Cambrian Railways, in 1863. The industry in the area was not buoyant and hoped-for long-distance traffic did not materialise, although the development of Aberystwyth as a resort provided a useful benefit. The railway connected to the emerging national network at Oswestry, but the later connection of the Shrewsbury and Welshpool Railway abstracted traffic from the northern part of the system. A grim event took place in 1921 near Abermule, when there was a head-on collision on the single line, due to slack operating disciplines. The collision resulted in seventeen deaths.
As social and travel habits changed in the 1960s, the line's remaining core income was badly reduced, and for a time widespread closure was a possibility. In fact the connection to and the coastal line to were retained, but the section from to closed in 1965. The main line from Buttington to Newtown continues in use as part of a passenger connection to Aberystwyth and the coast.
Conception
The Shrewsbury and Chester Railway (S&CR) opened in two stages, in 1846 and 1848. Its route passed through and there was a branch from Gobowen to Oswestry, which opened in 1848. On 1 September 1854 the Great Western Railway (GWR) acquired the S&CR, furthering its strategy of making a through link from London to Merseyside. The eastern border of Wales was therefore secured to the , while the north Wales coast was controlled by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR), which approached from . Both these companies looked toward the interior of mid Wales, and were rivals of one another.
Newtown and Llanidloes were important centres of flannel manufacture; Welshpool too was involved, although it was much less important, and declining. It was well understood that an industry operating in a location remote from its market needed a railway connection. For a time in the 1830s it had appeared that a trunk railway would be built through the area, but this plan fell through. In 1852 a Montgomeryshire Railways Company was proposed, sponsored by the , but the changed the route and then cancelled the scheme. In frustration local people promoted a Llanidloes and Newtown Railway, which received its authorising act of Parliament, the Llanidloes and Newtown Railways Act 1853 (16 & 17 Vict. c. cxliii); however the line was not planned to connect to any existing railway.
Plainly an isolated railway was of limited value, and a railway from Oswestry to Newtown was promoted in 1854. It was submitted to Parliament as the , but the reference to Welshpool was generally omitted subsequently, and the company was referred to as the Oswestry and Newtown Railway. It was authorised by the (18 & 19 Vict. c. lxxxv) of 26 June 1855, with capital of £250,000. The connection to the national railway network at Oswestry led to the being allied to the Great Western Railway.
Construction
Contractors had been appointed before the Oswestry, Welchpool and Newtown Railway Act 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c. lxxxv) was granted, but for some time there was no money to pay them. Over two years after the granting act another firm of contractors was appointed. The O&NR found the raising of share subscriptions to be extremely difficult, and negotiations to obtain land were continually frustrating. Ann Owen, owner of an estate at Glansevern, near Berriew, now refused to permit the line to pass near the estate: the route had to be diverted to the eastern bank of the River Severn. In addition, there were disagreements between the company, the and Oswestry Town Council about the location of a joint station there. In early 1858 the contractors, Davidson & Oughterson, became bankrupt; only 11 of 30 miles ( of ) of the line had been started.
The directors negotiated with a partnership of local contractors, David Davies and Thomas Savin, and they took over the contract. This proved to be a turning point, as Davies and Savin reinvigorated the construction process. The company was heavily indebted, but Davies and Savin paid off £45,000 to get work on the line restarted. They agreed to complete the line in exchange for unissued preference shares and debentures and earnings up to 1 January 1861. In fact the first work undertaken by Davies and Savin was the doubling of the section between Buttington Junction and Welshpool, started on 30 October 1859. This had been urged by the London and North Western Railway, which planned a connection to the line at Buttington, and the was anxious to keep the on side. The had been contemplating building its own parallel route, but now that it could see that the was taking realistic steps, it acquiesced in accepting running powers to Welshpool over the , for which it paid £25,000, as well as half the maintenance costs of Welshpool station.
Opening The first sixteen miles from Oswestry to Pool Quay was opened on 1 May 1860, as a single line on double-line formation. Two more sections were opened on 14 August 1860: from Pool Quay to Welshpool, and an isolated five-mile stretch from Abermule to Newtown, where a joint station was made with the Llanidloes and Newtown Railway. Abermule to Welshpool opened on 10 June 1861. By this time there had been a serious rupture in the partnership between Davies and Savin, and it was the latter who undertook the working of trains on the ; he did so by agreement of 26 July 1861, for 55% of gross receipts.
The Shrewsbury and Welshpool Railway (S&WR), sponsored at first by the , was opened throughout on 27 January 1862. This formed a shorter route from Newtown to the Midlands and London, and abstracted traffic from the . The was worked by the , and the had running powers; in 1865 the two larger companies took ownership control of the line jointly.
Branch lines Porthywaen branch
The Porthywaen branch was authorised by the (23 & 24 Vict. c. cxxxix) of 3 July 1860; it was opened on 1 May 1861. It was a short mineral line from near Llynclys station, to quarries at Porthywaen and Whitehaven, operated by T. and J. Savin. It had a maximum gradient of 1 in 63, and ran alongside the Crickheath Tramway. There was a branch from the Porthywaen line to Savin's New British Coal Pit at Coed-y-go; this was built privately by the Savin Brothers, opening on 31 March 1863. About twenty coal wagons were worked daily each way until the pit closed in 1869.
Kerry branch
The next branch to open was the Kerry branch; it had been authorised by the (24 & 25 Vict. c. xvii) on 17 May 1861. It ran just under four miles through the Mule Gorge in the hills from Abermule. It was built largely on the initiative of a prosperous farmer, John Wilkes. He agitated strongly for a line to serve the hills as the was under construction and, on 26 September 1861, Savin agreed to build the branch on the same terms as the main line. Money for the construction of the branch was always short. Once the line opened, business was in short supply also, and after three years the situation got so critical that it went before the board on 24 December 1866, with a view to deciding whether to close the branch. In fact a decision was put off, and the branch continued in operation. Later a general improvement in trade brought more traffic to the branch.
The line climbed steeply from Abermule, on the main line, to a terminus about short of Kerry village. There was a siding at Middle Mill, near Abermule, and much later the Great Western Railway had taken over and built halts, without buildings, at Ffronfraith and Goitre in 1923. The line included of incline at a gradient of 1 in 43; this became the steepest standard gauge gradient on which the Cambrian worked passenger trains. Kerry had a station with a long single platform and cottage-type buildings. There was no intermediate loop on the single line. From 1888 a narrow-gauge tramway continued from Kerry station, engaged with the timber trade. The passenger service had consisted of seven trains per day each way at its peak, but it was discontinued in 1931.
Llanfyllin branch
There were many small communities in isolated locations in the general area, and in the Llanfyllin area, a solicitor named John Pugh focussed pressure on the company to provide a branch line. The arranged a meeting at Llanfyllin in 1860 to discuss a branch from Llanymynech. This was agreed upon; it would cost about £60,000. The decided to get powers for a branch, and also for a line to Llanymynech Lime Rocks, provided subscriptions were forthcoming locally. The Oswestry and Newton Railway (Llanfyllin and Kerry Branches) Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. xvii) was obtained on 17 May 1861. The following July, Benjamin Piercy (as engineer) started planning the route and also that to Kerry, and two months later Savin agreed to build the line.
The first sod of the branch was cut at Llwyn, near Llanfyllin, on 20 September 1861, and Savin, then in partnership with his brother-in-law John Ward, quickly built the line. The were straightforward to construct, but the gradients were steep. Leaving Llanymynech, the line had to climb to cross the nearby Shropshire Union Canal; trains used a short bay at the north end of the station, and were propelled to a reversing siding alongside the main line but at a higher level. After reversing, they crossed the canal and continued alongside Rock Siding, which served lime kilns. Further on, the branch crossed two of the narrow-gauge tramways from Llanymynech Hill to the canal and also the Nantmawr branch. The first trains ran on 10 April 1863 and there were occasional workings prior to the official opening excursion on 17 July. This was a 23-coach special run to , which gave many of the 600 passengers from the hilly valley their first view of the sea.
Llansantffraid was the only intermediate station in days. Another was planned at Llanfechain but difficulties in getting possession of the land delayed opening of the station until January 1866, followed a month later by one at Brongwyn (later Bryngwyn). It was unstaffed, and passengers operated a signal if they wanted a train to stop. There was one intermediate loop at Llansantffraid.
Although passenger traffic hardly developed, there was a boost in heavy goods traffic when Liverpool Corporation decided to build a big reservoir at Lake Vyrnwy about 1880. In February 1881, the corporation proposed to construct a narrow-gauge tramway alongside the road to bring in construction materials, but this was not done. When work on the dam started in June 1881, cement for the dam and pipes for the aqueduct to Liverpool were shipped to Aberdovey and conveyed by rail to Llanfyllin, and taken onward by horse and cart transport. A new siding and storage shed was provided at Llanfyllin, and stables for 95 horses were set up in the station yard. When the lake was eventually completed on 16 March 1910 it was the biggest in Wales.