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The Wye Valley Railway

Passenger Services: 1st November 1876 to 5th January 1959

Main Goods services: 1st November 1876 to 6th January 1964

Stone from Tintern Quarry until December 1981; from Dayhouse Quarry until March 1990.

The Wye Valley Railway opened on the 1st November 1876, linking the south-east Welsh towns of Chepstow and Monmouth (then both in England) via stations serving the villages of Tidenham, Tintern, St Briavels and Redbrook. The line was 14¾ miles long. At Monmouth Troy station passengers could change for trains serving the towns of Pontypool (15 miles south-west), Ross-on-Wye (10 miles further north) and, from 1883, the town of Coleford, 5 miles to the east in the Forest of Dean.

Ultimately it lost large sums of money and closed to passengers in 1959. Freight followed in 1964. The continued occasional use of a miniature gauge railway at Tintern station means that the line has not quite been abandoned by rail transport but all the sections still carrying track are currently being proposed for conversion to a new cycleway.

>>>Welcome to the Wye Valley Railway>>>

A brief explanation of the layout of this website and what it is about.

  >>>Full History>>>

This full history is around 12,000 words long and often extremely detailed. If you want to know about main points in 30 seconds stick to the introduction to this page - if you want to know a bit we have a 2,000 word:

>>>Abridged History>>>

 >>>Location Maps>>>

A handy couple of maps to provide some help with placing where exactly the line is
 How would we re-open it?

 Short and cheap or long and expensive?

 >>>Re-opening on the cheap>>>

 >>>Full line - Plan 1>>>

 >>>Full line - Plan 2>>>

 >>>Full line - Plan 3>>>

 >>>Full line - Plan4>>>

 >>>Full line - Plan 5>>>

>>>Full line - Plan 6>>>

>>>Full line - Plan 7>>>
 Helpful Asides Series: 

 >>>What about the other railways?>>>

>>>What state is the railway in and what can be done with it?>>>

>>>Why Monmouth Troy?>>>

>>>Why put the railway back?>>> 

>>>General odds and ends>>> 
 Other pages on this topic:

>>>Diagrams and Sketches>>> 

>>>Does that picture really show that?>>> 

>>>From Rags to Power>>> 

>>>Tidenham Tunnel>>>

>>>Tintern Station>>>

 >>>Frequently Asked Questions>>> 
 The Railway
Interesting snippets of history:

>>>Getting money off ex-directors: Wye Valley Railway v. Hawes>>>

 >>>Completing the Railway: A Turntable and a Bridge>>>

>>>The Social and Economic Effect of Building Culverts>>>  

>>>Later Wye Valley Railtours>>>
 Remains of the route:

>>>It really is 50 years ago...>>> 

>>>The Abandoned Wye Valley Railway>>> 
 Figures:

 >>>Tables>>>
 The Area

>>>Locations>>>

>>>Local Entertainment>>>

>>>Wye Valley Journey>>>

>>>Brockweir Bridge: Dibden v. Skirrow>>>
 The Adjacent Railways

>>>The Coleford Branch>>>

 >>>The Monmouth to Pontrilas Railway>>>

>>>Other Monmouth Railways>>>

>>>The Main Line>>>

>>>The Forest of Dean Central Railway>>>

>>>Great Western Railway Tunnels>>>
 Other Internal Links

 >>>Railways Department>>>

<<<Planning Department<<<

<<<Order of the Bed Home Page<<<

<<<Contact Us<<<

>>>The delights of running this section>>>
External Links

 >>>The proposed new railway at Tintern (External)>>>

>>>The proposed new cycleway at Tintern (External)>>>

>>>Old Station Tintern (External)>>>

>>>Monmouth Troy (External)>>>

>>>Wye Valley Tunnels (External)>>>

>>>Dayhouse Quarry today (External)>>>

>>>Monmouthshire Beacon (External)>>>

 This area was written by one Gawain Nicholson, who once had too much time on his hands. He is now engaged in an evil nationwide plague called "University" but still tries to answer reasonable questions directed to him by the Contact link if they are not already covered by FAQs.
 Bibliography for Wye Valley Railway feature

 The Wye Valley Railway and the Coleford Branch by Brian M. Handley and Rod Dingwall (Oakwood Press No. 209, 1982, 1998)

The Wye Valley Railway by Brian M. Handley (Oakwood Press No. 137, 1982, 1988)

The Ross, Monmouth and Pontypool Road Line by Stanley C. Jenkins (Oakwood Press No. 220, 2002)

The Ross and Monmouth Railway by Mark and Celia Glover (Brewin Books, 1994)

Branch Lines around Monmouth by Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith (Middleton Press, 2008)

Gloucester to Newport by Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith (Middleton Press, 2005)

Track Layout Diagrams of the GWR and BR (WR) Section 36: Ross, Monmouth & Chepstow (Third edition) by R.A. Cooke (Self-published)

The Flower Patch Among The Hills by Flora Klickmann (Now out of print, our copy published by Lutterworth Press in 1943)

Six Bells Junction, purveyors of helpful information on railtours

The Times archives, made available through Cardiff Libraries

Plans, maps and other materials on the relevant railways available at the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth

Diagrams and folios concerning the Wye Valley Railway held at the Public Record Office, Kew
Background Picture: GWR No. 6412 at Whitebrook Halt. Locomotive superimposed on Corel PhotoPaint 8. Pictures taken by founder: Whitebrook Halt on 06/03/04 and 6412 at Toddington on the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway on 17/08/03.

25/04/09