Friday, June 26, 2015

Shrewsbury to Minsterley disused railway 2



Poor man. He did so well in part 1, but the spam factory and the vast creamery at Minsterley were too much for him. He might have shown us the station master's house though.

At least Six Bells Junction has a photo of the station in its final days.

He is also mistaken about the junction with the Snailbeach mineral line at Pontesbury. It was a narrow-gauge railway, so there cannot have been a simple junction with the standard gauge Minsterely branch.

In fact the lines met a little way to the south of Pontesbury station. The Snailbeach line came in at a higher level so that its wagons could be emptied into standard gauge wagons standing beneath it. Secret Shropshire has a photograph of the remains of this arrangement.

I visited that site some years ago - I am afraid it must have involved some trespass and suspect this was before new building in Pontesbury made access to the trackbed more difficult.

In those days it was occupied by a vast salt store owned by the county council highways people. It was up for sale and I wondered when I discovered this video if it is still there.

Google Street View shows it is and is now part of The Wharf Business Park.

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