Gobowen railway station

Gobowen for Oswestry
General information
Location	Shropshire Council
Managed by	Arriva Trains Wales
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	GOB
History
Opened	1846

Gobowen railway station is a railway station on the Shrewsbury to Chester Line serving the village of Gobowen in Shropshire, England. It is the nearest station to the town of Oswestry.

As of December 2008, train services run on three routes;

• Arriva Trains Wales service from Birmingham New Street to Chester.
• Arriva Trains Wales premier service from Holyhead to Cardiff.
• Wrexham & Shropshire service from Wrexham General to London Marylebone.

Buildings

The station has two platforms:

• Platform 1 - For southbound services to Shrewsbury, Cardiff, Birmingham or London Marylebone
• Platform 2 - For northbound services to Wrexham General, Chester or Holyhead

The station buildings at Gobowen are Grade II listed. They were built in 1846 by the Shrewsbury and Chester railway in a notable Florentine (or Italianate) style with white stucco facing and a small turret. The awnings and the footbridge were added later by the Great Western Railway (the footbridge was demolished in 1987). Although a very small village, Gobowen was the junction station for the much larger regional town of Oswestry some three miles away. When rail services to Oswestry ceased in November 1966, Gobowen was retained as the railhead for the surrounding area. There is a scheme in progress to open this branch as a heritage railway.

Today, the main building which was renovated in 2005 is used as small business space. The booking office is now located in the waiting room on the southbound platform. Unusually, it is not operated directly by the train operating company but by an independent travel agent, Severn-Dee Travel.

• Gobowen station, circa 1910
  Gobowen station, circa 1910
• 
  Locomotive at Gobowen station, circa 1956

Cambrian Heritage Railway

Gobowen station may become in the near future the northern terminus of the proposed Cambrian Heritage Railway line to Llynclys, Pant and Blodwel via Oswestry. The coal yard at Gobowen is to be bought by Shropshire Council for railway related uses, including car parking for the station. If the plans are realised the station would have three platforms, one of which would be for the Heritage Railway. [1]

External links

• Chester to Shrewsbury Rail Partnership
• Historic England. "Details from listed building database ({{{num}}})". National Heritage List for England.

References

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Shrewsbury		Arriva Trains Wales Shrewsbury to Chester Line		Chirk
		Wrexham & Shropshire London - Wrexham