Leominster

Leominster station on the Welsh Marches line has just two platforms today, but there is evidence on the east side of a former third facing platform edge and some overgrown track, and a bit of research shows there were two more past that one in days gone by. These once served branch lines west to Kington and Presteigne and east to Bromyard and Worcester, both of which were closed in the 1950s. 

It was reassuring to see that the ticket office is still operating, although on a part time basis. The booking clerk suggested that he was expecting this to continue under the management of Transport for Wales. As with many country stations where original station buildings still stand, there are a number of boarded up former offices and waiting rooms which have not attracted any small businesses, or where such initiatives have subsequently failed. One wonders just how attractive the railway companies make these spaces to potential entrepreneurs, in terms of favourable rental terms.

I was pleased to see a south-bound locomotive-hauled passenger train in the form of Class 67 No. 67017, propelling four carriages and a dummy front-end Class 82 heading for South Wales. Our short journey from Ludlow was my first with a Class 67.