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Ludlow railway station

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Ludlow
National Rail
General information
LocationLudlow, Shropshire,
England
Coordinates52°22′16″N 2°42′58″W / 52.371°N 2.716°W / 52.371; -2.716
Grid referenceSO513750
Managed byTransport for Wales
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeLUD[1]
ClassificationDfT category E
History
Opened1852
Passengers
2020/21Decrease 65,540
 Interchange Decrease 297
2021/22Increase 0.200 million
 Interchange Increase 1,638
2022/23Increase 0.235 million
 Interchange Decrease 822
2023/24Increase 0.238 million
 Interchange Increase 970
2024/25Increase 0.271 million
 Interchange Decrease 477
Location
Map
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Ludlow railway station serves the market town of Ludlow, in Shropshire, England. It lies on the Welsh Marches Line between Shrewsbury 27 miles 42 chains (44.3 km) to the north[2] and Hereford to the south.

History

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The station seen in 1984

The station opened on 21 April 1852,[3] as the southern terminus of the first section of the Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway.[4] Trains travelling to or from the south of the station pass through the short Ludlow Tunnel (192 yards (176 m) long), which passes under Gravel Hill and has its tunnel entrance immediately south of the platforms. Clee Hill Junction, from where a freight-only branch line ran to the quarries in the nearby Clee Hills, to the east of Ludlow, from 1864 to 1962,[5][6] was situated 24 chains (about a quarter of a mile) to the north of the station.[7]

The goods shed (on the former goods yard that closed in 1968) adjacent to the railway line to the north of Station Drive is now home to the Ludlow Brewery. It has been renovated and is open to the public, with information on local railway history.[8]

Accidents and incidents

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At 3.15 am on 6 September 1956, a northbound parcels train, hauled by GWR 4300 Class 2-6-0 No. 9306, overran signals and ran into the rear of an express passenger train from Penzance to Manchester London Road[9] carrying 150 passengers, but caused no deaths and only one serious shock casualty. The passenger train had halted because a lorry that had crashed into a level crossing at Onibury station had blocked the track.[10]

Facilities

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Looking south towards Ludlow Tunnel, with the ticket office on the right

There are two platforms — platform 1 is the northbound platform (for Shrewsbury) and platform 2 is the southbound platform (for Hereford). There is level access to the ticket office and platform 1, the footbridge can now be reached by a recently installed lift from that platform. Level access to platform 2 is via a ramp down from Quarry Gardens, which also provides a ramp to the platform from the footbridge. A long path also provides a level access route that runs over the tunnel entrance between the platforms.

Facilities include a staffed ticket office (where railway-related books and light refreshments are available to buy), car parking, small weatherproof platform shelters, and an accessible adapted toilet.[11]

Passenger volume

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Passenger Volume at Ludlow[12]
2002–03 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23
Entries and exits 177,818 213,843 224,250 242,381 272,381 287,800 270,682 288,058 292,734 297,798 287,350 308,384 299,776 299,802 300,742 286,854 266,090 65,540 199,780 234,958
Interchanges –[note 1] 0 0 0 0 0 0 299 3,656 2,845 2,509 3,395 3,204 3,185 2,916 3,878 1,954 297 1,638 822

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

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Passenger services are currently provided by Transport For Wales. The standard off-peak weekday service in trains per hour is:[13]

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Leominster   Transport for Wales
Welsh Marches Line		   Craven Arms or Shrewsbury
Hereford   Transport for Wales
Premier Service		   Shrewsbury

See also

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Notes

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  1. ↑ No data available.

References

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  1. ↑ "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  2. ↑ Yonge, John; Padgett, David (August 2010) [1989]. Bridge, Mike (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 3: Western (5th ed.). Bradford on Avon: Trackmaps. map 27A. ISBN 978-0-9549866-6-7.
  3. ↑ Quick 2023, p. 300.
  4. ↑ Herbert Rake, The Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway, in the Railway Magazine, January 1908
  5. ↑ H C Casserley, Britain's Joint Lines, Ian Allan, Shepperton, 1968, 0 7110 0024 7, page 127
  6. ↑ E T MacDermot, History of the Great Western Railway: volume II: 1863 - 1921, published by the Great Western Railway, London, 1931
  7. ↑ British railways pre-grouping atlas and gazetteer (5th ed.). Shepperton: Ian Allan. 1974. ISBN 0-7110-0320-3. OCLC 256832221.
  8. ↑ WhatPub.com (CAMRA) Railway Shed, Ludlow
  9. ↑ Hall, Stanley (1990). The Railway Detectives. London: Ian Allan. p. 119. ISBN 0-7110-1929-0.
  10. ↑ "'Miracle' of disaster where there were no deaths". Shropshire Star. 21 May 2016. p. 20.'Nostalgia' special report by Toby Neal.
  11. ↑ "Ludlow station information". National Rail Enquiries. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  12. ↑ "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  13. ↑ "Timetables". Transport for Wales. 18 May 2025. Retrieved 29 October 2025.

Bibliography

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