Over a span of three centuries Shrewsbury Railway Station has sent countless travellers on their way and welcomed untold numbers to the county town.
In popular imagination the golden era of rail travel was some time in the distant past and, whether or not that is true, it was certainly different with the huffing, puffing, snorting steam locomotives, the smell of smoke, the distinctive clickety-clack of trains moving over the tracks, platform tickets (remember those?), and plentiful staff.
Shrewsbury, it should be remembered, was a major railway town. Not so much now though. But it does have one of Britain’s most striking railway station buildings, dating back to 1848, its architecture meriting it Grade II listed status.
It’s all a fascinating past. Hop on, and let us take you there.
- Did you see our gallery of 49 pictures showing a very different Shropshire in 1978? Take a trip back in time and see the pictures here.
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25. Ready for first monarch's visit since 1914
As the date 1952 can be seen on the frontage above the line up of limos, we can be sure this is the visit of Her Majesty The Queen to Shrewsbury on October 24, 1952. The Queen visited with Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, for Shrewsbury School's 400th anniversary year and cut the tape to open a new terrace to the main school building. It was the first official visit to Shrewsbury by a reigning monarch since 1914. | Source unknown
26. The Shrewsbury rail disaster
The aftermath of one of Shropshire's worst disasters. This is a postcard franked at Shrewsbury at 9pm on October 16, 1907 - so only the day after a terrible rail crash at the station in which 18 people died. The train had approached the station too fast and derailed. | Edward Thornhill
27. Wreckage
Another view of the wreck, with a rather ghostly head and shoulders above the seats. The controversial finding of the subsequent inquiry was that the train driver had nodded off while approaching the station, a claim bitterly disputed by those who worked on the footplate. | Edward Thornhill
28. On the level
Take a close look and see if you can work out how things have changed today. We're going back to 1890 here. That's before the station was enlarged in a rather unusual way, by excavating the forecourt to create a lower level. It was a downwards extension. | Source unknown