Volunteer call as Shifnal marks 175 years of rail
A new group which aims to enhance Shifnal station is looking for volunteers to get on board.
The initiative is being launched to mark the 175th anniversary of the station, being celebrated this November.
Adam Cawley of Woods the Cleaners, who is helping to set up the group, said: “Shifnal station is such an important facility for residents – connecting us quickly with the wider West Midlands area and helping to make Shifnal such an attractive place to live.
“We want to ensure that the station is a welcoming entry point to the town and a group of enthusiastic locals are keen to improve the look of the station to make it attractive for commuters and visitors.
“The formation of a Friends of Shifnal Station ties in really well with the 175th anniversary of the railway and we would like more people to be involved.”
He said that the group would help to make the station more relevant to the locality and involve the local community and businesses with schemes like litter picking, reporting graffiti and possibly developing arts projects, planting and landscaping.
Sally Themans of Love Shifnal added: ”Residents becoming station adopters is a great way to help these important gateways into our towns and so we welcome this new initiative in Shifnal.”
Marilyn Higson of the Shifnal Historical Society said that a coffee morning would be held at Shifnal Fire Station on November 16 to mark 175 years since the opening of the railway in November 1849.
“It was in 1846 that an Act of Parliament authorised the Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton line, which would pass through the centre of Shifnal. Work was disrupted by the discovery of quicksand in Shifnal, problems with Oakengates tunnel and riots among the navvies building the line.
“However, when it opened there were many spectators at every station as the first train travelled the line from Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton – comprising three engines pulling 38 carriages and stretching for a quarter of a mile.
“A band sitting on an open platform attached to the first carriage played throughout the whole journey.
“The line was taken over in 1985 by the Great Western Railway and from the 1850s onwards the station became a vital hub for Shifnal’s economy, with inwards and outwards postal services for the whole district, a goods yards for local businesses, an animal market near the station in 1860s and companies such as Edge & Sons chainmakers who had own sidings at Bonemill Bridge.”
Anyone interested in joining the friends group should contact Sally at hello@loveshifnal.co.uk
Pic: Johnny Sanders and Adam Cawley of the newly formed Friends of Shifnal Station with Marilyn Higson of Shifnal History Group
