Walk on the Wild Side of Leominster to Kington Railway

The Leominster to Kington railway was a rural line and was run with a degree of informality unthinkable today. The busiest station was Titley Junction, through which passed over 30 trains a day at the intersection of the lines, to Eardisley in the South, and Presteigne in the North. 
In the 1920s, Geoff Diggory and his brother, who lived at Titely Junction station, where their father was station master, walked along the track to school in Kington. Their mother sent their lunch on the 12.25 goods train. The empty plates were sent back on the 1.15pm train to Presteigne.
Tom Duggan, foreman of the platelayers on the Eardisley line, walked along the track from Lyonshall to Titley, arriving at 7am, where he would cook his breakfast, a piece of bacon, over an open fire. 
The Presteigne line was very rural. Shopping for Mrs Jackson of Highland Farm, Stansbatch was dropped off and butter and eggs taken on board for market. Parcels of the morning papers were thrown off at pre-arranged drop off points.
Train drivers would often make unscheduled stops to pick apples from the branches overhanging the line, or to pick mushrooms from a nearby field. 
During the Second World War traffic on this line increased enormously, due to the American forces’ hospital camp at Hergest. One evening, American servicemen, who were not off duty, ventured into Ye Olde Tavern, near Kington station, for a drink. To avoid the military police, they then drove their jeep along the railway line to Titley Junction and on to the Holly Bush Inn, near Lyonshall, to spend an evening drinking. 
One can only assume that those undertaking these perilous journeys had a very good knowledge of the railway timetable.

Kay Ingram