Monmouth Troy railway station

Monmouth Troy was one of the two former railway stations at Monmouth. It was built in 1857 by the Coleford, Monmouth, Usk and Pontypool Railway and was used by several other branch lines as the local rail network expanded. The station closed in January 1964 following the closure of the last two lines to the station, the Wye Valley Railway and the Ross and Monmouth Railway.

Monmouth Troy
The former Monmouth Troy station building has been re-erected at Winchcombe railway station on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.
General information
Location	Monmouth, Monmouthshire Wales
Platforms	2
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Coleford, Monmouth, Usk and Pontypool Railway[notes 1]
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway[notes 2]
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway
Key dates
October 1857 (1857-10)	Station opened
5 January 1959	Closed to passengers
January 1964 (1964-01)	Closed to goods
Location

v t e Railways in Monmouth
Legend
Ross & Monmouth Railway Monmouth Mayhill Duke of Beaufort Bridge Monmouth Troy Goods Yard River Wye Monmouth Troy Monmouth Viaduct Wyesham Halt Coleford Railway Wye Valley Railway Monmouth Troy tunnel River Trothy Dingestow Coleford, Monmouth, Usk and Pontypool Railway

v t e Wye Valley Railway
Legend
Coleford, Monmouth, Usk & Pontypool Railway Monmouth Troy Ross and Monmouth Railway River Trothy and River Wye Wyesham Halt Wyesham Junction Coleford Railway Wales England Redbrook on Wye Penallt Viaduct over River Wye Gloucestershire Monmouthshire Penallt Halt Whitebrook Halt St Briavels Llandogo Halt Brockweir Halt Tintern River Wye Monmouthshire Gloucestershire Tintern tunnel 182 yd 166 m Tintern Wireworks Branch Tintern Quarry Tidenham tunnel 1190 yd 1088 m Netherhope Halt Tidenham Gloucester–Newport line Wye Valley Junction Tutshill for Beachley Halt Chepstow East Chepstow Railway Bridge over River Wye Glos. Mon. Chepstow Gloucester–Newport line

v t e Coleford Railway
Legend
Coleford, Monmouth, Usk and Pontypool Railway Monmouth Troy Ross and Monmouth Rly River Wye Wyesham Halt Wyesham Junction Redbrook tunnel Wye Valley Railway Wales England border Newland Newland tunnel Whitecliff Quarry Whitecliff Tunnel Coleford Coleford (S&WR) Severn and Wye Railway

v t e Coleford, Monmouth, Usk and Pontypool Railway
Legend
Ross & Monmouth Rly Wye Valley Railway and Coleford Railway 0-46 River Wye 0-00- Monmouth Troy Monmouth Troy tunnel River Trothy 3-32 Dingestow 5-56 Elms Bridge Halt 6-34 Raglan 6-43 Raglan Footpath 7-59 Raglan Road Crossing Halt 8-52 Llandenny 9-66 Cefntilla Halt Usk Tunnel 12-04 Usk River Usk 14-28 ROF Glascoed 14-48 Glascoed Halt Welsh Marches line 16-12 Little Mill Junction Pontypool Road Welsh Marches line

v t e Ross and Monmouth Railway
Legend
mi-ch Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway 0-00 Ross-on-Wye Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway 3-12 Walford Halt 4-10 Kerne Bridge River Wye Lydbrook tunnel River Wye Severn and Wye Railway 5-40 Lydbrook Junction Symonds Yat tunnel 7-50 Symonds Yat Heref, England Mon, Wales border 10-59 Hadnock Halt 12-31 Monmouth Mayhill Wye Valley Railway and Coleford Railway River Wye 13-10 Monmouth Troy Coleford, Monmouth, Usk and Pontypool Railway

History

Monmouth Troy was built for the Coleford, Monmouth, Usk and Pontypool Railway near to Troy House, and opened on 12 October 1857. It was the larger of the two stations in Monmouth,^[1] the other station being Monmouth Mayhill. The Ross & Monmouth Railway found its way to Monmouth Troy in 1874 followed shortly by the Wye Valley Railway in 1876, the Coleford Railway came later in 1883.

The Coleford Railway closed in 1917. The Coleford, Monmouth, Usk and Pontypool Railway withdrew passenger services in 1955, followed by freight services on 12 October 1957. The Wye Valley Railway and Ross and Monmouth Railway struggled on until 1959, when both railways withdrew passenger services. Freight services on both lines to Monmouth Troy were continued until 5 January 1964 when the station officially closed to rail services. If Monmouth had remained a county town it would have been the first county town in Britain to lose all its railway services.^[1]

Goods yard

Monmouth Troy Goods Yard (51.8035°N 2.7138°W / 51.8035; -2.7138) was a large goods yard constructed at the same time as the station. It outlived it by nine months until October 1964 when its non-rail depot closed.^[1] At its height, the goods yard was used by the Wye Valley Railway, Coleford Railway, Ross and Monmouth Railway as well as the Coleford, Monmouth, Usk and Pontypool Railway.^[1] The goods yard closed in 1964 when the last two railways, the former Wye Valley Railway and Ross and Monmouth Railway, closed. The non-rail depot remained open until October 1964.^[1]

Tunnel

The short tunnel directly to the west of the station that took the railway beneath Gibraltar Hill was called Monmouth Troy tunnel. It was 140 yards (130 m) long. It is sometimes confused with the A40 road tunnel, named Gibraltar Tunnel, that passes under the same hill.^[2]

Monnow Valley Railway

In the 1860s, a fourth railway into Monmouth was planned, the Monnow Valley Railway running via Rockfield, Skenfrith and Grosmont, to the Hereford line at Pontrilas. This would give a shorter route for minerals and bulk goods from the Forest of Dean heading north to the Midlands. The contractor Thomas Savin was behind the project. Construction began and a short tunnel was constructed at Monmouth Troy. In 1866 Savin went bankrupt and work stopped. This was followed closely by the unrelated collapse of the Overend and Gurney bank, a financial crash leading to the Panic of 1866. As this had been spurred by over-investment in speculative railway building, there was little chance of further investment in the new line.^[3][4]

Only the tunnel survived, in what grew to become the goods yard at Monmouth Troy. It was used for storage and to garage a delivery lorry. It survives to this day, now in the garden of a private house.^[3]

Monmouth Troy today

During the construction of a building estate which would have destroyed the derelict station building, the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway bought it and moved the building stone-by-stone from Monmouth and rebuilt it on the restored railway. Re-construction at Winchcombe on the restored line began in 1987 and was completed in 1999; the station is now known as Winchcombe railway station.^[1][5]

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Wyesham Halt		Wye Valley Railway British Railways		Terminus
Wyesham Halt		Coleford Railway Great Western Railway		Terminus
Terminus		Coleford, Monmouth, Usk and Pontypool Railway British Railways		Dingestow
Monmouth Mayhill		Ross and Monmouth Railway British Railways		Terminus

See also

• Winchcombe railway station

Gallery

• 
  Monmouth Troy in November 1958. On the left is 0-4-2T No. 1455 pushing an auto-train from Ross-on-Wye. On the right is 0-6-0PT No. 6439 on a train to Severn Tunnel Junction
• 
  The last passenger train leaving the station, 5 January 1959
• 
  Monmouth Troy station site in 2018

Notes

1. Also used by the Wye Valley Railway, Ross and Monmouth Railway and Coleford Railway.
2. All lines except the Ross and Monmouth Railway were acquired by the Great Western Railway before the Railways Act 1921.