PASSENGER TRAIN SERVICES

When the O&NR opened on 1 May 1860 four passenger trains ran in each direction on Monday-to-Saturday and two on Sunday between Oswestry and Pool Quay. A connecting omnibus ran from Pool Quay to Welshpool. The locomotives and coaches were all based at Oswestry. From 14 August 1860 the trains began to run through to Welshpool and Newtown was reached by 10 June 1861.

With the opening of the line to Ellesmere on 4 May 1863 passenger services started to run in that direction.

From 23 June 1864 Oswestry passengers were able to travel to destinations on the Cambrian coast when the line to Aberystwyth opened. By October 1867 a line to Pwllheli had also opened.

The December 1895 timetable showed seven up and eight down services on Monday-to-Saturday as seen in the table below. On Wednesday there was an extra down train. There were also two up and three down trains which terminated at Oswestry. On Monday there was an additional terminating service from Welshpool and on Wednesday one from Whitchurch. On Sunday there was one up train from Aberystwyth which terminated at Oswestry and one down service to Aberystwyth.

In 1900 a through summer service between the Manchester and the Cambrian coast was introduced by the CR. The train ran via Chester (Liverpool Road) and Wrexham Central running non-stop between the latter place and Oswestry (using the Ellesmere west curve). Trains departed from Manchester Central at 10.09am and at Oswestry the coaches were attached the 12.20pm Whitchurch to Aberystwyth service. The service lasted only a few years.

On 5 January 1904 a special train was run for company directors from Oswestry to Llangynog to mark the completion of the Tanat Valley Light Railway which linked the latter place to the CR main line at Llynclys. Public services started the following day and four trains were run in each direction on Monday-to-Saturday.

The GWR took over in January 1922 and the July 1922 timetable showed ten up and eleven down Monday-to-Saturday services as shown in the table below. There were five up and three down services that terminated at Oswestry. On Wednesday there two additional up terminating services. There were also additional down services on some Monday and on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. On Sunday there was one train in each direction.

The GWR improved the passenger train service on the former CR system and by the 1930s Oswestry enjoyed services to destinations including Aberystwyth, Birkenhead Woodside, Chester General, Crewe, Ellesmere, Llangynog, Llanfyllin, Manchester Exchange, Welshpool and Whitchurch.

Following the outbreak of the Second World War the GWR opened a halt on 16 October 1939 at Tinkers Green, a mile to the east of Oswestry on the Whitchurch line. The halt served a military training camp which had existed at the time of the Great War but was reactivated after the outbreak of hostilities in 1939. Seven Whitchurch-line trains in each direction called at the halt but that was not deemed to be enough so a special shuttle service was operated from Oswestry. The shuttle service was operated by an auto-train there being no run-around facilities at Tinkers Green. The service was publicised on posters at Oswestry station.

On the main line the summer timetable for 1949 showed 12 down trains on Monday-to-Friday. On Saturday there were 13 trains and there was one train in the down direction on Sunday. In the up direction there were eight trains on Monday-to-Friday. On Saturday there were nine trains. There were also two services on Monday-to-Saturday from Llangynog that terminated at Oswestry. The timetable also stated that additional trains ran to and from Tinkers Green Halt (on the Whitchurch line) which would be advertised locally. To and from Gobowen there were 25 arrivals and 21 Monday-to-Friday departures with two additional trains each way on Saturday. On Sunday Oswestry had only one train in each direction on the main line but it had ten each way to and from Gobowen.

The BR[WR] timetable of 19 September 1955 showed eight up and 12 down services on the main line on Monday-to-Friday as shown in the table below. One of the services in each direction did not run on school holidays as its main purpose was to serve a local school. On Saturday there were nine up services and 11 down. In addition three services from the up direction terminated at Oswestry on Monday-to-Friday and two did on Saturday. From the down direction five services terminated on Monday-to-Saturday. On Sunday there was only one service in each direction on the main line. There were 13 trains to and 15 from Gobowenon Monday-to-Saturday. On Sunday there were nine to and six from Gobowen.

The passenger service at Oswestry remained fairly constant throughout the 1950s and into the early 1960s. In the early 1960s diesel multiple units were introduced onto the Gobowen line services.

The BR[LMR] timetable of 7 September 1964 showed seven up trains on Monday-to-Saturday as seen in the table below. One of the up trains was the 4.30pm Saturdays Excepted train that served a local school. It did not run on school holidays. Five trains from the up direction terminated at Oswestry on Monday-to-Friday and six on Saturday. There was one up train to Whitchurch on Sunday that departed from Oswestry at 9.25pm.

In the down direction there were 11 down services on the main line on Monday-to-Friday as shown in the table below. The 4.25pm service to Llanymynech did not run during school holidays. On Saturdays there were ten down trains. There were also two services from the down direction that terminated at Oswestry on Monday-to-Friday and three on Saturday. On Sunday there was just a single train from Whitchurch which terminated at Oswestry.

The Gobowen branch service had been much improved since the introduction of the DMUs having 21 trains in each direction on Monday-to-Saturday.

The withdrawal of the main line services on 18 January 1965 left Oswestry with only the Gobowen shuttle which continued to run until Saturday 5 November 1966.