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East Shropshire is well known as the ‘cradle of the Industrial Revolution’ with iron works, coal mines and furnaces all well established by 1760. Oakengates is a small town situated in the former Shropshire industrial area, and is roughly midway between Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton, which has now been subsumed into the new town of Telford. Prior to absorption into Telford, the town had a population of around 11,500, which made it the third largest settlement in the county after Shrewsbury and Wellington.
The town found itself at the centre of a network of railways which included a LNWR main line, a GWR mainline, a LNWR branch line, two GWR branch lines and the private railway network of the Lilleshall Company.
The linked article focuses on the lines running through the heart of Oakengates.
Significant elements of this article depend on an article by David Bradshaw & Stanley C. Jenkins; Rails around Oakengates; in Steam Days, March 2013. Their work is used here with the kind permission of David Bradshaw who is a native of Oakengates. In addition, I have gathered together everything that I have found which relates directly to the railways which passed through Oakengates. In March 2024, I gave a talk to the Oakengates History Group which was culled from what is included in this article.
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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A "labor of love", Reverend.
After a career of service to His Majesty's houses of worship, your interest in chronicling the railways from your part of his realm is truly magnificent.
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