Archifdy Ceredigion Archives
DB/40: Railway Records

Acc. 1390

Ref: DB/40

Reference: [GB 0212] DB/40
Title: Records of several railways companies active in Wales, and in Cardiganshire in particular
Date(s): 1853-1958
Level: Fonds
Extent: 12 series

NATURE AND CONTENT

This collection consists of records created by companies including Cambrian Railways and its constituents, Manchester and Milford Railway and Lampeter, Aberayron and New Quay Light Railway. A large number of these records relate to the formation of these companies and construction of lines which ran principally through counties of Cardiganshire (now Ceredigion), Carmarthenshire, Montgomeryshire (now part of Powys) and Shropshire.

In the mid-1840s various economic factors combined to give rise to an unprecedented increase in levels of railway investment. Between 1844 and 1845 one hundred and sixty eight acts were passed in Britain authorising railways, mainly branch lines, a short lived period later described as 'Railway Mania''. In 1850 the Railway Clearing House organised to arrange through-rates for goods and passengers using different lines, encouraging the amalgamation of companies into larger units.

The collection reflects the competition that developed between railway companies in Wales, and the race to reach certain locations. In Cardiganshire, for example, transport links were limited due to the difficulties of crossing the Cambrian Mountains and absence of canals from the county. The landscape presented many technical challenges for the railway companies and certain lines were planned but never built or completed. Other lines became operational but no longer exist, such as the Manchester and Milford Railway from Pencader to Aberystwyth, which closed to passengers in 1965.

The arrival of the railways in West Wales opened up communication links, leading to increased mobility and economic growth. They had the effect of lowering the cost of raw materials, for example timber, lead ore and slate products, and increasing the market area in which goods could be sold, in particular perishable agricultural produce. They also led to a significant growth of social mobility and the development of tourism.

The collection contains agreements, deeds, contracts, registers of sealed documents, correspondence, and plans. These include documents relating to land purchase and agreements with landowners, and details of the contractors and engineers involved in the planning and construction of the railways. There are also contracts for rolling stock and agreements with other railway companies relating to running powers over the lines and the amalgamation of companies.

ARRANGEMENT

The collection is arranged into the following series:

DB/40/1 and DB/40/2: Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway Company / Papers relating to Shrewsbury Station
DB/40/3: Shrewsbury and Welshpool Railway Company
DB/40/4: Newtown and Machynlleth Railway Company
DB/40/5: Shrewsbury and Wellington Joint Railway
DB/40/6: Oswestry and Newtown Railway Company
DB/40/7: Manchester and Milford Railway Company
DB/40/8: Aberystwyth and Welsh Coast Railway Company
DB/40/9: Cambrian Railways Company
DB/40/10: London and North Western Railway Company
DB/40/11: Wrexham and Ellesmere Railway Company
DB/40/12: Lampeter, Aberayron and New Quay Light Railway

NOTE ON SPELLING

The anglicized spellings of place names are used in the catalogue if they appear in the original documents and company names. Records relating to the Aberystwyth and Welsh Coast Railway Company use two spellings, Aberystwyth and Aberystwith. The former has been used throughout for consistency.

ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY

See separate section

ARCHIVAL HISTORY

The records were transferred to Great Western Railway on amalgamation of the companies and later transferred to British Railways following nationalisation in 1948.

IMMEDIATE SOURCE OF ACQUISITION

The collection was received from the British Rail Records Centre in 2002.

ARCHIVIST'S NOTE

This introduction and the administrative history (see next section) were compiled by the cataloguer (Clare Connolly) using the collection itself and the following sources:

Chambers, J.D., The Workshop of the World: British Economic History from 1820 to 1880, Oxford University Press 1961

Green, C.C., The Coast Lines of the Cambrian Railways vol. 1, Wild Swan Publications 1993

Holden, J.S., The Manchester and Milford Railway, The Oakwood Press 1979

Johnson, Peter, The Cambrian Railways: A New History, Oxford Publishing Company 2013

Johnson, Peter, The Welsh Narrow Gauge Railways, Ian Allan Publishing 1991

Price, M.R.C., The Lampeter, Aberayron and New Quay Light Railway, The Oakwood Press 1995