0-4-2 locomotive Shrewsbury Abbey station opened on 13 August 1866 as the temporary end of the
Potteries, Shrewsbury and North Wales Railway (known locally as 'The Potts'). It was built on part of a monastery that had been destroyed during the
Reformation. In 1876, a railway carriage and wagon building works of the Midland Wagon Company operated next to the station. It closed in 1912. When the station became the permanent terminus after financial difficulties caused the abandonment of the planned extension to Market Drayton, it struggled to make money. On 22 June 1880, Shrewsbury Abbey closed for the first time when the railway could no longer continue services; this was a rare example of a railway closure in Britain in the 19th century. Several attempts were made to reopen the railway. In 1890–91, a start was made on remodelling the station before financial problems again caused work to cease. The station was finally reopened on 13 April 1911 with a rebuilt line now known as the
Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway. It finally closed to all passengers (except specials) on 6 November 1933.
Wartime role At the outbreak of
World War II, the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Light Railway was taken over by the
War Department. Shrewsbury Abbey station reopened for military personnel in 1941. The
Royal Engineers reconstructed the railway and built a top secret storage explosives depot at
Kinnerley. The site was not declassified until the 1950s. The entire railway was closed by the military in 1960. Official closure was on 29 February, connection to the system being maintained by a new link to the
Severn Valley Railway.
Later use After Shrewsbury Abbey station closed, the goods yard was occupied by an oil depot until its closure on 5 July 1988. The site is now occupied by a surface car park, and the original station building and platform built for the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire were restored in 2005–06. The building now serves as the headquarters of the Shrewsbury Railway Heritage Trust, who open it to the public, hosting an exhibition on Shrewsbury's railway history, on certain days. In 2023, the station received a red wheel plaque from the
National Transport Trust commemorating its history as a railway terminus. ==See also==