Notes: Stanwardine Halt was located on the Great Western Railway’s (GWR) main line that linked Birmingham to the River Mersey at Birkenhead via Chester. The section of line on which Stanwardine Halt was located had been opened on 1 October 1848 by the Shrewsbury & Chester Railway. The GWR took over the line on 1 September 1854. Under their ownership it became a busy trunk route linking the Midlands to Birkenhead on the River Mersey. Express passenger services began operating between London Paddington and Birkenhead on 1 October 1861. The line also carried heavy volumes of freight.

The halt was opened on 27 February 1933 to serve the small settlement of Stanwardine in the Fields. It was located on the east side of the road overbridge that carried the road to Baschurch over the line.

The halt was very basic consisting of short timber platforms and GWR pagoda style waiting shelters.

On 1 January 1948 the line became part of British Railways [Western Region] (BR[WR]). The summer timetable for 1949 showed only three up and four down trains called at the halt Monday-to-Saturday. On Sunday there were two up and one down services.

The 15 September 1958 timetable showed one up and three down services Monday-to-Friday with an extra up service on Saturdays as shown in the table below. No trains called on Sundays.

On 12 September 1960 BR[WR] closed Stanwardine Halt and it was demolished shortly after leaving no trace.

The line remained a busy trunk route until the mid-1960s when many mainline services were diverted to other routes or ceased to run. By the late 1970s it had become a shadow of its former self with only an hourly DMU service in each direction.

Following a period of passenger growth in the first decade of the Twenty-First century the line was once again handling main line traffic.

Ticket from Michael Stewart and route map by Alan Young

Sources:

• A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain - Volume II North & Mid Wales - Peter E Baughan - David & Charles 1980.
• Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies - Christopher Awdry - Guild Publishing 1990.
• Paddington to the Mersey - Dr R. Preston Hendry & R. Powell Hendry - Oxford Publishing Company 1992.
• Railway Passenger Stations in Great Britain - a Chronology - Michael Quick - Railway & Canal Historical Society 2009.
• Shrewsbury to Chester - Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith - Middleton Press 2010.

To see the other stations on the Shrewsbury - Chester General line click on the station name: Shrewsbury S&C, Leaton, Oldwoods Halt, Baschurch,
Haughton Halt, Rednal & West Felton, Whittington Low Level, Weston Rhyn, Trehowell Halt, Llangollen Road, Whitehurst Halt, Rhosymedre, Cefn,
Rhosymedre Halt, Wynnville Halt, Johnstown & Hafod, Rhos, Rhosrobin Halt, Gresford, Rossett, Pulford, Balderton and Saltney