REALLY SideTracked – Four Crosses
Flanders and Swann Slow Train event No 14
A geocaching meet-up between 3 and 3.30pm on Sunday 16th February Sunday 23rd February, near the site of the old station at Four Crosses, in Wales. This is the only station mentioned in Slow Train that is not in England.
This is the next in a series of SideTracked events based on the song Slow Train by Flanders and Swann. Written in 1963, the song laments the closure of many stations and railway lines under the Beeching cuts of that era.
"No whitewashed pebbles, no Up and no Down
From Formby, Four Crosses to Dunstable Town
I won't be going again on the Slow Train..."
Please note the new date for this event.
About SideTracked Caches
This cache belongs to the SideTracked series. It is not designed to take you to a magical place with a breath taking view. It's a distraction for the weary traveller, but anyone else can go and find it too. More Information can be found at the SideTracked Website
About Four Crosses Station
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Four Crosses station, c.1905.
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Four Crosses railway station was a station on the former Cambrian Railways between Oswestry and Welshpool. Opened in 1860 as part of the Oswestry and Newtown Railway (O&NR), it served the village of Four Crosses in Powys, Wales. The O&NR line south of Llanymynech to Newtown (Powys) was single track, with passing loops at each intermediate station. Four Crosses was the main crossing point for passenger trains from Oswestry to Newtown, and so was re-configured by the Great Western Railway in 1925, when a private sidings was also laid to the nearby creamery, giving milk trains direct access. The GWR improved the up platform, installed longer passing loops of 1,116 feet (340 m) in length, and reconfigured the 1896 signal box to cope with additional traffic. In 1963, the former Cambrian Railways mainline was vested to the London Midland Region of British Railways, who decided to keep the parallel former Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway open. The line from Welshpool to Oswestry was hence closed in 1965, including Four Crosses station.
We will meet on the grass outside the former creamery. Parking is available nearby, but please be careful with geokids and dogs, as the road may be busy at times.
Related web pages:
(Background images - Donald Swann and Michael Flanders in concert, 1966; disused track near Dunstable Town station in 2006, copyright Nigel Cox, CC-by-SA)