This illustrated and meticulously researched book takes you back to the golden age of railways in Shropshire - to a time of thriving rural railways, when the sight of bustling stations and steam trains pulling liveried coaches across the countryside was common. Using archive photography, maps and accounts from the time, the book brings to life the history of the area's railways, the reason for their construction and their closure. Shrewsbury celebrated the arrival of trains on 12th October 1848, when a line to Chester was opened. Bells were rung and crowds of people turned out to wave and cheer as the train passed by. After this, main lines were built linking Shrewsbury with Wolverhampton, Hereford and Crewe. Branch lines followed throughout the county, connecting remote villages and towns and providing transport not only for passengers, but for goods as well. Farms, quarries and mines had at last found a quicker and more reliable way to get their products to market. This was the heyday of the railway age, but it was not to last. Some of the lines closed in the late 1920s. By the early 1930s competition from road transport led to more closures and the steady decline continued through to the Beeching Act of the 1960s when many remaining lines were lost. In this book, author Leslie Oppitz explains the history of these lost lines - the reasons for their construction and for their closure. His account also covers the preserved lines of the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway, the Telford Horsehay Steam Trust and the Severn Valley Railway. Modern photographs accompany those taken when many railways were open and busy. Originally published within the book 'Shropshire and Staffordshire Railways Remembered', this Shropshire volume appears here in a revised and updated new edition.