Courtesy of Dave Weston Wellington (pop now around 28,000) was pre-Telford, the largest town in the east of Shropshire and it was close to a large coal-field with over 20 mines in the area at one stage, several iron ore works, a significant brewing industry, a woodyard and sawmills, a gasworks and was the main trading centre for the large East Shropshire farming community with its busy Smithfield market. The industrial revolution stimulated the development of the extensive rail network in the mid 19th century. The nearby Wrekin Hill is an important feature of the local area.
The construction of the ‘Shropshire Union Railway’ for the route between Shrewsbury and Wellington and onto Stafford began in 1847. It was the only railway to be built by a canal company, this was because the Shropshire Union and Canal Company decided that new railways should be built along their existing canal routes for faster transport of coal, iron ore and other goods. The Shropshire Union and Railway company was formed in 1846 to manage canals, but it soon realised that railways would replace the canals for freight transport. Interestingly, freight not passengers was seen as the most important reason for the development of the Shropshire railways. However, the Shropshire Union Railway was soon taken over by LNWR and eventually by the GWR. The building work for Shrewsbury to Wellington line was completed in early 1849 and Wellington station and the line to Stafford opened on the 1st June 1849. The list of engineers working on this line included the famous Robert Stephenson (who has a statue on the forecourt of Euston station), William Cubitt, William Baker, Frederick Wistanley (whose name is inscribed on the neglected plaque on King Street bridge in Wellington) and WA Provis. Originally, Wellington station only had buildings on the existing platform 2 side and it had four tracks running through the station (just as it has today). The station was built on the site of the graveyard of the adjacent All Saints Church and the station ironwork includes crosses to remember the origins of the site.
The station was rebuilt around 1881 and many of the original features remain. Look out for the Victorian tiles on the floors of several of the rooms (probably made at the Maws tile works near Ironbridge), including the buffet, the intricate ironwork and the only Victorian postbox in Wellington at the entrance to the station by the ticket office. The first trains ran from Shrewsbury to Wellington and then onto Newport and Stafford. Later in 1849 the line to Wolverhampton was completed, once the Oakengates tunnel was built (by a different company – the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway) and it opened in November giving access to Birmingham and London. Wellington was soon to become a major rail hub, with other local lines being built, with a branch to Coalport opening in 1860 (for freight) and 1861 for passengers. Then the line to Buildwas and Much Wenlock was opened in 1862 and this line was extended to Cravens Arms in 1867. Lastly a new line was built to Market Drayton and Crewe and this was opened in 1867 giving access to trains to Manchester. After rebuilding, Wellington was a busy large station which had 5 platforms and 4 signal boxes making it the second largest station in Shropshire. There were 2 major goods yards (where the Aldi and Morrisons supermarkets are now) and it had a engine shed at the back of platform 1, where the station car park is now. Wellington station had over 100 staff at one stage, with up to 16 steam engines based at its shed and its own station master who lived in the station house above the car park. It also had 2 buffets and it is ‘rumoured’ that there is a tunnel under the tracks that waiters used to take food from the main buffet (where the existing cafe is) on platform 1 to the smaller one on platform 1. One of the famous travellers from Wellington station was Philip Larkin (the world famous poet) who worked at Wellington library from November 1943 until September 1946 and he wrote ‘The North Ship’ while living in Wellington and he talks about ‘one man walking a deserted platform in the rain’ which could have been Wellington station.
It is 100th anniversary of Larkin's birth on August 9th 2022 and it would be fitting to have some sort of memorial to his time at Wellington (Hull station has a full sized statue on the forecourt and Coventry station has a commemorative plaque). Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh visited Wellington station on the Royal Train on the 14th July 1972.
Wellington station started to decline with the closure of the branch lines in the 1960s (the line to Ironbridge and Much Wenlock closed in July 1962, the line to Market Drayton and Nantwich in Sept 1963 and the line to Newport and Stafford in Sept 1964) and with the opening of the new Telford Central station in 1986. However, passengers numbers using the station have increased significantly in recent years and in 2019-20 there were 705,016 passengers using the station and the increase in rail services will continue this positive trend. There are now 103 trains calling at Wellington station every weekday (pre-Covid timetable). On the 1st June 2019 Wellington station celebrated the 170th anniversary of its opening. Wellington station has considerable potential in terms of heritage, economic regeneration, as a transport hub (serving a large market town of 28,000 and close to the PRH hospital and the TCAT further education college), tourism (as gateway to the Wrekin Hill) and an empty bay platform which 'could' be a terminus for a new rail service to the world heritage site of Ironbridge.