AN OLD railway station in Monmouthshire will get a new lease of life at one of the world’s leading museums.

Experts from St Fagans National History Museum in Cardiff want to move the unused railway station in the council’s highways depot at Raglan and display it at the open air museum.

For years Monmouthshire has looked at refurbishing the building, which is hidden within a council yard off the A449, but plans proved too costly at £85,000. Railway enthusiasts also approached the council but none produced a plan to remove it.

Instead, the council approached St Fagans National History Museum who expressed an interest in rebuilding it on their site.

The station opened on the Pontypool to Coleford railway line in 1876. Its main job was to carry iron ore fromthe Forest of Dean to furnaces near Nantyglo. Although it was not primarily for passengers, Raglan was one of a number of passenger stations on the line but became less viable as time and closed in 1955.

It retains many original features, such as deep casting iron rainwater gutters, wrought iron brackets for paraffin oil lamps and the platform canopy.

Gerallt Nash, St Fagans senior curator of historical buildings, said the museum’s specialist historic buildings unit will start dismantling the building at the end of the month.

The council’s deputy leader, Councillor Bob Greenland said: “We would like to see the station preserved for future generations. We will work closely with St Fagans over a period of several years to make this project a great success.”