Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway

Wrexham, Mold & Connah's Quay Railway

Legend

Connahs Quay

Dock and Goods

River Dee

Borderlands Line

Connah's Quay

ShottonNorth Wales Coast Line

Mold Railway

Mold

Hawarden

Llong

Buckley

(old and new stations)

Padeswood and Buckley

Castle Cement

Penyffordd Sidings

Hope Exchange

(High and low level)

Coed Talon

Mold Railway

Llanfynydd

Penyffordd

Ffrith

Hope

River Cegidog

River Alyn

Wrexham and Minera Railway

Caergwrle

Brymbo (WMCQR)

Brymbo (WMR)

Cefn-y-Bedd

The Lodge Halt

River Cegidog

Cegidog Viaduct

Plas Power (WMCQR)

Plas Power (WMR)

Brynmally Colliery

Limit of passenger services

on Moss Valley Branch

Gwersyllt Colliery/Station

Moss Halt

Shrewsbury to Chester Line

Brymbo Steelworks

Wheatsheaf Branch

New Broughton Road Halt

Gwersyllt Hill Halt

Moss and Pentre

Pentre Broughton Halt

Highfield Road Halt

Gwersyllt Junction

Gatewen Halt

Rhosddu Halt

Wrexham Exchange

Wrexham General

now merged with

Wrexham General

Croes Newydd

Wrexham Central

Shrewsbury to Chester Line

Wrexham and Ellesmere Railway

The Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway (WMCQR) was incorporated on 7 August 1862 to build a line from Wrexham to Buckley.

Overview

The Buckley Railway had already been incorporated on 14 June 1860 to build a 5-mile (8 km) line from that town to a junction with the London and North Western Railway Chester-Holyhead main line at Connah's Quay in order to link collieries and brickworks in the area with a point of shipment on the River Dee. The Buckley Railway was opened in 1864 as a freight-carrying line, and was worked by horses, though steam hauled passenger trains ran from Wrexham to its terminus at Drury.

The WMCQR line - 12.5 miles (20 km) in length - opened as a single line with short branches from Buckley to a point near the Great Western Railway station at Wrexham; it also had a south to west connection with the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) at Hope. The WMCQR took over the Buckley Railway from 30 June 1873. Several other extensions of the railway were authorised in 1864 and 1865: these never materialised.

On 1 November 1887 the Railway extended into the Wrexham Central station. On 31 March 1890 a further line was opened by the WMCQR: the "Buckley Loop" also connected with the LNWR, and ran through Hawarden. At the same time the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MSLR) began the construction of a line from Chester to join the WMCQR at Hawarden Bridge Junction over the River Dee: this necessitated building the Hawarden Swing Bridge over the river.^[1]

By an Act of 1885 the Wirral Railway obtained powers to build a line from Bidston to join the MSLR at Hawarden Bridge; in the event the construction was taken over by a joint committee (known as the North Wales and Liverpool Railway Committee). The line - 14.25 miles (22.93 km) - was opened on 18 May 1896: the following year the WMCQR went into receivership, and the line was bought by the Great Central Railway, as the MSLR had now become: the joint committee was dissolved in 1904.

People

The principal promoters of the WMCQR were Henry Robertson, of Banff, Scotland and Benjamin Piercy, of Montgomeryshire. Robert Piercy, Benjamin's elder brother, was appointed Resident Engineer to the railway in 1866.

Locomotives

This is not a complete list:

No.1 Wheatley, 0-6-0ST, ex-Buckley Railway, built by Hudswell Clarke in 1861
No.2 Kenyon, 0-6-0ST, ex-Buckley Railway, built by Hudswell Clarke in 1862
No.3 Chancellor, 0-6-0, ex-St. Helens Railway no.11 Tyne, builder unknown
No.4 Lord Richard, 0-6-0T, built by Hudswell Clarke in 1863, rebuilt as 0-4-2T in 1889
No.5 Sir Stephen, 0-6-0T, built by Hudswell Clarke in 1863
No.6 Queen, ex-London and North Western Railway, built as 0-6-0 by Sharp, Roberts and Company 1846, rebuilt as 0-6-0ST at Crewe 1858, purchased by WM&CQR 1872, rebuilt as 0-8-0ST 1880, rebuilt as 0-6-2ST 1888, rebuilt as 0-8-0ST 1903
No.7 (later No.3), ex-South Staffordshire Railway, built as 0-6-0 by Robert Stephenson and Company 1851, rebuilt at Crewe as 0-6-0ST, purchased by WM&CQR 1874, rebuilt as 0-6-2 in 1882, rebuilt as 2-6-0T in 1899
No.7 Duke, 0-4-0ST, built by Hudswell Clarke in 1878
No.8 Premier, 0-6-0ST, built by Hudswell Clarke in 1880
No.9 Dee, 0-4-0ST, ex-Thomas Butlin & Co, Wellingborough, built by Hudswell Clarke in 1871, purchased by WM&CQR 1881
No.10 Emily, ex-Broughton Coal Co., built by Beyer Peacock 1882
No.11 0-4-0ST, built by Hudswell Clarke in 1885
No.12 0-6-2T, built by Beyer Peacock 1885
No.13 0-6-2T, built by Beyer Peacock 1885
No.14 0-4-0T, ex-Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway, built by Dodds 1854, rebuilt as 0-4-2T 1860, purchased by WM&CQR 1887
No.15 0-6-2ST, built by Beyer Peacock 1888
No.16 0-6-2ST, built by Beyer Peacock 1888
Nos.17-26 0-6-2T, built by Beyer Peacock 1896-98 (actually owned by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, but carried WM&CQR numbers and livery to enable them to exercise running powers over the Wirral Railway.)

Recent times

The Buckley Branch was closed in the 1960s following the closure of the Northop Hall to Connah's Quay incline around 1960. The severe Winter of 1963/4 led to the line's closure beyond the site of Etna Brickworks following a landslip. The branch was dieselised around 1962 and was operated by a shunter. The sidings at Drury, which featured a loco shed and shunting capstan were used for stock storage for a while before total closure in the mid 60s and the removal of track from Buckley Junction. The main line of the railway between Wrexham Central and Bidston has been operated by DMUs since the early 1960s and remains in use to today as the Borderlands Line. It is operated by Arriva Trains Wales. At Bidston passengers can change to Merseyrail services on the Wirral Line to Birkenhead and Liverpool. Freight traffic continues to Pen-y-ffordd Cement Works, where an EWS Class 08 shunter is used to shunt the coal deliveries. Further freight traffic runs from Wrexham to Dee Marsh Junction, including steel traffic.

Further notes

The WMCQR was loosely associated with the Bishops Castle Railway (opened 1866, closed 1936) which ran from Craven Arms to Bishop's Castle. The two railways were not directly connected but the latter's locomotives were repaired at the WMCQR's workshop.

The WMCQR was a party to the 'Welsh Railways Through Traffic Act' of 1889, by which an interconnected group of independent Welsh companies agreed to cooperate in promoting a through route from South Wales to Merseyside via Talyllyn Junction, Llanidloes, Welshpool, Ellesmere and Wrexham. This was to be an attempt to attract traffic away from the large companies’ routes via Hereford. At that time the lines from Ellesmere to Wrexham, and then on to Merseyside, had not yet been built, and it was 1896 before the envisaged route was complete.

For long distance through traffic this route never received substantial use, although the Great Central Railway (who acquired the WMCQR in 1897) did run some holiday trains south to Newtown, although these then proceeded to Aberystwyth rather than to South Wales as originally envisaged.

The route is most often quoted in connection with the ‘Jellicoe Specials’ of World War I. These trains carried coal from the South Wales coalfields to the Fleet in Scapa Flow, providing much needed relief to the demand on the alternative ‘main’ line via Hereford. However, it seems likely that beyond Ellesmere these trains would have travelled north via Whitchurch rather than deviating via Wrexham and the Wirral, thereby avoiding the northern section of the route envisaged by the 1889 Act.^[2]

References

↑ Hawarden Swing Bridge
↑ R W Kidner (2003). The Mid-Wales Railway. The Oakwood Press.

External links

Historic Welsh railway companies

Great Western Railway	Aberdare Railway Aberdare Valley Railway Aberystwyth and Welsh Coast Railway Alexandra Docks and Railway Bala and Dolgelly Railway Bala and Festiniog Railway Barry Dock and Railway Barry Railway Blaenavon Tramroad Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction Brecon and Merthyr Railway Bridgend Bristol and South Wales Union Railway Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway Cambrian Railways Cardiff Railway Cardiff and Ogmore Carmarthen and Cardigan Carmarthenshire Railway Clarbeston Road and Letterston Railway Coleford, Monmouth, Usk and Pontypool Railway Corris Railway Corwen and Bala Railway Denbigh, Ruthin and Corwen Railway Ely and Clydach Valleys Railway Ely Valley Railway Ely Valley Extension Railway Gwendraeth Valleys Railway Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway Kington Tramway Lampeter, Aberayron and New Quay Light Railway Llancaiach Branch Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr Railway Llanidloes and Newtown Railway Llangollen and Corwen Railway Llangurig branch Llantrisant and Taff Vale Junction Railway Llynvi and Ogmore Railway Maerdy Branch Manchester and Milford Railway Mawddwy Railway Merthyr, Tredegar and Abergavenny Railway Mid-Wales Railway Monmouth and Hereford Railway Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company Narberth Road and Maenclochog Railway Neath and Brecon Railway Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway Newtown and Machynlleth Railway North Pembrokeshire and Fishguard Railway North Wales Mineral Railway Oswestry, Ellesmere and Whitchurch Railway Oswestry and Newtown Railway Pembroke and Tenby Railway Pontypool, Caerleon and Newport Railway Pontypridd, Caerphilly and Newport Railway Port Talbot Railway Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway Rhymney Railway Rumney Railway Ross and Monmouth Railway Shrewsbury and Chester Railway Shrewsbury, Oswestry and Chester Junction Railway South Wales Railway Taff Vale Railway Tanat Valley Light Railway Vale of Glamorgan Railway Vale of Llangollen Railway Vale of Neath Railway Vale of Rheidol Railway Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway West Midland Railway Whitland and Cardigan Railway Wye Valley Railway Wrexham and Ellesmere Railway

London and North Western Railway	Anglesey Central Railway Bangor and Carnarvon Brynmawr and Blaenavon Railway Carnarvon and Llanberis Railway Carnarvonshire Railway Central Wales Railway Central Wales Extension Railway Chester and Holyhead Railway Chester & Connah's Quay Railway Conway and Llanrwst Railway Knighton Railway Llanelly Railway Red Wharf Bay Sirhowy Railway Swansea and Carmarthen Railway Central Wales and Carmarthen Junction Railway Vale of Clwyd Railway

Joint lines	Brynmawr and Western Valleys Railway Nantybwch and Rhymney Railway Quaker’s Yard and Merthyr Railway Taff Bargoed Railway Buckley Railway North Wales and Liverpool Railway Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway Shrewsbury and Welshpool Railway Vale of Towy Railway Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway Wrexham and Minera Railway

Independent lines	Corris, Machynlleth and River Dovey Tramroad Fairbourne Railway Ffestiniog Railway Festiniog and Blaenau Railway Glyn Valley Tramway Hay Railway Kinmel Camp Railway Mold and Denbigh Junction Railway North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Portmadoc, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway Plynlimon and Hafan Tramway Pwllheli and Llanbedrog Tramway Ruthin and Cerrig-y-Drudion Railway Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway Snowdon Mountain Railway Swansea and Mumbles Railway Talyllyn Railway Van Railway Welsh Highland Railway

Industrial railways	Bailey's Tramroad Beaufort Ironworks Tramway Bryn Oer Tramway Buckley Tramroad Carnarvonshire Slate Quarries Railway Cedryn Quarry Tramway Cowlyd Tramway Crawshay's Private Railway Crickheath Tramway Croesor Tramway Deeside Tramway Dinorwic Railway Dowlais Railway Eigiau Tramway Elan Valley Railway Gorseddau Junction And Portmadoc Railway Gorseddau Tramway Hendre-Ddu Tramway Kerry Tramway Little Ormes Head Quarry tramway Merionethshire Railway Morda Tramway Nantlle Tramway Padarn Railway Penrhyn Quarry Railway Penydarren Tramway Pen-yr-Orsedd Quarry tramways Rhiwbach Tramway Saundersfoot Railway Trefor Quarry railway Tremadoc Tramway

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