Shotton railway station
Encyclopedia
Shotton railway station serves the town of Shotton
, Flintshire
, Wales
. It is situated where the Borderlands Line
crosses the North Wales Coast Line
. All passenger services are operated by Arriva Trains Wales
, which manages the station.
Shotton is split into two sections: a High Level on the Borderlands Line
; and a Low level on the North Wales Coast Line
. Each level has two side platform
s and are double track
ed. The station is staffed on weekdays and Saturday mornings only. There is a ticket office on the Bidston
-bound platform.
The tracks of the high and low levels cross each other at right angle
s.
, but the railway company did not provide a station to serve it. The town had to wait until 1890 for its first station, when one was built by the Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway
as the northern end of their Hawarden Loop line from Buckley
. It connected there to the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
's line from Chester Northgate
via Hawarden Bridge.
The link to Bidston was added by the North Wales and Liverpool Railway
in 1896, whilst the LNWR built two wooden platforms on the main line to Holyhead in 1907 to give the town access to trains along the coast to Crewe and Rhyl/Llandudno/Bangor & Holyhead and allow interchange with the Wrexham line.
The Beeching cuts
of the 1960s saw the low level platforms closed on 14 February 1966 and services to Chester Northgate withdrawn on 9 September 1968 , leaving only the Wrexham - Bidston line to serve the high-level platforms. The loss of the link to Chester proved unpopular however and BR eventually agreed to restore it by re-opening the low level platforms. Trains began calling again in August 1972 after new platforms had been built (the slow lines that served the original platforms having been removed in the late sixties as an economy measure).
Both sets of platforms are currently being refurbished as part of a £1.5 million modernisation scheme. This work (which commenced in March 2009) will include platform resurfacing, the installation of new waiting shelters & ticket vending machines, improved signage and a new ticket office. The scheme was completed in early November 2010 with the official opening of the new ticket office by former Alyn & Deeside MP Lord Jones
.
The high level of the station is on the Borderlands Line
and consists of two platforms - 3 & 4. Services operate every 60 minutes in each direction (Monday-Saturday daytime) on the Borderlands line, between Wrexham Central
and Bidston
(where passengers can change for Liverpool
). The frequency drops to two-hourly in the evenings and infrequently (six trains each way) on Sundays.
To the north of the station on the Borderlands line is Hawarden Bridge
over the River Dee
.
. Services travel between Llandudno
and Manchester Piccadilly via Chester
and Warrington Bank Quay
. A number of early morning & late evening services between Holyhead
and either Shrewsbury
or also stop here.
Sunday services are infrequent during the day although there are hourly trains in the late afternoon that run between Crewe and either Llandudno Junction
or Holyhead.
Shotton, Flintshire
Shotton is a town in Flintshire, north Wales, lying on the River Dee. The name derives from the Old Norse words sjò and tùn . It is continuous with the towns of Connah's Quay and Queensferry in what is called Deeside...
, Flintshire
Flintshire
Flintshire is a county in north-east Wales. It borders Denbighshire, Wrexham and the English county of Cheshire. It is named after the historic county of Flintshire, which had notably different borders...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. It is situated where the Borderlands Line
Borderlands Line
The Borderlands Line is the railway line between Wrexham, Wales, and Bidston, Wirral, England.Passenger train services are operated by Arriva Trains Wales between Wrexham Central and Bidston. Trains run every hour Monday to Saturday daytime, every two hours after 18:45 and on Sundays...
crosses the North Wales Coast Line
North Wales Coast Line
The North Wales Coast Line is the railway line from Crewe to Holyhead. Virgin Trains consider their services along it to be a spur of the West Coast Main Line. The first section from Crewe to Chester was built by the Chester and Crewe Railway and absorbed by the Grand Junction Railway shortly...
. All passenger services are operated by Arriva Trains Wales
Arriva Trains Wales
Arriva Trains Wales is a train operating company, owned by Arriva, that operates urban and inter urban passenger services in Wales and the Welsh Marches...
, which manages the station.
Shotton is split into two sections: a High Level on the Borderlands Line
Borderlands Line
The Borderlands Line is the railway line between Wrexham, Wales, and Bidston, Wirral, England.Passenger train services are operated by Arriva Trains Wales between Wrexham Central and Bidston. Trains run every hour Monday to Saturday daytime, every two hours after 18:45 and on Sundays...
; and a Low level on the North Wales Coast Line
North Wales Coast Line
The North Wales Coast Line is the railway line from Crewe to Holyhead. Virgin Trains consider their services along it to be a spur of the West Coast Main Line. The first section from Crewe to Chester was built by the Chester and Crewe Railway and absorbed by the Grand Junction Railway shortly...
. Each level has two side platform
Side platform
A Side platform is a platform positioned to the side of a pair of tracks at a railway station, a tram stop or a transitway. A pair of side platforms are often provided on a dual track line with a single side platform being sufficient for a single track line...
s and are double track
Double track
A double track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single track railway where trains in both directions share the same track.- Overview :...
ed. The station is staffed on weekdays and Saturday mornings only. There is a ticket office on the Bidston
Bidston railway station
Bidston railway station is a railway station in Bidston, Birkenhead, on the Wirral, England. It is situated at the junction of the West Kirby branch of the Wirral Line with the Borderlands Line from Wrexham Central .-History:The station was originally built by the Hoylake Railway in 1866 as an...
-bound platform.
The tracks of the high and low levels cross each other at right angle
Right angle
In geometry and trigonometry, a right angle is an angle that bisects the angle formed by two halves of a straight line. More precisely, if a ray is placed so that its endpoint is on a line and the adjacent angles are equal, then they are right angles...
s.
History
The town gained its first railway as early as 1848 with the opening of the Chester and Holyhead RailwayChester and Holyhead Railway
The Chester and Holyhead Railway was incorporated out of a proposal to link Holyhead, the traditional port for the Irish Mail, with London by way of the existing Chester and Crewe Railway, and what is now the West Coast Main Line...
, but the railway company did not provide a station to serve it. The town had to wait until 1890 for its first station, when one was built by the Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway
Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway
The Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway 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 line from that town to a junction with the London and North Western Railway Chester-Holyhead...
as the northern end of their Hawarden Loop line from Buckley
Buckley railway station
Buckley railway station serves the town of Buckley in Flintshire, Wales.The station is 14 km north of Wrexham Central on the Borderlands Line.The station was known as Buckley Junction until 6 May 1974, when it became Buckley....
. It connected there to the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway was formed by amalgamation in 1847. The MS&LR changed its name to the Great Central Railway in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension.-Origin:...
's line from Chester Northgate
Chester Northgate railway station
Chester Northgate is a former railway station in Chester, Cheshire that was a terminus for the Cheshire Lines Committee and Great Central Railway...
via Hawarden Bridge.
The link to Bidston was added by the North Wales and Liverpool Railway
North Wales and Liverpool Railway
The North Wales and Liverpool Railway , was the name given to the joint committee formed to construct a railway between Bidston, on the Wirral Railway and Hawarden on the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway's Chester & Connah's Quay Railway from Chester to its link with the Wrexham,...
in 1896, whilst the LNWR built two wooden platforms on the main line to Holyhead in 1907 to give the town access to trains along the coast to Crewe and Rhyl/Llandudno/Bangor & Holyhead and allow interchange with the Wrexham line.
The Beeching cuts
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
of the 1960s saw the low level platforms closed on 14 February 1966 and services to Chester Northgate withdrawn on 9 September 1968 , leaving only the Wrexham - Bidston line to serve the high-level platforms. The loss of the link to Chester proved unpopular however and BR eventually agreed to restore it by re-opening the low level platforms. Trains began calling again in August 1972 after new platforms had been built (the slow lines that served the original platforms having been removed in the late sixties as an economy measure).
Both sets of platforms are currently being refurbished as part of a £1.5 million modernisation scheme. This work (which commenced in March 2009) will include platform resurfacing, the installation of new waiting shelters & ticket vending machines, improved signage and a new ticket office. The scheme was completed in early November 2010 with the official opening of the new ticket office by former Alyn & Deeside MP Lord Jones
Barry Jones, Baron Jones
Stephen Barry Jones, Baron Jones, PC is a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom.-Early life:Jones was educated at Hawarden Grammar School and Bangor College of Education. A teacher, he was president of the Flint County National Union of Teachers...
.
Shotton High Level
Borderlands Line
The Borderlands Line is the railway line between Wrexham, Wales, and Bidston, Wirral, England.Passenger train services are operated by Arriva Trains Wales between Wrexham Central and Bidston. Trains run every hour Monday to Saturday daytime, every two hours after 18:45 and on Sundays...
and consists of two platforms - 3 & 4. Services operate every 60 minutes in each direction (Monday-Saturday daytime) on the Borderlands line, between Wrexham Central
Wrexham Central railway station
Wrexham Central railway station is the smaller of two main railway stations serving the central area of Wrexham in Wales. The platform can accommodate a three car diesel train, but has room for platform extension...
and Bidston
Bidston railway station
Bidston railway station is a railway station in Bidston, Birkenhead, on the Wirral, England. It is situated at the junction of the West Kirby branch of the Wirral Line with the Borderlands Line from Wrexham Central .-History:The station was originally built by the Hoylake Railway in 1866 as an...
(where passengers can change for Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
). The frequency drops to two-hourly in the evenings and infrequently (six trains each way) on Sundays.
To the north of the station on the Borderlands line is Hawarden Bridge
Hawarden Bridge
Hawarden Bridge is a railway bridge over the River Dee, near to Shotton, Flintshire, Wales. It was built by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway , as part of the Chester & Connah's Quay Railway...
over the River Dee
River Dee, Wales
The River Dee is a long river in the United Kingdom. It travels through Wales and England and also forms part of the border between the two countries....
.
Shotton Low Level
Trains operate approximately every hour on the North Wales Coast LineNorth Wales Coast Line
The North Wales Coast Line is the railway line from Crewe to Holyhead. Virgin Trains consider their services along it to be a spur of the West Coast Main Line. The first section from Crewe to Chester was built by the Chester and Crewe Railway and absorbed by the Grand Junction Railway shortly...
. Services travel between Llandudno
Llandudno railway station
Llandudno railway station serves the town of Llandudno and is the terminus of a branch line from Llandudno Junction on the Crewe to Holyhead North Wales Coast Line. It is managed by Arriva Trains Wales....
and Manchester Piccadilly via Chester
Chester railway station
Chester railway station is a railway station in Newtown in the city of Chester, England. It is currently operated by Arriva Trains Wales, although Merseyrail, Northern Rail and Virgin Trains also run services from the station. It is situated to the north-east of the city centre...
and Warrington Bank Quay
Warrington Bank Quay railway station
Warrington Bank Quay railway station is a mainline railway station serving the UK town of Warrington. The town centre has two stations on opposite sides of the main shopping area, Warrington Central operating a more frequent service to the neighbouring cities Liverpool and Manchester...
. A number of early morning & late evening services between Holyhead
Holyhead railway station
Holyhead railway station serves the town of Holyhead on Holy Island, Anglesey. It is the western terminus of the North Wales Coast Line and is managed by Arriva Trains Wales, although Virgin Trains also serves it....
and either Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury railway station
Shrewsbury railway station is the railway station serving Shrewsbury, county town of Shropshire, England. It is the only remaining railway station in the town; Shrewsbury Abbey, as well as other small stations around the town, having long closed. The station was built in 1848 and has been extended...
or also stop here.
Sunday services are infrequent during the day although there are hourly trains in the late afternoon that run between Crewe and either Llandudno Junction
Llandudno Junction railway station
Llandudno Junction railway station is on the Crewe to Holyhead North Wales Coast Line. The station is managed by Arriva Trains Wales, although Virgin Trains also serves it....
or Holyhead.