Wrexham and Minera Branch
Encyclopedia
The Wrexham and Minera Railway or Wrexham and Minera Branch was a railway line in North Wales
between the town of Wrexham
, the village of Brymbo
where it served the Brymbo Steelworks, and the lead mines and limeworks
at Minera
. A further branch ran from Brymbo to Coed Talon
, where it connected with lines to Mold
. The system was constructed in several stages between 1844 and 1872, while the various lines making up the system closed in 1952, 1972 and 1982.
A directly competing route to Brymbo was opened by the Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway
in the 1880s. It closed in stages between 1954 and 1970.
.
, built in 1844 and later incorporated into the Great Western Railway
. This line's operation was constrained by the rope-worked inclines
, locally known as "brakes", and tunnels along its route through the hilly country between Wheatsheaf Junction
, near Wrexham, and Brymbo.
As a result, an Act of 1861 proposed that a new railway, the Wrexham and Minera Railway, would be constructed from Croes Newydd
, at Wrexham
on the main Shrewsbury-Chester
line of the Great Western Railway to Brymbo, where it would join the GWR's existing route to Minera. The new railway company would have a capital of £48,000 in total (£36,000 of which would be in shares) and the power to enter into agreement with GWR on operational matters and division of receipts.
George Robert Jebb
, who had previously worked on the Shrewsbury-Chester route, was appointed Resident Engineer. The line was fully completed and jointly leased to the GWR and LNWR
, within whose "sphere of influence" it also fell, in June 1866. A short branch was also constructed through to the colliery at Vron
, owned by William Low, one of the Wrexham and Minera company's directors.
In the 1870s a further extension, the Wrexham and Minera Joint Railway, was built from Brymbo through to an end-on connection with the LNWR's Ffrith
Branch, which ran from Llanfynydd
to Coed Talon
near Mold
. This line was jointly operated by the GWR and the LNWR - the only line in North Wales to be so operated. The completion of this link through the Cegidog
valley not only gave the GWR a route to Mold, but allowed the LNWR access to the North Wales Coalfield
.
The construction of the Wrexham-Brymbo line led to the immediate abandonment of the North Wales Mineral Railway's original Brymbo (or "Brake") tunnel and incline. The lower section of the NWMR route from Wheatsheaf Junction, through Summerhill Tunnel, to Moss remained in use until 1908 for colliery traffic.
Between 1882 and 1905 the GWR gradually introduced passenger services between Wrexham and Minera, in response to requests from local communities. Halts or stations were located at Plas Power (Southsea), the Lodge, Brymbo, Brymbo West, Pentresaeson (for Bwlchgwyn
), Coedpoeth
, and Vicarage Crossing (Minera
), with a passenger terminus at the rather remote Berwig Halt. From 1905 the GWR began operating a railmotor
service, with as many as fifteen workings on Saturdays. The LNWR ran its own passenger trains from Mold south to the joint station at Brymbo.
In 1905, the businesses of Coedpoeth
campaigned for the Great Western Railway
company to lay a new branch from the existing Coedpoeth Station into the village centre. Local business claimed the station was too far away (being effectively located in Minera
) to serve them properly and was of little convenience. Regardless, their petition
failed miserably. This may have been because the gradient was simply too steep for conventional rail, as well as the little profit for a large undertaking. Despite this situation, Coedpoeth station remained a main focal point for the area, serving several villages with a combined population of around 9000 people.
At the top end of the line, there was a mile-long spur, the New Brighton branch, along the flank of Esclusham Mountain
serving the Delafield Minera Leadmines
(which operated their own locomotive Henrietta, a Manning, Wardle
0-6-0). The mines closed in 1910 and the spur was pulled up, only to be opened again for several years from 1920 to serve silica clay beds.
branch (serving several collieries near Moss, with a spur running as far as Ffrwd north of Brymbo) diverged. The main Brymbo branch continued westwards passing the industrial villages of New Broughton and Southsea, where there were connections to more collieries. Swinging northwards and still climbing, it ran along the eastern side of a rather steep valley to Brymbo, where the joint line to Coed Talon diverged just beyond the main joint station. At Brymbo Middle signalbox a short trailing branch south-west to Vron
served the collieries there, passing through the steelworks en route. The section from Brymbo West onwards to Minera remained solely in GWR ownership: traversing the rural area west of Brymbo, it passed the brickworks at Cae-llo and the steel company's siding at the Smelt mine, where fireclay and coal were mined, before reaching Minera, 3 miles and 1234 yards beyond Brymbo West. This part of the route featured a large number of level crossing
s over minor roads.
) continued with five trains a day on weekdays throughout the 1930s, despite there now being no onward connection to Wrexham.
The end section of the Vron branch was closed in 1930 along with the collieries it served, but part of its length from Vron Junction remained in use to serve the increasing steelworks traffic. Passenger traffic on the joint line from Brymbo to Coed Talon declined during the Second World War, however, with only two passenger trains a day in each direction, largely maintained for schoolchildren attending school in Mold. The passenger service was finally withdrawn in 1950 by British Railways, with the final closure of Brymbo station, although its goods siding remained open. The Brymbo-Coed Talon line was taken out of use in 1952, although it was not formally closed until 1963.
locomotives based there; given the steep climb from Wrexham to Brymbo, which reached gradients of 1 in 36, a bank engine
(such as a GWR 5600 Class
locomotive) was often used. The more lightly built section beyond Brymbo West to Minera was worked by smaller locomotives, such as the 5700 Class
, with engine 9610 being used almost exclusively on this line.
In later years BR class 9F and ex-LMS 8F
locomotives were also used on steelworks traffic. Steam locomotives continued in use on the line until relatively late under British Railways, with BR Class 24 and 25 diesels being introduced to Croes Newydd shed from 1967-8.
One unusual aspect of workings on the line was that gravity shunting was permitted at Brymbo on shorter trains even as late as the 1970s. The gradients here could be problematic: there was an incident in the 1970s in which a train ran out of control on the former Vron Branch, and broke through level crossing gates in Brymbo.
was itself closed. The last part of the system, the 3-mile line from Brymbo West to Wrexham, remained open for freight trains to and from the steelworks, and as late as the mid 1970s there were 7 return workings a day. This section of line was taken out of use on 1 October 1982, due to increasing amounts of steelworks traffic being sent by road. The steelworks itself closed in 1990-91, along with a final section of the Vron Branch that had remained in use as part of the works' internal railway system.
A number of structures remain, including a large stone viaduct
near Ffrith
on the former Joint Railway from Brymbo to Coed Talon.
The line left the WMCQ main line near Gwersyllt
, and ran through the coal mining district of the Moss Valley
, with halts at Moss and Pentre and New Broughton, where it passed under the GWR Brymbo branch before turning to run parallel to it. A small halt was provided at Plas Power, nearly adjacent to the GWR halt: there was a connection between the two lines at this point where there were sidings to Plas Power colliery. The line then headed north to Brymbo on the opposite (western) side of the valley to the GWR route; a trailing connection shortly before the tiny WMCQ Brymbo station led to a short branch to Vron and its colliery. The WMCQ terminus at Brymbo was located in a gloomy, cramped and rather inaccessible spot immediately beneath the vast slag
tips on which the furnaces of Brymbo Steelworks had been built.
Although the branch handled a reasonable volume of freight, passenger services on the line were never especially successful and the Great Central Railway
, which had absorbed the WMCQ, discontinued them on a 'temporary' basis in 1917. They were never restarted. As a result of the Railways Act 1921
, the GCR was absorbed by the London and North Eastern Railway
, Brymbo becoming its most westerly outpost. The branch, sections of which had a 'difficult' combination of sharp curves and steep gradients, was worked by J58, and then by four Kitson & Co.
J60 class locomotives based at Wrexham, later being replaced by J94
s.
Rather surprisingly given its duplication of the GWR route, parts of the WMCQ Brymbo branch remained open under British Railways until as late as 1970. After initial closure in 1954, a section from Gwersyllt to a coal distribution centre at Gatewen was reopened in 1958, while part of the top end of the line, from a reinstated connection with the ex-GWR line at Broughton Forge Junction (Plas Power) to the site of the former WMCQ Brymbo station and on to Brymbo Fishponds Sidings, was not taken out of use until 1970.
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
between the town of Wrexham
Wrexham
Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...
, the village of Brymbo
Brymbo
Brymbo is a local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is a village situated in the hilly country to the west of Wrexham town, largely surrounded by farmland....
where it served the Brymbo Steelworks, and the lead mines and limeworks
Minera Limeworks
The Minera Limeworks were extensive lime quarries and kilns at Minera in Wrexham, Wales. It was located at , near the villages of Gwynfryn, Minera, and Coedpoeth and was locally referred to as The Calch.-History:...
at Minera
Minera
Minera is a small village, and a local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales.The community, which in addition to Minera village includes a number of smaller hamlets such as Gwynfryn and New Brighton and large areas of farmland, had a...
. A further branch ran from Brymbo to Coed Talon
Coed Talon
Coed Talon is a small, formerly industrial village between Leeswood and Treuddyn in Flintshire, North Wales. Its name is derived from the Welsh word coed and the word talwrn, anglicised to "Talon", meaning a "hillside devoid of trees" or "threshing-floor" .The area, about four miles from the...
, where it connected with lines to Mold
Mold
Molds are fungi that grow in the form of multicellular filaments called hyphae. Molds are not considered to be microbes but microscopic fungi that grow as single cells called yeasts...
. The system was constructed in several stages between 1844 and 1872, while the various lines making up the system closed in 1952, 1972 and 1982.
A directly competing route to Brymbo was opened 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...
in the 1880s. It closed in stages between 1954 and 1970.
History
The railway was one of several constructed to serve the intensive quarrying, mining and iron founding operations in the area west of Wrexham, which were undergoing considerable expansion in the mid 19th century thanks to exploitation of the underlying Middle Coal MeasuresCoal Measures
The Coal Measures is a lithostratigraphical term for the coal-bearing part of the Upper Carboniferous System. It represents the remains of fluvio-deltaic sediment, and consists mainly of clastic rocks interstratified with the beds of coal...
.
Construction
The section of line between Brymbo and Minera had originally been part of the former North Wales Mineral RailwayNorth Wales Mineral Railway
The North Wales Mineral Railway was constructed in 1844 during the early years of the so-called Railway Mania. It was originally intended to link Chester via Wrexham to Ruabon; there were branches to Brymbo and Minera from Wheatsheaf junction via a tunnel and inclined plane...
, built in 1844 and later incorporated into the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
. This line's operation was constrained by the rope-worked inclines
Cable railway
A cable railway is a steeply graded railway that uses a cable or rope to haul trains.-Introduction:...
, locally known as "brakes", and tunnels along its route through the hilly country between Wheatsheaf Junction
Wheatsheaf junction
Wheatsheaf Junction was a Junction on the railway line between Wrexham and Gresford on the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway. The location was around 2 km from Wrexham General Station, below the Weatsheaf public house. It was built as contigious with the line to Brymbo which was the terminus...
, near Wrexham, and Brymbo.
As a result, an Act of 1861 proposed that a new railway, the Wrexham and Minera Railway, would be constructed from Croes Newydd
Croes Newydd
Croes Newydd was a large steam locomotive shed, marshalling yard and junction in Wrexham, in Wales.-History:Wrexham's Croes Newydd locomotive shed was the last of the GWR 'northlight' designs, being a roundhouse and depending on a central turntable for access. It was built by the Great Western...
, at Wrexham
Wrexham
Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...
on the main Shrewsbury-Chester
Shrewsbury to Chester Line
The Shrewsbury to Chester Line, also known as the Severn–Dee Line , was built in 1846 as the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway...
line of the Great Western Railway to Brymbo, where it would join the GWR's existing route to Minera. The new railway company would have a capital of £48,000 in total (£36,000 of which would be in shares) and the power to enter into agreement with GWR on operational matters and division of receipts.
George Robert Jebb
George Robert Jebb
George Robert Jebb was a civil engineer from the United Kingdom. Prominent in the field of railway and canal engineering, he became Vice-President of the Institution of Civil Engineers....
, who had previously worked on the Shrewsbury-Chester route, was appointed Resident Engineer. The line was fully completed and jointly leased to the GWR and LNWR
London and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...
, within whose "sphere of influence" it also fell, in June 1866. A short branch was also constructed through to the colliery at Vron
Tanyfron
Tanyfron, also occasionally spelt Tan-y-fron, is a village in Wrexham County Borough in Wales. At the time of the 2001 census, the population of area Wrexham 006A, which includes Tanyfron and a number of other small settlements, was 1,347...
, owned by William Low, one of the Wrexham and Minera company's directors.
In the 1870s a further extension, the Wrexham and Minera Joint Railway, was built from Brymbo through to an end-on connection with the LNWR's Ffrith
Ffrith
Ffrith is a small village in the community of Llanfynydd in Flintshire, north-east Wales.-Name:The name Ffrith reflects a spelling and pronunciation particular to Flintshire: it is derived from a North Welsh word meaning variously a "pasture", "enclosure" or "forest" and borrowed originally from...
Branch, which ran from Llanfynydd
Llanfynydd, Flintshire
Llanfynydd is a village and local government community in Flintshire, north Wales. Its name is derived from the Welsh words llan, "church" or "parish", and mynydd, "mountain"....
to Coed Talon
Coed Talon
Coed Talon is a small, formerly industrial village between Leeswood and Treuddyn in Flintshire, North Wales. Its name is derived from the Welsh word coed and the word talwrn, anglicised to "Talon", meaning a "hillside devoid of trees" or "threshing-floor" .The area, about four miles from the...
near Mold
Mold
Molds are fungi that grow in the form of multicellular filaments called hyphae. Molds are not considered to be microbes but microscopic fungi that grow as single cells called yeasts...
. This line was jointly operated by the GWR and the LNWR - the only line in North Wales to be so operated. The completion of this link through the Cegidog
River Cegidog
The River Cegidog is a river in north-east Wales. It flows mainly through Flintshire but towards the end of its course it forms the border between Flintshire and Wrexham County Borough....
valley not only gave the GWR a route to Mold, but allowed the LNWR access to the North Wales Coalfield
North Wales Coalfield
The North Wales Coalfield comprises the Flintshire Coalfield in the north and the Denbighshire Coalfield in the south. It extends from Point of Ayr in the north, through the Wrexham area to Oswestry in Shropshire in the south....
.
The construction of the Wrexham-Brymbo line led to the immediate abandonment of the North Wales Mineral Railway's original Brymbo (or "Brake") tunnel and incline. The lower section of the NWMR route from Wheatsheaf Junction, through Summerhill Tunnel, to Moss remained in use until 1908 for colliery traffic.
Introduction of passenger services
Bwlchgwyn
Bwlchgwyn is a village in Wrexham county borough, Wales, on the A525 road, west of the town of Wrexham and south-east of the town of Ruthin. Bwlchgwyn is part of the community of Brymbo...
), Coedpoeth
Coedpoeth
Coedpoeth is a village and a local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales.-History:...
, and Vicarage Crossing (Minera
Minera
Minera is a small village, and a local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales.The community, which in addition to Minera village includes a number of smaller hamlets such as Gwynfryn and New Brighton and large areas of farmland, had a...
), with a passenger terminus at the rather remote Berwig Halt. From 1905 the GWR began operating a railmotor
GWR steam rail motors
The steam rail motors were self-propelled carriages operated by the Great Western Railway in England and Wales from 1903 to 1935. They incorporated a steam locomotive within the body of the carriage.-History:...
service, with as many as fifteen workings on Saturdays. The LNWR ran its own passenger trains from Mold south to the joint station at Brymbo.
In 1905, the businesses of Coedpoeth
Coedpoeth
Coedpoeth is a village and a local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales.-History:...
campaigned for the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
company to lay a new branch from the existing Coedpoeth Station into the village centre. Local business claimed the station was too far away (being effectively located in Minera
Minera
Minera is a small village, and a local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales.The community, which in addition to Minera village includes a number of smaller hamlets such as Gwynfryn and New Brighton and large areas of farmland, had a...
) to serve them properly and was of little convenience. Regardless, their petition
Petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
failed miserably. This may have been because the gradient was simply too steep for conventional rail, as well as the little profit for a large undertaking. Despite this situation, Coedpoeth station remained a main focal point for the area, serving several villages with a combined population of around 9000 people.
At the top end of the line, there was a mile-long spur, the New Brighton branch, along the flank of Esclusham Mountain
Esclusham Mountain
Esclusham Mountain is an area in the north-east of Wales and is part of the Ruabon Moors. It rises to a height of 460 m , with the nearby spur of Cyrn-y-Brain, to the west, reaching 473 m . It lies mostly within the community of Esclusham...
serving the Delafield Minera Leadmines
Minera Leadmines
The Minera Lead Mines were a mining operation and now a country park and tourist centre in the village of Minera near Wrexham, in Wrexham County Borough, Wales.-History:...
(which operated their own locomotive Henrietta, a Manning, Wardle
Manning Wardle
Manning Wardle was a steam locomotive manufacturer based in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.- Precursor companies :The city of Leeds was one of the earliest centres of locomotive building; Matthew Murray built the first commercially successful steam locomotive, Salamanca, in Holbeck, Leeds,...
0-6-0). The mines closed in 1910 and the spur was pulled up, only to be opened again for several years from 1920 to serve silica clay beds.
Route
The line ran west from Croes Newydd, steadily climbing through the farmland west of Wrexham. Shortly beyond Croes Newydd yard, the GWR's Moss ValleyMoss Valley, Wrexham
The Moss Valley is an area and country park in Britain. It is in the county borough of Wrexham, in north Wales. The area is also informally known as "The Moss" and The Aggey amongst locals. It is most well known for its extensive coal mining history...
branch (serving several collieries near Moss, with a spur running as far as Ffrwd north of Brymbo) diverged. The main Brymbo branch continued westwards passing the industrial villages of New Broughton and Southsea, where there were connections to more collieries. Swinging northwards and still climbing, it ran along the eastern side of a rather steep valley to Brymbo, where the joint line to Coed Talon diverged just beyond the main joint station. At Brymbo Middle signalbox a short trailing branch south-west to Vron
Tanyfron
Tanyfron, also occasionally spelt Tan-y-fron, is a village in Wrexham County Borough in Wales. At the time of the 2001 census, the population of area Wrexham 006A, which includes Tanyfron and a number of other small settlements, was 1,347...
served the collieries there, passing through the steelworks en route. The section from Brymbo West onwards to Minera remained solely in GWR ownership: traversing the rural area west of Brymbo, it passed the brickworks at Cae-llo and the steel company's siding at the Smelt mine, where fireclay and coal were mined, before reaching Minera, 3 miles and 1234 yards beyond Brymbo West. This part of the route featured a large number of level crossing
Level crossing
A level crossing occurs where a railway line is intersected by a road or path onone level, without recourse to a bridge or tunnel. It is a type of at-grade intersection. The term also applies when a light rail line with separate right-of-way or reserved track crosses a road in the same fashion...
s over minor roads.
End of passenger traffic
Competition from new bus services meant that the GWR's passenger service from Wrexham was cut back to Coedpoeth from 1926, and discontinued entirely at the end of 1930, but the small goods office and water tower were left standing at Coedpoeth, as steam locomotives needed replenishing after the hard climb from Croes Newydd. All lines continued in use for freight traffic, however, and the passenger service from Mold to Brymbo (now operated by the LNWR's successor, the LMSLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...
) continued with five trains a day on weekdays throughout the 1930s, despite there now being no onward connection to Wrexham.
The end section of the Vron branch was closed in 1930 along with the collieries it served, but part of its length from Vron Junction remained in use to serve the increasing steelworks traffic. Passenger traffic on the joint line from Brymbo to Coed Talon declined during the Second World War, however, with only two passenger trains a day in each direction, largely maintained for schoolchildren attending school in Mold. The passenger service was finally withdrawn in 1950 by British Railways, with the final closure of Brymbo station, although its goods siding remained open. The Brymbo-Coed Talon line was taken out of use in 1952, although it was not formally closed until 1963.
Working the route
The route from Croes Newydd to Brymbo was double-tracked, and built to a standard designed to cope with heavy coal and freight trains to and from the steelworks. These trains were usually worked by traincrews from Croes Newydd shed using GWR 2800 ClassGWR 2800 Class
The Great Western Railway 2800 Class is a class of steam locomotive designed by G.J. Churchward for heavy freight work. They were the first 2-8-0 class in Great Britain....
locomotives based there; given the steep climb from Wrexham to Brymbo, which reached gradients of 1 in 36, a bank engine
Bank engine
A bank engine or helper engine or pusher engine is a railway locomotive that temporarily assists a train that requires additional power or traction to climb a grade...
(such as a GWR 5600 Class
GWR 5600 Class
The GWR 5600 Class is a class of 0-6-2T steam locomotive built between 1924 and 1928. They were designed by C.B Collett for the Great Western Railway , and were introduced into traffic in 1924. Two hundred locomotives were built and remained in service until withdrawn by British Railways between...
locomotive) was often used. The more lightly built section beyond Brymbo West to Minera was worked by smaller locomotives, such as the 5700 Class
GWR 5700 Class
The Great Western Railway 5700 Class is a class of 0-6-0 pannier tank steam locomotive, built between 1929 and 1950. 863 were built, making them the second most-produced British class of steam locomotive.- Overview :...
, with engine 9610 being used almost exclusively on this line.
In later years BR class 9F and ex-LMS 8F
LMS Stanier Class 8F
The London Midland and Scottish Railway's 8F class 2-8-0 heavy freight locomotive is a class of steam locomotive designed for hauling heavy freight...
locomotives were also used on steelworks traffic. Steam locomotives continued in use on the line until relatively late under British Railways, with BR Class 24 and 25 diesels being introduced to Croes Newydd shed from 1967-8.
One unusual aspect of workings on the line was that gravity shunting was permitted at Brymbo on shorter trains even as late as the 1970s. The gradients here could be problematic: there was an incident in the 1970s in which a train ran out of control on the former Vron Branch, and broke through level crossing gates in Brymbo.
Final closure
By the early 1970s the section of line from Brymbo West to Minera saw only two trains a week, and it was closed in 1972, shortly before Minera LimeworksMinera Limeworks
The Minera Limeworks were extensive lime quarries and kilns at Minera in Wrexham, Wales. It was located at , near the villages of Gwynfryn, Minera, and Coedpoeth and was locally referred to as The Calch.-History:...
was itself closed. The last part of the system, the 3-mile line from Brymbo West to Wrexham, remained open for freight trains to and from the steelworks, and as late as the mid 1970s there were 7 return workings a day. This section of line was taken out of use on 1 October 1982, due to increasing amounts of steelworks traffic being sent by road. The steelworks itself closed in 1990-91, along with a final section of the Vron Branch that had remained in use as part of the works' internal railway system.
Today
After a period of abandonment, the track was lifted in the late 1980s. Many of the line's bridges and other structures, including the platforms of the former Brymbo station, were not demolished until the 1990s.A number of structures remain, including a large stone viaduct
Viaduct
A viaduct is a bridge composed of several small spans. The term viaduct is derived from the Latin via for road and ducere to lead something. However, the Ancient Romans did not use that term per se; it is a modern derivation from an analogy with aqueduct. Like the Roman aqueducts, many early...
near Ffrith
Ffrith
Ffrith is a small village in the community of Llanfynydd in Flintshire, north-east Wales.-Name:The name Ffrith reflects a spelling and pronunciation particular to Flintshire: it is derived from a North Welsh word meaning variously a "pasture", "enclosure" or "forest" and borrowed originally from...
on the former Joint Railway from Brymbo to Coed Talon.
History
The Brymbo branch of the Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway was built to directly compete with the GWR line to Brymbo. Although originally planned in the 1860s, legal challenges by the GWR meant that it was finally constructed in the 1880s after a parliamentary bill for further expansion of the WMCQ line was tabled in 1881; the branch was built and opened to freight traffic in stages, with a full passenger service to Brymbo commencing on 1 August 1889.The line left the WMCQ main line near Gwersyllt
Gwersyllt
Gwersyllt is an urban village and a local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales....
, and ran through the coal mining district of the Moss Valley
Moss Valley, Wrexham
The Moss Valley is an area and country park in Britain. It is in the county borough of Wrexham, in north Wales. The area is also informally known as "The Moss" and The Aggey amongst locals. It is most well known for its extensive coal mining history...
, with halts at Moss and Pentre and New Broughton, where it passed under the GWR Brymbo branch before turning to run parallel to it. A small halt was provided at Plas Power, nearly adjacent to the GWR halt: there was a connection between the two lines at this point where there were sidings to Plas Power colliery. The line then headed north to Brymbo on the opposite (western) side of the valley to the GWR route; a trailing connection shortly before the tiny WMCQ Brymbo station led to a short branch to Vron and its colliery. The WMCQ terminus at Brymbo was located in a gloomy, cramped and rather inaccessible spot immediately beneath the vast slag
Slag
Slag is a partially vitreous by-product of smelting ore to separate the metal fraction from the unwanted fraction. It can usually be considered to be a mixture of metal oxides and silicon dioxide. However, slags can contain metal sulfides and metal atoms in the elemental form...
tips on which the furnaces of Brymbo Steelworks had been built.
Although the branch handled a reasonable volume of freight, passenger services on the line were never especially successful and the Great Central Railway
Great Central Railway
The Great Central Railway was a railway company in England which came into being when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension . On 1 January 1923, it was grouped into the London and North Eastern...
, which had absorbed the WMCQ, discontinued them on a 'temporary' basis in 1917. They were never restarted. As a result of the Railways Act 1921
Railways Act 1921
The Railways Act 1921, also known as the Grouping Act, was an enactment by the British government of David Lloyd George intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, move the railways away from internal competition, and to retain some of the benefits which...
, the GCR was absorbed by the London and North Eastern Railway
London and North Eastern Railway
The London and North Eastern Railway was the second-largest of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain...
, Brymbo becoming its most westerly outpost. The branch, sections of which had a 'difficult' combination of sharp curves and steep gradients, was worked by J58, and then by four Kitson & Co.
Kitson & Co.
Kitson and Company was a locomotive manufacturer based in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.-Early history:The company started as James Kitson at the Airedale Foundry, off Pearson Street, Hunslet in 1835 with Charles Todd as a partner...
J60 class locomotives based at Wrexham, later being replaced by J94
LNER Class J94
The London and North Eastern Railway J94 Class is a class of steam locomotive that was formed when 75 former "Austerity" 0-6-0STs were purchased by the LNER in 1946 from the War Department.- Overview :...
s.
Rather surprisingly given its duplication of the GWR route, parts of the WMCQ Brymbo branch remained open under British Railways until as late as 1970. After initial closure in 1954, a section from Gwersyllt to a coal distribution centre at Gatewen was reopened in 1958, while part of the top end of the line, from a reinstated connection with the ex-GWR line at Broughton Forge Junction (Plas Power) to the site of the former WMCQ Brymbo station and on to Brymbo Fishponds Sidings, was not taken out of use until 1970.
Today
Many of the line's structures have disappeared since the 1970s, but its formation can still be traced (and walked as a footpath) from New Broughton to Moss Valley, where there are a number of bridges. A large brick bridge still stands across the B5101 road south of Brymbo.External links
- Photographs of the line in the 1970s
- Disused Stations - Rhosddu Halt station
- Disused Stations - Highfield Road Halt station
- Disused Stations - Moss & Pentre station
- Disused Stations - New Broughton Road Halt station
- Disused Stations - Plas Power station
- Disused Stations - Brymbo (WMCQR) station
- Disused Stations - Brymbo station
Sources
- Christiansen, R. Forgotten Railways - North and Mid Wales, David & Charles, 1984