Chester And North Wales Border Railways A view from the past By Rex Christiansen

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Hardcover

96 pages

Contents

Introduction

Acknowledgements

1. Chester

2. Wrexham-Ruabon-Shrewsbury

3. Oswestry

4. Shrewsbury

5. Shrewsbury & Hereford: Branches

6. Locomotives and Sheds

Chronology

Bibliography

Much of the 90 miles of railway line built from Chester, through Wrexham and Shrewsbury, to Hereford still remains to delight us today. At its height, the complex network saw operations from numerous railway companies. An LMS Route Book described its expresses leaving Chester for North Wales as steaming towards 'the mountain airs of Snowdonia'. The GWR advertised its line between Liverpool and London as the only route to pass through Wales, its aim being to give transatlantic passengers arriving at Liverpool a taste of the principality. The LNER ran frequent, if slow, services from its station, Chester Northgate, to Wrexham. Today, Wrexham has lost a host of short, mainly mineral, branches but has kept its services on the Shrewsbury & Chester Railway route via Gobowen, which is now the railhead for Oswestry. Although in England, Oswestry was the headquarters of a major and much revered Welsh

company, the Cambrian Railways - it is now the largest town on the Welsh border to have lost its railway. Shrewsbury still crowns the Shrewsbury & Hereford Railway route, despite the loss of many attractive branches, including the route running under Wenlock Edge, eccentric railways such as the Bishop's Castle Railway and the individual Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Railway.

In the latest addition to Ian Allan Publishing's 'A View From the Past' series, distinguished railway historian Rex Christiansen has compiled a comprehensive pictorial history of the development of railways in this fascinating region.

Introduction

Passengers from Liverpool travelling through Chester and the Welsh border to Hereford and far beyond could have begun their journeys by sea! GWR timetables showed all departures being from Liverpool Landing Stage with connections at Birkenhead Woodside terminus, 15 minutes later after a short crossing on the Birkenhead ferry.

The Landing Stage was well known as one of the longest floating structures in the world, used by large liners sailing to and from North America but was almost unknown as the official terminus of the Birkenhead Joint Railway. This was the most joint of joint lines: GWR locomotives hauling trains of LMS coaches (including through coaches for Euston) and LMS engines hauling GWR coaches (including Birkenhead-Paddington expresses).

The GWR had booking and parcels offices upgraded to a 'station' in publicity leaflets encouraging overseas tourists to use GWR services as the only ones between Liverpool and London passing through Wales. Passengers could buy tickets from GWR staff who met arriving liners, or from the Landing Stage booking office, where, if gales were blowing and tides were running strongly, they could feel

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