MERSEYSIDE RAILWAY HISTORY GROUP

Some of the photographs of the Bidston to Wrexham railway taken by Dave Pearson during 1973 with notes and historical background information compiled by Merseyside Railway History Group(ISBN 1-899241-02-7) .



Click on the photograph to enlarge it


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NOTES:

THE NORTH WALES and LIVERPOOL RAILWAY

Historical Background

The final development in the creation of Wirral's railway network was a further joint venture designed to gain access to Birkenhead Docks and was promoted jointly by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway and the Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway. The lines of the two companies met at Dee Marsh near the present Shotton Steelworks, and a line was built and opened in 1896 which ran down the centre of Wirral to a junction at Bidston. Intermediate stations were built at Neston, Bamston (later Storeton for Bamston) and Upton. Prior to opening, this joint undertaking had various titles at different times but it opened in 1896 as the North Wales and Liverpool Railway. This name lasted less than nine years as the line was absorbed by the Great Central Railway on 1st January 1905.

In the meantime stations had been opened at Heswall Hills on 1st May 1898 and Burton Point on 1st August 1899. In the railway grouping of 1923 the Great Central Railway became part of the London and North Eastern Railway Company. Passenger services were of minor importance and this was, in no small measure, due to the fact that some of the stations were remote from the communities they purported to serve. However, the company did provide regular passenger services between Seacombe and both Chester (Northgate Station) and Wrexham using the Wirral Railway's (later LMSR) line from Seacombe to Bidston.

Webpage Pictures

The pictures of the line were taken during 1973 using a basic Kodak Instamatic 126 camera, hence they are unfortunately a bit hazy when scanned and enlarged. Also at this time the line had recently escaped the threat of closure and was quite busy with freight trains to John Summers steelworks and the cement factory at Penyffordd, as well as through traffic to the Synthite works at Mold and the Abenbury siding, which was all that remained of the branch from Wrexham to Ellesmere.

1. Bidston station yard.
Formerly the through line to the Great Central's Bidston sidings and loco shed. This yard was used by the engineer's departmental trains in the 1970s in connection with the Liverpool loop line.

2. Caergwrle signalbox.
This 20-lever box was situated on the platform and contained a clock bearing the initials WM & CQR which stood for Wrexham, Mold & Connah's Quay Railway.

3. Caergwrle station.
 At one time a short branch to a coal mine diverged to the left at the top of the platform.

4. Cefn y Bedd.
The track at this rural station had just been relaid. The signal at the platform end is Caergwrle's distant.

5. Dee Marsh Junction.
This box controlled a triangle of lines where the 'Cheshire Lines Railway' to Chester Northgate and Mickle Trafford diverged. By 1973 only the North junction remained with many of the points being motor-worked. The extensive sidings for John Summers steelworks also joined the main line here.

6. Heswall Hills station.
A Wrexham-bound DMU stops briefly at this unstaffed station on the outskirts of Heswall.

7. Neston North.
This station was still manned and the original station buildings were still in place in 1973.

8. Shotwick Sidings
A class 08 shunter approaches Neston en route to Shotwick Sidings.

9. Wrexham Central North box.
The signalman sets the road for an inbound DMU. 10. Wrexham Central North signalbox. This 56-lever box closed on 19th August 1973 when the line to Wrexham Exchange was singled. This site is now the location of the new Wrexham Central station.

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