Chester and Connah's Quay Railway

Chester & Connah's Quay Railway

Legend North Wales Coast Line River Dee Connah's Quay Wrexham, Mold and Connahs Quay Dock and Goods Connah's Quay Railway Borderlands Line Shotton Hawarden Bridge Queensferry Chester Golf Club Platform Sandycroft Sealand Mold-Denbigh Line Saughall Shrewsbury-Chester Line Blacon Roodee Viaduct Chester Liverpool Road Chester Northgate Wirral Line Chester Chester- Crewe Line Chester to Manchester Line Mid-Cheshire Line

The Chester & Connah's Quay Railway ran from Chester Northgate in Chester, Cheshire, England to Shotton, Flintshire, Wales. It was built by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (which later became the Great Central Railway) and was opened on 31 March 1890. At Dee Marsh Junction it connected with the North Wales and Liverpool Railway. It then crossed the River Dee by means of Hawarden Bridge before joining the Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway at Shotton.

The line today

Trackbed of the former Chester and Connah's Quay Railway at Hoole, Chester.

Open portion

The only section of the Chester & Connah's Quay Railway which remains in use is between Dee Marsh Junction and Shotton, forming part of the Borderlands Line.

Closed portion

The rest of the line closed to passenger trains in 1968, but remained open to freight trains until 1992. Even though steelmaking operations at the Corus plant at Shotton ceased in March 1980,^[1] freight continued to use the double-tracked line until 20 April 1984. Goods services resumed on a single-track line on 31 August 1986 before final closure in 1992.^[2] This was precipitated by the closure of Ravenscraig steelworks in Motherwell, Scotland, as freight trains using the line ran between Ravenscraig and Shotton rolling mill.

Cycle path

Since the line between Chester and Dee Marsh closed, the track has been lifted and the route is now a cycle path, forming part of Route 5 of the National Cycle Network.

Junction maps

A 1906 map showing (right) the western end of the line around Shotton and Saughall

A 1903 map showing the eastern end of the line around Chester and Blacon

Railway Clearing House Junction Diagrams showing portions of the Chester and Connah's Quay Railway and neighbouring lines

References

1. "Shotton Steelworks and Garden City". Retrieved 6 October 2008.
2. Oppitz, Leslie (1997). Cheshire Railways Remembered. Countryside Books. p. 111. ISBN 1-85306-458-0.

External links

• Images of the line in its final operating days
• National Cycle Network Chester to Connah's Quay
• Railscot article on the Chester & Connah's Quay Railway
• Virtual stroll along the railway