The Wrexham to Bidston railway
'The Borderlands line'

Buckley (formerly Buckley Junction)

EWS liveried 37667 is hauling the Dee Marsh - Warrington Arpley trip working on 22 May 1998.  The train is formed entirely of OTA timber wagons from Shotton Paper.  The original Buckley Railway diverged to the left of the picture on its way to Connahs Quay.  The name Buckley Junction was adopted when the "new line" to Shotton and the Dee bridge opened in March 1890.  The Buckley to Connahs Quay line was intricately tied up with the brick making industry and at one time bricks were exported by sea through Connahs Quay.  The line finally closed in the mid sixties although a coal yard survived at Buckley Junction until 1970.   The station buildings at Buckley are still in existence although now adapted for industrial use.


150279 leaves Buckley on a Wrexham service, June 2005.  The train is in the now obsolete Cardiff Valley lines livery.


A pair of class 37's 37138 and 051 heave their loaded steel train over the top of the stiff gradient from Penyffordd on 16 June 1993.  The line from Penyffordd is dead straight on a gradient of 1 in 97 steepening to 1 in 75 and this has always been a tough test for locomotives, in steam days banking was commonplace.  The signalbox at Buckley Junction was on the left before the road bridge and was a very high structure to enable the signalman to see over the bridge.  The leading loco is just about to pass the whistle board for the foot crossing at Buckley station.


The old station buildings at Buckley can be seen on the right as 60030 heads for Dee Marsh, 11th August 2000.


Fragonset Railways class 31 No. 31468 was used on March 29th 2002 to collect a Merseyrail de-icing unit from Birkenhead North.  The train is seen here passing Buckley on its way to Derby.  


56010 has just topped the gradient and is about to pass through Buckley on southbound empties, June 3rd 1997.


37719 has just passed under the bridge carrying the A55.  The freight is heading for
Dee Marsh with a mixture of open and closed coil carriers - April 6th 1998.


Hawarden

37902 just south of Hawarden station in 1993.


60046 'William Wilberforce' of Cardiff Canton depot heads downhill into Hawarden (pronounced Harden) station from the Buckley direction on 17th April 1998.  The gradients from Shotton up to the summit at Buckley are even more fearsome than from the Wrexham side with two long stretches of 1 in 53 either side of Hawarden.  It is for this reason that Diesel Multiple Units used on the passenger service always had to have two power cars.  


60066 'John Logie Baird' at Hawarden in May 1994.


A rare splash of Intercity colour brightens up a dull day at Hawarden as 37685 heads back towards Wrexham having taken a ballast train to Dee Marsh on 5 June 1998.  This loco was one of a number in this livery and was so painted to haul Scottish sleeper services, it was later to spend some time in France on a working holiday but has since been withdrawn from traffic.



37903 passing through on a southbound train of steel empties, 30th October 1992. Hawarden possesses the only footbridge on the line and was once a popular day trip destination.  The attraction being Hawarden castle and its links to the Gladstone family.


56048 is seen just north of Hawarden station with a long train of empty OTA wagons returning to Scotland, May 6th 1996.


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