The
Wrexham
to Bidston railway
'The Borderlands
line'
Dee Marsh to Mickle
Trafford
(This line
has now been closed and the trackbed converted into a
cycleway)
37004 and 078
head one of the final steel trains to Ravenscraig away from
Dee Marsh towards Mickle Trafford on the evening of June
25th, 1992. The line from Mickle Trafford to Dee Marsh
first closed in 1984. It reopened in 1986 because the
partial singling of the Chester - Wrexham line due to road
construction led to severe congestion. Don Gatehouse
adds: A road learning special DMU was recorded on the route
on Sunday 31st August 1986 and the following morning the
00:25 from Mossend with 20007 & 20197 became the first
revenue-earning freight to use the re-opened line.
The Mickle
Trafford line was mainly used to bring steel coil in from
Ravenscraig steelworks in Scotland and to return the empty
wagons. With the closure of Ravenscraig in 1992 there
was no further use for the line - the only remaining traffic
of timber could be diverted to run via Wrexham. The
track has now been lifted and the trackbed is now a
cycleway.
37271
and 272 pass the site of Dee Marsh East Junction on a train
of logs from Scotland, 13th September 1991.
Sealand
37053
and 059 pass Sealand RAF base on 19th of June 1992 on a train
of logs. This picture has a story. We had already
photographed this train at Mickle Trafford and decided on
taking the next photo from the bridge carrying the A 494 trunk
road over the line at Sealand. Knowing how slow train
speeds were on that line we sauntered up to the bridge ready
for a long wait and got our cameras out. Within a couple
of minutes an unmarked van drew up nearby and two policemen
got out and approached us. They were Ministry of Defence
police and demanded to know our business and informed us that
the area was covered by the Official Secrets Act and that we
had no business being there. Any attempt at photography
would be deemed an offence. Knowing that the line was
due to close that month we were determined to stand our
ground. We explained that we were there to photograph a
train which would be along shortly. They told us that
the line had closed and no trains passed that way
anymore. After what seemed an age the headlight of 37053
thankfully appeared in the distance and permission to
photograph was grudgingly given but on no account should any
buildings to our left be included. I think that, looking
at the photo, I complied with their demands! Today the
bridge we took the photo from has been demolished and a new
bridge has been erected to carry the cycleway over what is now
three separate roads with 10 lanes of traffic.
Saughall
There is an interesting video of lady
signallers at work at Saughall during the war on youtube
31116
near
Saughall on the now closed route, 22 May 1992
37078 and
248 at Saughall on a train of empty coil wagons
returning to Ravenscraig.on 16 June 1992 shortly before
the line closed for good. The train although
heading for Scotland is running on the wrong
track. This is because when the line was reopened
it was as a single track and the best sections of track
were reinstated. Having said that, most of the
track was in a dreadful condition and a speed limit of
10mph was in force over long stretches.
The train
shown in the previous photo is shown here crossing over
to use the former up line, this manouvre occurred in
several places. Passenger services on this line
ended in 1969 when Chester Northgate station was closed,
however Saughall station had closed to passengers as
early as 1954.
Blacon
31116 at that time named "Rail" passes the
disused platforms of Blacon station with an engineers
train of signal troughing for the Merseyrail
resignalling scheme. When the line was open
for passenger traffic, Blacon was one of the busiest
stations being conveniently situated next to a large
housing estate. The station buildings were on the
left hand side. 22 May 1992.
37501 and 502 crawl through on the 15th of
January 1991.
Chester -
Liverpool Road
37710 passes the site of Liverpool Road
station in Chester on 23 6 92. The line to Northgate
station use to diverge here on the left.
Hoole
47286
passes through Hoole light engine on its way to Dee
Marsh. Hoole was situated on the ex Cheshire Lines
route to Manchester Central which closed to passengers
in 1969 when services were diverted to Chester General
following the closure of Northgate station. 23
June 1992.
Mickle
Trafford
37053 and
059 cross over the diamond crossing at Mickle Trafford
box on their way to Dee Marsh with a long timber train
on a dull 19th of June 1992. The junction at
Mickle Trafford has a complicated history.
Although the Chester General - Warrington and Chester
Northgate - Manchester lines were adjacent there was no
connection between the two until the second world
war. Then a double track westbound link from the
Warrington line to the CLC was laid. The situation
changed again in 1968 when Chester Northgate station
closed. To allow trains from the Cheshire Lines to
reach Chester General, a sngle track connection was
laid. At the same time the existing double track
connection was singled. This resulted in the
almost unique diamond crossing arrangement at the rear
of the signal box. Closure of the line to Dee
Marsh in 1992 has seen the junction reduced to just a
single track connection from the Chester - Warrington
route to the ex CLC line to Altrincham and Manchester.
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