Chirk Railway Station

Chirk Railway Station at night and the service to Birmingham

Chirk Railway Station History:

 

Chirk Railway Station (Welsh: gorsaf y Waun) originally built by the Shrewsbury & Chester Railway Company, was opened in 1848. It serves the village of Chirk in the county borough of Wrexham in North East Wales on the Boarders. The railway itself superseded the former Ellesmere and now Llangollen Canal that runs parallel to the line for the transportation of coal and other goods. Chirk Station later became a part of the former Great Western Railway mainline from Paddington Station in London to Woodside Station in Birkenhead, the GWR’s most northerly station.

In 1956 according to the Official Handbook of Stations the following classes of traffic were being handled at the station: C,G, P, F, L, H and there was a 15 cwt crane for loading the goods wagons. At one time there was also a private siding into the Cadbury's factory from where Cocoa Liquor was sent to the chocolate factory at Bourneville. In 1964 under the Beaching years of rationalisation of the country’s railway network, the station itself was closed for goods handling.

Chirk Railway Station in the 1970's with original station buildings

The original station building was manned until 1974. However despite it being a 19th century grade 2 listed it was demolished in 1987, without consultation, by the local council. Chirk Station was also the eastern terminus and transfer point for the Glyn Valley Tramway.

The former Wrexham & Shropshire Service on route to London with Ruabon Mountain and the foot hills of the Berwyn behind

Up until January 2011 the Wrexham, Shropshire and Marylebone Railway provided regular daily services between Wrexham and London via Birmingham. This service ceased due to a continuing loss being made by the company.

 

Current Passenger Services:

 

Trains leave here for Wrexham, Chester, Holyhead and for Shrewsbury, Birmingham, Cardiff with connections for London at Chester and Birmingham. Outside the station entrance is a bus rail link with details of connecting services to the Oswestry, Ceiriog Valley, Llangollen, Cefn Mawr and Wrexham.

The trains currently run on two routes operated by Arriva Trains Wales:

 

  1. Hourly northbound service to Holyhead via Wrexham General and Chester.
  2. Hourly southbound service to Shrewsbury then continuing alternately to give a 2 hourly service to both Birmingham International and Cardiff Central
Goods train loaded with timber bound for Chirk passing Helsby

Freight:

 

To the north of Chirk station on the southbound side of the line is a private siding into the Kronospan chipboard factory. The siding receives a trainload of softwood from Kingmoor Yard, Cumbria five days a week (Monday to Friday), and additionally, between the months of April and October, up to three trains a week of softwood from Ribblehead, North Yorkshire. Since 2007 these timber trains have been operated to the Chirk Kronospan factory by Colas Rail Ltd.


This pretty station now unstaffed was adopted under the Arriva Trains Wales Station Adopters programme by the Friends of Chirk Station. The station is only a few minutes’ walk from the centre of Chirk and the Llangollen Canal. Chirk Aqueduct, Tunnel (the Darkie) are close by and Chirk Castle is a short walk, 1.5km through some beautiful countryside.

 

Chirk is also part of the 11 mile corridor of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct World Heritage Site. This pretty border town is a regular entrant to the Wales in Bloom competition and to Britain in Bloom. A volunteer community group, Chirk Community Forum, is responsible for organising and coordinating the entry. Facilities in the village include post office and bank, restaurants and cafes, hotel, bed and breakfast accommodation and many food retail outlets.

 

Annual Rail Passenger Usage:

 

2004/05           32,094

2005/06           36,295

2006/07           42,762

2007/08           50,688

2008/09           56,562

2009/10           56,310

2010/11           60,356

 

Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Chirk from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Please note: methodology may vary year on year.