Wrexham and Minera Branch
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The Wrexham and Minera Branch was a railway line in North Wales, between the town of Wrexham, and Minera Limeworks.
It was first built in 1847, enabled by an act of parliament, by the Shrewsbury and Chester railway, built to replace an incline on the former North Wales Mineral railway. Along the way it had stops at Brymbo Steel Works, Brymbo, Coedpoeth and Minera, and the passenger terminus at Berwig Halt. It was a branch line of the North Wales Mineral line to begin with, but was later incorporated into the GWR in 1861. The line itself was a fascinating railway, jointly run by the GWR and the LNWR - The only line in North Wales to have done so. It intersected the Chester to Shrewsbury line at Croes Newydd, one of the largest locomotive sheds in North Wales at the time. The Signal Box "Croes Newydd North Fork" still exists in use. The line itself used used mostly by Pannier tank and Saddle Tank locomotives, with Pannier Tank 9610 used almost exclusively on the line. There are several photos of this train on the line.
In 1905, the businesses of Coedpoeth campaigned for the Great Western Railway company to lay a new branch from the existing Coedpoeth Station into the village centre. Local business claimed the station was too far away (being located in Minera) to serve them properly and was of little convenience. Regardless, their petition failed miserably. This may have been because the gradient was simply too steep for conventional rail, and a branch would have had to have been made much much earlier along the line, as well as the little profit for a large undertaking. The whole line was built for goods, originally.
At the top end of the line, there was a privately owned branch serving the Dellafield Minera Leadmines, with its own locomotive, Henrietta, a Manning, Wardle 0-6-0. The mines closed in 1910 and the line was pulled up too, only to be relaid again in 1920 to server the newly opened Silica Clay beds.
Recent plans to build a narrow gauge tourist railway on this branch are in situ, awaiting National Lottery funding. Passengers to Coedpoeth, Vicarage Halt and Berwig Halt ceased at the end of 1930, but the small goods office and water tower were left standing at Coedpoeth as steam locomotives needed replenishing after the hard climb from Croes Newydd Although there was a tour of the line during a railtour in September 1959. The line was mainly tank engines in use, such as GWR Pannier tanks, as the industries on the line and the grade did not require a powerful locomotive. Up to the end of the line's working life, Class 25 Diesels were used for steel transport.
The Minera Limeworks closed in 1972, shortly after the railway from Minera to Brymbo closed. The line from Brymbo to Wrexham closed in 1982, and the Steelworks in 1990.
