Chester and Connah's Quay Railway

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 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. The rest of the line closed to passenger trains in 1969, 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.

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

References

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