Whilst it is hard to imagine today, when looking at the contemporary railway map, the northern Welsh Marches and Cheshire once possessed a large and complex railway network that, at its height, saw operations from constituents of three of the ‘Big Four’ railway companies; only the Southern railway failed to reach this fascinating part of the British Isles. The Cheshire plain was the route by which the London & North Western Railway gained access to the lucrative traffic to and from Ireland courtesy of the Cheater & Holyhead Whilst, yet further south, the Wrexham area saw a complex network of the lines constructed to serve the regions coal and iron industries. It was from this region that the Wrexham, Mold & Connah’s Quay Railway was constructed; controlled by the Great Central and later the LNER, this line brought LNER locomotives and rolling stock to the area via the Cheshire Lines Committee from Manchester. The railways of the northern Welsh Marches have, over the past four decades, reflected the changes wrought on the rest of the British railway network, with freight largely disappearing, unremunerative lines being closed and an increasing concentration on passenger traffic.

Hardback 1st edition