The Borderlands line
Buckley (formerly Buckley Junction)
EWS
liveried 37667 is on the point of the Dee Marsh - Warrington Arpley trip
working on 22 May 1998. The train is formed entirely of OTA timber
wagons from Shotton Paper. The original Buckley Railway diverged
to the left of the picture on its way to Connahs Quay. The name Buckley
Junction was adopted when the "new line" to Shotton and the Dee bridge
opened in March 1890. The Buckley to Connahs Quay line was intricately
tied up with the brick making industry and at one time bricks were exported
by sea through Connahs Quay. The line finally closed in the mid sixties
although a coal yard survived at Buckley Junction until 1970.
The station buildings at Buckley are still in existence although now adapted
for industrial use.
150279 leaves Buckley
on a Wrexham service, June 2005. The train
is in the former Cardiff
Valley lines livery.
A pair of class 37's 37138 and 051 heave their loaded steel train over the top of the stiff gradient from Penyffordd on 16 June 1993. The line from Penyffordd is dead straight on a gradient of 1 in 97 steepening to 1 in 75 and this has always been a tough test for locomotives, in steam days banking was commonplace. The signalbox at Buckley Junction was on the left before the road bridge and was a very high structure to enable the signalman to see over the bridge. The leading loco is just about to pass the whistle board for the station crossing at Buckley.
The old station buildings
at Buckley can be seen on the right
The Buckley rail link connection, the timetable may be viewed here
Fragonset
Railways class 31 No. 31468 was used on March 29th 2002 to collect a Merseyrail
de-icing unit from Birkenhead North. The train is seen here passing
Buckley on its way to Derby.
56010
has just topped the gradient and is about to pass through Buckley
on
southbound empties, June 3rd 1997.
37719 has just passed
under the bridge carrying the A55. The freight is heading for
Dee Marsh with a mixture
of open and closed coil carriers - April 6th 1998.
Hawarden
60046
of Cardiff Canton depot heads downhill into Hawarden (pronounced Harden)
station from the Buckley direction on 17th April 1998. The gradients
from Shotton up to the summit at Buckley are even more fearsome than from
the Wrexham side with two long stretches of 1 in 53 either side of Hawarden.
It is for this reason that Diesel Multiple Units used on the passenger
service must always have two power cars. For freight services the
heavier loads are generally into Dee Marsh which is with the gradient,
rather than against it.
One of the ex Strathclyde
units, 101694, calls in August 2000.
A
rare splash of Intercity colour brightens up a dull day at Hawarden as
37685 heads back towards Wrexham having brought a ballast train into Dee
Marsh on 5 June 1998. This loco was one of a number in this livery
and was so painted to haul Scottish sleeper services, it was later to spend
some time in France on a working holiday but has since been withdrawn from
traffic.
37903 passing through
on a southbound train of steel empties, 30th October 1992. Hawarden
possesses
the only footbridge on the line and was once a popular day trip destination.
The
attraction then being Hawarden castle and its links to the Gladstone family.
Although claiming to be a Chester train this one is Wrexham bound
