Holywell Town railway station

Holywell Town
Site of Holywell Town station in 2020
General information
Location	Holywell, Flintshire Wales
Coordinates	53.2748°N 3.2204°W / 53.2748; -3.2204
Grid reference	SJ186760
Platforms	1
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	London and North Western Railway
Pre-grouping	London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
1 July 1912	Opened[1]
6 September 1954	Closed[1]

Holywell Town railway station served the market town of Holywell, in Flintshire, Wales. It was the southern terminus of the Holywell branch line, which linked the town centre with the North Wales Main Line at Holywell Junction.

History

The station was opened on 1 July 1912 and closed on 6 September 1954.[1][2] There was a single platform with two wooden shelters, a run round loop and extensive goods facilities. The station could be accessed by a sloping path down from a road bridge.[1]

Service

The passenger rolling stock consisted of two former picnic saloons, converted to form an auto-train.[note 1]

At first, there were sixteen passenger train journeys each way on weekdays; this was increased to 29 each way before 1939.[3] The summer 1938 Bradshaw shows 26 Monday to Friday departures up the branch, from 06:25 to 23:30. A similar number ran on Saturdays.[4]

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
St Winefride's Halt Line and station closed		London and North Western Railway Holywell Branch Line		Terminus

The site today

After closure, the station building and platform were demolished. The bridge over the site is extant, with the elevated goods yard site on the north-west side of the road.[1] A staircase provides access from the Tesco supermarket car park.

The site is now the southern end of the Greenfield Valley, which is a tarmacked footpath that follows the length of the former branch line.[5]

Notes

1. An auto train consisted of a small steam locomotive and a passenger coach with controls capable of operating the locomotive's own controls. When the driving trailer was leading, the driver operated the locomotive from a driving position in the coach.

References

1. Wright, Paul; Young, Alan. "Station Name: Holywell Town". Disused Stations. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
2. Quick, M E (2002). Railway passenger stations in England, Scotland and Wales – a chronology. Richmond: Railway and Canal Historical Society. p. 231. OCLC 931112387.
3. Peter E Baughan, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: volume 11: North and Mid Wales, David St John Thomas, 1991, Nairn, ISBN 0946537 59 3, pages 80 and 81
4. Bradshaw's July 1938 Railway Guide, David & Charles Reprints, Newton Abbot, 1969, ISBN 0 7153 4686 5
5. "Walks and wildlife at Greenfield Valley". Greenfieldvalley.com. Retrieved 13 December 2024.

Further reading

• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2011). Chester to Rhyl. West Sussex: Middleton Press. figs. 103-110. ISBN 9781906008932. OCLC 795178960.