Acrefair railway station ( ) was a former station on the

Ruabon–Barmouth line The Ruabon–Barmouth line was a standard-gauge line owned by the Great Western Railway across the north of Wales which connected Ruabon, in the east, with Barmouth on the west coast. Connections * At Ruabon, the line connected with the Shrewsbur ...

North East Wales North East Wales ( cy, Gogledd-Ddwyrain Cymru) refers to an area or region of Wales, commonly defined as a grouping of the principal areas of Denbighshire, Flintshire, and Wrexham County Borough in the north-east of the country. These principal ...

. It closed to passengers on 18 January 1965 as part of the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...

History

Although built by the

Vale of Llangollen Railway The Vale of Llangollen Railway was built as a spur from the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway south of Ruabon to the town of Llangollen. The line was built along the northern side of the Dee Valley and authorized by an Act of Parliament on 1 August ...

, its services were operated by the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

from the outset. The line then passed on to the

Western Region of British Railways The Western Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right on completion of the "Organising for Quality" initiative on 6 April 1992. The Region consisted principally of ex- Great ...

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

in 1948, and was closed by the

British Transport Commission The British Transport Commission (BTC) was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain (Northern Ireland had the se ...

. The station was built at a high-level above King Street, close to its junction with Llangollen Road. The line was double track between

Ruabon Ruabon ( cy, Rhiwabon ) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The name comes from ''Rhiw Fabon'', ''rhiw'' being the Welsh word for "slope" or "hillside" and ''Fabon'' being a mutation from St Mabon, the original church ...

and

Llangollen Llangollen () is a town and community, situated on the River Dee, in Denbighshire, Wales. Its riverside location forms the edge of the Berwyn range, and the Dee Valley section of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beau ...

and there was a signal box at Acrefair. The

Ruabon Brook Tramway The Ruabon Brook Tramway was a Welsh branch railway line linking the Ruabon coalfield to the Shropshire Union Canal at Froncysyllte, with a private extension into the Monsanto works at Cefn Mawr which reconnected to the main line at Trevor. T ...

, a goods line from the local coalfields and clay works to

Froncysyllte Froncysyllte (; ), colloquially known as Fron, is a village in Wrexham County Borough, Wales and stands on the banks of the River Dee and the Llangollen Canal. It is situated on the main A5 road which runs from London to Holyhead. It is in the ...

, passed immediately below the station, crossing King Street at street level via a gated crossing. According to the

Official Handbook of Stations The ''Official Handbook of Stations'' was a large book (, 494 pages) listing all the passenger and goods stations, as well as private sidings, on the railways of Great Britain and Ireland. It was published in 1956 by the British Transport Commiss ...

the classes of traffic being handled at this station in 1956 were G & P and there was a 3-ton crane.1956, ''

'', British Transport Commission

The site today

The course of the line here is now an access road though a small industrial estate.

References

Sources

* * *

External links

*Pictures and plan of the statio

Station on navigable O.S. map
Beeching closures in Wales Disused railway stations in Wrexham County Borough Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1862 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1965 Former Great Western Railway stations 1862 establishments in Wales {{Wales-railstation-stub

History

The site today

References

Sources

Further reading

External links