, symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Station building, Ruabon railway station (geograph 4024246).jpg , caption = The station building , borough = Ruabon,

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

, country = Wales , coordinates = , grid_name =

Grid reference A projected coordinate system, also known as a projected coordinate reference system, a planar coordinate system, or grid reference system, is a type of spatial reference system that represents locations on the Earth using cartesian coordin ...

, grid_position = , manager =

Transport for Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; cy, Trafnidiaeth Cymru; cy, TrC, label=none) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consi ...

, lines = Shrewsbury–Chester , platforms = 2 , code = RUA , classification = DfT category F1 , opened = 4 November 1846 , mpassengers = , footnotes = Passenger statistics from the

Office of Rail and Road The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the economic and safety regulation of Britain's railways, and the economic monitoring of National Highways. ORR regulates Network Rail by setting its ...

, embedded = Ruabon railway station ( cy, Rhiwabon) is a combined rail and bus interchange serving Ruabon,

Wrexham County Borough Wrexham County Borough ( cy, Bwrdeistref Sirol Wrecsam) is a county borough, with city status, in the north-east of Wales. It borders England to the east and south-east, Powys to the south-west, Denbighshire to the west and Flintshire to the ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. It is the second busiest station in Wrexham County Borough in terms of passenger journeys, after the mainline station, Wrexham General. It is on the

Shrewsbury to Chester Line Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

, which is part of the former Great Western Railway mainline route from

London Paddington Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great ...

to Birkenhead Woodside which lasted until 1967.

History

Ruabon railway station footbridge 2009-03-20

Ruabon station was originally larger than at present, with an extensive marshalling yard with a

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

and goods depot accompanying it, and was the

terminus Terminus may refer to: * Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end destination * Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination Geography *Terminus, the unofficial original name of Atlanta, Georgia, United ...

of the Ruabon to Barmouth line which ran via

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 Bea ...

Corwen Corwen is a town and community in the county of Denbighshire in Wales. Historically, Corwen is part of the county of Merionethshire. Corwen stands on the banks of the River Dee beneath the Berwyn mountains. The town is situated west of Llango ...

and Dolgellau. This branch line was a victim of the

Beeching cuts 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 M ...

in the 1960s, closing to passengers in 1965 and completely three years later. The bay platform serving this route can still be seen at the station, whilst the old goods yard has been redeveloped as a housing estate. The original station building was

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...

in style and was designed by the architect

Thomas Penson Thomas Penson, or Thomas Penson the younger (c. 1790 – 1859) was the county surveyor of Denbighshire and Montgomeryshire. An innovative architect and designer of a number of masonry arch bridges over the River Severn and elsewhere. He was th ...

and opened on 4 November 1846."Ruabon Railway Station"
''Wrexham History '' website article 2 October 2016; Retrieved 13 June 2017 However, this was replaced by the current neo-Tudor style stone buildings, designed by Henry Robertson, in 1860. In 1870, refreshment rooms were added between the platforms serving Chester and Barmouth. Following further cuts in the national railway service, Ruabon station became an unstaffed halt in 1974. Only parts of both main platforms are now in use. In 2009, Ruabon station was refurbished at a cost of £70,000. New shelters, lighting and passenger information system screens were provided as part of the Welsh Assembly-funded project.

Facilities

As noted, the station is unmanned but has a ticket vending machine where tickets must be purchased or collected before boarding. The main buildings on platform 2 are privately occupied. Train running information is offered via digital displays, automatic announcements, timetable posters and customer help points on each platform. Step-free access is only provided on platform 2, as platform 1 can only be reached via a footbridge with stairs. Ruabon Station is the only station on the Chester-Shrewsbury Line without step-free access. The stairs cause major problems for the disabled with passengers wishing to alight here being advised to go to Wrexham and return on the next train south. Access for those with prams and pushchairs is also very difficult if not impossible and a struggle for those with luggage or those less mobile.

Services

Currently, trains run on two routes operated by

: * 1tph to

Wrexham General Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the county o ...

; usually continues to Chester and Holyhead * 1tph to Shrewsbury; usually continues to either Birmingham International or Cardiff Central via (two-hourly to each) A two-hourly service operates on Sundays to Chester and Birmingham International, with limited additional services to Cardiff and Holyhead. Until January 2011 the Wrexham, Shropshire and Marylebone Railway provided regular daily services between Wrexham and London. This service ceased due to a continuing loss being made by the company.

Connections

A small number of local buses serve the station.https://www.wrexham.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2020-04/5_llangollen.pdfhttps://www.wrexham.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2020-04/5_llangollen.pdf

References

External links