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Moss Valley branch was a two mile long single track line built by the Great Western Railway in what is now the county borough of Wrexham, Wales. It ran from a junction with the Wrexham and Minera Railway at Moss Valley Junction to Moss Halt (or Moss Platform) via three intermediate stations: Gatewen Halt, Pentre Broughton Halt, and Gwersyllt Hill Halt. [1]
Collieries in the Moss valley were originally served by the Great Western Railway's Wheatsheaf Branch , which ran from the Wheatsheaf junction on the Shrewsbury to Chester line. This included a rope-worked incline up Gwersyllt Hill, and the 220 ft Summerhill Tunnel to reach the Moss valley at Westminster Colliery. The line continued across the valley, through the 400 ft Brymbo Tunnel and by a second rope-worked incline, to reach Brymbo Steelworks. [2] In 1862 the western section of the line was replaced by an alternative route between the Chester line and Brymbo, from Croes Newydd Junction over much easier terrain.
The Moss Valley Branch was created by the Great Western Railway - under powers obtained in 1873 - to obviate the cumbersome eastern section of its earlier line from Wheatsheaf Junction; the new route linked with the old near Westminster Colliery, and opened - for goods only - in mid 1882. [3] At its northern end, at Moss Siding signal box, it linked into the Ffrwdd branch and also served collieries (including Westminster) which had previously been served via Wheatsheaf, and additionally Gatewen Colliery nearer its southern end. The new line thus made the western end of the Wheatsheaf Branch [4] redundant.
Passenger services operated from 1 May 1905 but were withdrawn again from 1 January 1931. Of the collieries it served, Ffrwd closed in 1904, [5] Westminster in February 1925, [6] Gatewen in July 1932 [7] (although it went on to serve other purposes) and Brynmally in October 1935, [8] whereupon the line beyond Gatewen was closed. The section south of Gatewen had a somewhat chequered career, finally succumbing to a derailment on 18 August 1983, from which it never reopened. Much of the line now forms part of the Moss Valley Park. [9]
The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) was a standard gauge railway in South Wales, built by the Taff Vale Railway Company to serve the iron and coal industries around Merthyr Tydfil and to connect them with docks in Cardiff. It was opened in stages in 1840 and 1841.
The Rhymney Railway was a railway company in South Wales, founded to transport minerals and materials to and from collieries and ironworks in the Rhymney Valley of South Wales, and to docks in Cardiff. It opened a main line in 1858, and a limited passenger service was operated in addition.
The Buckley Railway was opened from Buckley to a connection with the Chester to Holyhead main line on 7 June 1862, to convey coal and finished brickworks products from the Buckley area. Numerous short tramroads had existed in the area from the 1700s. The line was steeply graded and sharply curved.
Rhosrobin is a village situated in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, about 2 miles (3.2 km) north west of Wrexham city centre, close to the A483 road.
The Wrexham and Minera Railway or Wrexham and Minera Branch was a railway line in North Wales between the city of Wrexham, the village of Brymbo where it served the Brymbo Steelworks, and the lead mines and limeworks at Minera. A further branch ran from Brymbo to Coed Talon, where it connected with lines to Mold. The system was constructed in several stages between 1844 and 1872, while the various lines making up the system closed in 1952, 1972 and 1982.
Croes Newydd was a large steam locomotive shed, marshalling yard and junction in Wrexham, in Wales.
The North Wales Mineral Railway was constructed in Wales in 1844, during the early years of the Railway Mania. It was originally intended to link Chester via Wrexham to the industrial areas around Ruabon; there were branches to Brymbo and Minera from Wheatsheaf junction via a tunnel and inclined plane. The initial plan was to tap the mineral reserves of the area.
Wheatsheaf Junction was the name given to the location where a branch of the North Wales Mineral Railway to Brymbo connected with Shrewsbury and Chester line between Wrexham and Gresford.
The Moss Valley is an area and country park in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The area, informally known as "The Moss" and The Aggey by local people, has an extensive coal mining history.
Summerhill is a semi-urban village in the suburbs of Wrexham, Wales and forms part of the community of Gwersyllt.
Gwersyllt is an urban village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales.
The South Wales Mineral Railway was a railway built to serve collieries in the upper Afan Valley, and bring their output to a dock at Briton Ferry, in South Wales. It opened in stages, in 1861 and 1863. It was built on the broad gauge and had steep gradients, including a rope worked incline near Briton Ferry.
The Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway was a Welsh railway company formed to connect the upper end of the Rhondda Fawr with Swansea, with the chief objective of transporting coal and other minerals to Swansea docks. It was incorporated in 1882, but at first the connection to Swansea from Briton Ferry was refused.
The Forest of Dean Railway was a railway company operating in Gloucestershire, England. It was formed in 1826 when the moribund Bullo Pill Railway and a connected private railway failed, and they were purchased by the new company. At this stage it was a horse-drawn plateway, charging a toll for private hauliers to use it with horse traction. The traffic was chiefly minerals from the Forest of Dean, in the Whimsey and Churchway areas, near modern-day Cinderford, for onward conveyance from Bullo Pill at first, and later by the Great Western Railway.
The Llancaiach Branch railway line was a mineral branch line in Glamorganshire, South Wales. It was authorised in 1836 as part of the Taff Vale Railway, and its purpose was to connect collieries at Llancaiach and bring their output to Cardiff for onward shipment. It was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and built on the standard gauge. It opened in 1841 from a junction with the Merthyr line immediately south of Abercynon. It was intended to be horse worked, and included a self-acting rope-worked inclined plane near the junction. The collieries were slow to use the line, preferring their customary use of a tramroad and the Glamorganshire Canal, and the value of the line was diminished when the Taff Vale Extension line, an east-west connecting line belonging to the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway, intersected it and cut off the colliery connections, and the line became dormant.
The North Wales Mineral Railway was formed to carry coal and ironstone from the mineral-bearing area around Wrexham to the River Dee wharves. It was extended to run from Shrewsbury and formed part of a main line trunk route, under the title The Shrewsbury and Chester Railway. It opened in 1846 from Chester to Ruabon, and in 1848 from Ruabon to Shrewsbury. It later merged with the Great Western Railway.
The Deerness Valley Railway was an 8-mile long single track branch railway line that ran along the valley of the River Deerness in County Durham, England. Built by the North Eastern Railway, it ran from Deerness Valley Junction, on the Durham to Bishop Auckland line, to the coal mines along the valley via two intermediate stations, Waterhouses, and Ushaw Moor.
The Mold Railway was a railway company that built a line in north-east Wales. The line linked Mold to Chester and it opened on 14 August 1849. The company built a mineral branch line to Ffrith, opened in November 1849. Mold itself was an important regional centre, and contained considerable mineral resources.
The Mitcheldean Road and Forest of Dean Junction Railway was an independent railway company incorporated in 1871, to provide a northerly outlet for iron ore and coal products from the Cinderford and Whimsey area in the Forest of Dean, to the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway line; mineral traffic to industrial centres in South Wales and the Midlands was foreseen.
The Brymbo railway branch lines served the rich reserves of coal, iron, limestone and other minerals in an area around Brymbo to the west of Wrexham in Wales. Coalowners and others needed transport to get their products to market and lines were built from the main line into the mineral-bearing area. The topography was difficult and gradients were steep. The Great Western Railway became dominant, but a rival company built a competing line and branches.
