Place Saltney 1846 Station opens 3 April 1967 Closed to Goods Platforms in use 2 | Grid reference SJ386651 12 September 1960 Closed to Passengers Original company Great Western Railway | |
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Area Cheshire West and Chester Similar Whittington Low Level railway st, Weston Rhyn railway st, Gobowen railway station, Chester railway station, Wrexham General railway st | ||
Saltney was a minor railway station located on the Great Western Railway's Paddington to Birkenhead line a few miles west of Chester, England. Although the station is now closed, the route is still open today as part of the Shrewsbury to Chester Line.
Contents
History
The GWR and the London and North Western Railway had raced from London to develop their services throughout Wales, and onto the important shipping facilities on the Mersey. After the North Wales Coast Line to Holyhead had been incorporated into the LNWR, the two companies agreed compromise in the Chester area, thereby jointly owning and operating the Birkenhead Joint Railway north from Chester to Birkenhead with its branches from Hooton to Helsby and Parkgate (later extended to West Kirby), and from Chester to Warrington.
Although Saltney hence was a small station, Saltney Junction just to its north became important in the operations of the GWR, as it was where tariffs became applicable for the shipment of traffic over the jointly operated lines
Express trains on the route did not call here, only local trains. According to the Official Handbook of Stations the following classes of traffic were being handled at this station in 1956: G & P, and there was a 6-ton crane.
Present
Nothing now remains of the station, on what is an abandoned expanse of waste ground. The double track on the Chester to Wrexham section was made into a single track in the 1980s, but work is ongoing to re-double the route and should be complete by late 2015 or early 2016. Network Rail currently expect to start running trains over the redoubled track in November 2015. There is a proposal to open a new station at Lache a short distance to the south.