Bettisfield railway station

Bettisfield railway station was a station in Bettisfield, Wrexham, Wales. The station was opened on 4 May 1863 and closed on 18 January 1965.[1]

Bettisfield
A Baguley-Drewry shunter stands on a short length of track at the former Bettisfield station
Location
Place	Bettisfield
Area	Wrexham County Borough
Coordinates	52.9176°N 2.8041°W / 52.9176; -2.8041
Grid reference	SJ460358
Operations
Original company	Oswestry, Ellesmere and Whitchurch Railway
Pre-grouping	Cambrian Railways
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway
Platforms	1
History
4 May 1863	Opened[1]
18 January 1965	Closed[1]
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z

Details

The station was situated to the west of the minor road that passes through Bettisfield. There was a single platform to the north of the tracks, with a two-storey station building, in which the station master lived. The layout included a 19-chain passing loop, which was only used by goods trains, as there was no platform. The loop passed under the bridge at the eastern end of the site, before rejoining the main line. There was a smaller loop to the south of the main loop, and a siding to a substantial goods shed, which was designed to handle most traffic, including coal, minerals, livestock, general merchandise and vehicular traffic. About 0.5 miles (0.8 km) to the east was a private siding, which served the Midland Moss Litter Company peat works on Fenn's Moss.[2][3]

To the west of the platform was a signal box. The locking room was built of brick, and it had a gable roof. The box could be "switched out", to enable the section from Whitchurch to Ellesmere to be operated as a single section. When it was not switched out, sections from Ellesmere to Bettisfield and Bettisfield to Fenn's Bank were controlled by Tyer's No.6 Tablet.[4]

Legacy

The station building is now used as a private dwelling, while the goods shed has been converted into apartments.[1] The owner of the station building has laid a short length of track alongside the platform, and a Baguley Drewry 4-wheel diesel mechanical shunter has been parked there since at least 2012.[5] The track to the east of the station acts as a drive for a number of houses that have been built near to the formation, and then provides access to Fenn's Moss and the derelict peat processing factory of Fenn's Old Works, where there was once a private siding.[6]

References

1. "Station Name: Bettisfield". Disused Stations. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
2. "Bettisfield Station 1:2500 map". Ordnance Survey. 1912.
3. Jenkins & Loader 2015, pp. 24-25.
4. Jenkins & Loader 2015, p. 24.
5. "Miscellaneous Diesel or Electric Locos". smugmug.com. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
6. Ordnance Survey, 1:25,000 map, 2018

Further reading

• Jenkins, Stanley C; Loader, Martin (2015). The Great Western Railway Volume 5: Shrewsbury to Pwllheli. Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4456-4286-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2010). Oswestry to Whitchurch. Middleton Press. figs. 42-50. ISBN 978-1-906008-81-9. OCLC 751631667.

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Welshampton Line and station closed		Great Western Railway Oswestry, Ellesmere and Whitchurch Railway		Fenn's Bank Line and station closed