Buckley railway station

Buckley railway station serves the town of Buckley in Flintshire, Wales. The station is 8½ miles (14 km) north of Wrexham Central on the Borderlands Line.

Buckley
Welsh: Bwcle
Location
PlaceBuckley
Local authorityFlintshire
Coordinates53.163°N 3.056°W / 53.163; -3.056
Grid referenceSJ295633
Operations
Station codeBCK
Managed byTransport for Wales
Number of platforms2
DfT categoryF2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15 51,684
2015/16 48,430
2016/17 47,776
2017/18 41,008
2018/19 40,504
History
Original companyWrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Central Railway
31 March 1890[1]Opened as Buckley Junction
6 May 1974[1]Renamed
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Buckley from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

The station was known as Buckley Junction until 6 May 1974, when it became Buckley.[2] It is the nearest station to Mold, Flintshire.

History
The station in 1961

The first railway in the area was the Buckley Railway, a short (5 mile/8 km long) freight branch linking the town with the River Dee at Connah's Quay. The Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway arrived in 1866 from a terminus at Wrexham Exchange alongside the GWR's Wrexham General station and was linked into the Buckley Railway from the outset, eventually taking it over in 1873. Passenger services from the south began soon afterwards, but not to the current station, which dates from 1890, when the "Hawarden Loop" line northwards to Shotton was opened.

Further construction by the Great Central Railway added links to Chester and to Bidston (the current route north) by 1896. The original Buckley Railway line down to the docks at Connah's Quay remained freight-only throughout its life, finally closing in 1965.[3] That left the current line at the station and ran via the original Buckley (Old) station (closed in 1890, and briefly reopened between 1893–95). Few traces of that route now remain.

The station became an unstaffed halt in 1969 and the substantial two-storey main building was subsequently sold off. It remains standing to this day and is now used as industrial premises.[4]

Facilities

The station has no ticket provision, so these must be purchased in advance or on the train. Train running information can be obtained via CIS screens, timetable poster boards or a payphone on platform 2. Step-free access is available to both platforms; there is no footbridge at this station however, only a foot crossing that must be used with care.[5]

Services

The station is served by an hourly service Monday - Saturday (two-hourly in the evenings & bank holidays)[6] southbound to Wrexham Central and northbound to Bidston for connections to Birkenhead and Liverpool stations via the Wirral Line. Connections to Shrewsbury, Cardiff and Birmingham (and beyond) are available at Wrexham General and for the North Wales Coast line at Shotton. On Sundays, there is a train approximately every 90 minutes.

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Penyffordd   Transport for Wales
Borderlands Line		   Hawarden
  Historical railways  
Hope Exchange   Great Central Railway
Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway		   Hawarden
gollark: Very possibly.
gollark: If it's much smarter than you, you aren't going to be able to meaningfully monitor it.
gollark: I mean, it sort of kind of does.
gollark: And faster doesn't mean smarter either.
gollark: We don't know how most of it works yet.

References
  1. Butt 1995, p. 47.
  2. Slater, J.N., ed. (July 1974). "Notes and News: Stations renamed by LMR". Railway Magazine. London: IPC Transport Press Ltd. 120 (879): 363. ISSN 0033-8923.
  3. Disused Stations - The Buckley Railway www.disused-stations.org.uk; Retrieved 2013-08-05
  4. View from the Train - Wrexham to Bidston The Borderlands Line; Retrieved 7 August 2017
  5. Buckley station facilities National Rail Enquiries
  6. Table 101 National Rail timetable, May 2017

Sources
  • Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.

Further reading
  • Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2013). Wrexham to New Brighton. West Sussex: Middleton Press. figs. 38-39, 42. ISBN 9781908174475. OCLC 859543196.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

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